- The World Poker Tour (WPT) is partnering with Wynn Las Vegas to offer the largest single live tournament guarantee in the history of poker.
- The WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas ‘main event’ will offer a guaranteed $15 million USD prize pool.
- The WPT World Championship will run from December 12-18 with a $10,400 USD buy-in.
The World Series of Poker is currently underway in Las Vegas and will run through July 18. The most highly anticipated event is the No-Limit Hold’em World Championship that begins on July 5 with a $10,000 USD buy-in. Known simply as ‘The Main Event’, it has annually produced some of the biggest cash prizes in poker history. The biggest payday came in 2006 when Jamie Gold beat out 8,773 challengers to take down a record $12 million grand prize. That was at the height of the ‘poker boom’–the 2021 WSOP main event champion Koray Aldemir won ‘only’ $8 million USD.
Professional poker players now have a new tournament to shoot for with the first $15 million USD guaranteed prize pool–the largest single live tournament guarantee in the history of poker. The World Poker Tour (WPT) is partnering with Wynn Las Vegas for an event that will run December 1-20, 2022 called the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. The culmination of the event will be the $10,400 USD buy-in championship which will run from December 12 through December 18. The final table will be filmed for television and take place at the Esports Arena Las Vegas.
Two other events will be televised and offer multi-million dollar prize pools. The inaugural 2022 World Poker Tour Prime Championship will have a $1,100 USD buy-in and a $2 million USD guaranteed prize pool. This event will run December 8-12. December 16-19 will feature the $2 million guaranteed Wynn Mystery Bounty with a $1,600 USD buy-in. The interesting twist here is that players have a chance to draw for cash prizes of up to $100 thousand USD for eliminating other competitors.
There are other ways to earn entry to the events–at least 200 online qualifiers will attend the World Poker Tour World Championship, with hundreds more qualifying through various live satellites. ClubWPT, the official subscription online poker game of the World Poker Tour, will serve as the exclusive online platform where U.S. players can win an entry package. Beginning June 12, ClubWPT will also host numerous qualification opportunities leading up to the start of the December festival.
Adam Pliska, CEO of World Poker Tour, is excited about the event and the partnership with Wynn Las Vegas:
“This is one of the most ambitious initiatives the World Poker Tour has undertaken in our 20-year history. We expect this to be a highly anticipated festival and are elated to be partnering with Wynn Las Vegas to bring this concept to life.”
Ryan Beauregard, Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas, returned the pleasantries:
“We offer our guests the biggest and best poker experiences available, coupled with the world-class service and amenities that can only be found at Wynn Las Vegas. In partnership with WPT, we have created a festival that will be a one-of-a-kind, must-attend event for both our current and new players.”
Angelica Hael, Vice President of Global Tour Management at World Poker Tour, is hoping it will become one of the most iconic events in the poker world:
“We are absolutely thrilled with our multi-year partnership with Wynn Las Vegas. Alongside the WPT Prime Championship and various off-the-felt activities planned, the WPT World Championship festival puts a historic exclamation point on World Poker Tour Season 20.”
Additional information including the complete schedule and entry information is forthcoming and will be found at https://www.worldpokertour.com/.
