Christmas may be coming early once again for poker players from all over the world. For the third year in a row, the World Poker Tour partners up with Wynn Las Vegas to host the WPT World Championship and the dates are now set in stone. From December 3 to 20, the highly anticipated series returns and it appears that the overall schedule will be more condensed with a shorter duration than the previous edition.
It is expected that the full tournament schedule will be released until the summer months, perhaps even while the WPT Alpha8 Trifecta takes place at the very same venue between June 25 and July 10. Whether or not WPT’s pinnacle live poker stop of the year will once again be competing against GGPoker’s WSOP Paradise remains to be seen, as no plans concerning a repeat appearance have been made public yet by either brand.
Certain already is the headline tournament of the season-ending series, as the winners of WPT Main Tour and WPT Prime Main Event stops have been and will be receiving an entry to the $10,400 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas during the current year.
“With great pride, we unveil the festival dates for the highly anticipated 2024 WPT World Championship,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said in the press release on April 4. “The tradition continues as we enter our third year alongside the incredible Wynn Las Vegas team, so mark your calendars in preparation for what is sure to be another memorable December.”
WPT World Championship in Review
One year ago, the WPT World Championship festival in Sin City attracted a total of 33,712 entries across 23 tournaments and more than $100 million in total prize money was awarded. There were 14 tournaments with a prize pool of a least seven figures and the biggest chunk was awarded in the WPT World Championship.
The marquee tournament came with an ambitious guarantee of $40 million, the far biggest for any live poker event in history so far. While it ultimately came short of meeting that standout figure, the turnout of 3,835 entries was quite incredible considering that it overlapped with WSOP Paradise and the highly popular PokerStars EPT Prague stop back in Europe.
Compared to the inaugural edition, it was a massive uptick for the $10,400 buy-in. Back in 2022, the same event had a $15 million guarantee and that figure was nearly doubled. There were a total of 2,960 entries to generate a prize pool of $29,008,000. The top six finishers all received seven figure prizes, topped by the UK’s Benny Glaser with a might consolation prize of $2,860,000 as the runner-up and $4,136,000 for the eventual champion Eliot Hudon.
Likewise, the WPT Prime $1,100 Championship in Las Vegas saw a tremendous growth year-over-year as well. In 2022, the event came with a $2 million guarantee and reeled in 5,430 entries for a massive $5,267,100, of which Stephen Song earned the most with a payday of $712,650. The guarantee was boosted to $5 million in 2023 and obliterated as a massive 10,512 entry strong field more than doubled the amount to $10,196,640.
Asia-Pacific live poker circuit regular Valeriy Pak from Uzbekistan earned his third six-figure score and second-biggest cash prize worth $290,000 in six months, finishing in sixth place. Veteran American poker pro and mixed game aficionado Calvin Anderson showcased his talents with two cards and earned the top prize of $1,388,280.
Both flagship tournaments are once again expected to carry large guarantees and just how big they will be remains to be seen. A plethora of other Side Events are certainly going to be part of the schedule as well, though, the Big One for One Drop with a $1 million buy-in seems rather unlikely to return.
Until then, plenty of WPT Main Tour and WPT Prime stops are taking place all over the world with several of them in the Asia-Pacific region. Just over a week away is the return of the WPT Prime Gold Coast Championship at The Star Gold Coast north of Sydney. The festival kicks off on April 11 and the $1,100 Main Event is scheduled to take place from April 19 to 23, 2024. In February 2023, the tournament drew a field of 1,224 entries and that number is almost certain to be topped.
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*Article by Christian Zetzsche
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