Poker World Championship to feature record $40M guarantee
The World Poker Tour offered one of the largest guaranteed prize pools in poker history last year. It’s going much bigger for this year’s event.
The WPT World Championship in December at Wynn Las Vegas will feature a record $40 million guaranteed prize pool, it was announced Thursday.
The $10,400 buy-in No-limit Hold’em event featured a $15 million guarantee when it premiered last year. Canadian Eliot Hudon won the inaugural event for $4.136 million, the largest prize awarded in the WPT’s 20-year history.
This year’s WPT World Championship runs Dec. 12 to 21 and includes four starting flights.
“The WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas is poised to reach new heights and we wanted to match that expectation with a guarantee that no live poker tournament has ever seen before,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said in a statement. “The journey to December begins now, and we plan on giving players another unforgettable experience at Wynn Las Vegas.”
The full WPT World Championship festival schedule features more than 30 events beginning Nov. 29 with a $1 million guaranteed, $600 buy-in No-limit Hold’em event. The $1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Championship, which drew 5,430 entries for last year’s event, runs Dec. 7 to 12 and has a $5 million guarantee.
Other notable events on the schedule include the $1,100 buy-in WPT Ladies World Championship (Dec. 6 to 8), the $1,600 buy-in Mystery Bounty featuring a $2 million guarantee, the $1,100 buy-in Seniors Championship and a $10,000 buy-in Seniors High Roller.
The $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop will run Dec. 18 to 20 and is expected to attract some of poker’s biggest names. The $25,700 buy-in High Roller (Dec. 17 and 18) followed by the $50,000 buy-in WPT Alpha8 (Dec. 20 and 21) also will feature several notable players.
“The astonishing support and excitement we’ve seen from the poker community after just one year is nothing like I’ve seen before,” said Ryan Beauregard, executive director of poker operations at Wynn Las Vegas.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.