The World Poker Tour (WPT) has seen remarkable growth over the past three years with the launch of WPT Prime festivals, high-profile ambassador signings, record-breaking guarantees, and also the success of their online poker platform(s). As we gear up for the 2024 season finale, let’s revisit the highlights of the past two WPT World Championships that have elevated the brand and set new standards in tournament poker.
2022: A Historic 20th Season
The 2022 season was a massive year for the World Poker Tour, marking its 20th anniversary with big projects and very ambitious goals. Among the notable highlights, WPT launched its WPT Prime series, featuring more affordable buy-ins that quickly became a hit with players worldwide. In addition, the WPT welcomed five high-profile ambassadors: DJ Steve Aoki, poker vloggers Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme, and poker legends Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey. Earlier that year, they launched their real money online platform, WPT Global, which has quickly grown into one of the biggest poker sites. However, as exciting as these announcements were, WPT was preparing something even bigger behind the scenes.
Midway through its 20th season, the WPT revealed an ambitious plan: a $15 million guaranteed WPT World Championship with a $10,400 buy-in, set to take place in December at Wynn Las Vegas. This three-week-long season finale included 23 events, with over $22 million in guaranteed prize pools.
“This is one of the most ambitious initiatives the World Poker Tour has undertaken in our 20-year history,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. Indeed, a bold move, as $15 million was, at the time, the largest single live tournament guarantee in poker history, but WPT was on a hot streak, and that record, spoiler alert, would only stand for a year.
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The event was a resounding success. The $10,400 WPT World Championship exceeded expectations, drawing 2,960 entries and nearly doubling the prize pool to a record-breaking $29,008,000.
“The success of the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas was a spectacular way to commemorate 20 years of global WPT events and the many players who have made WPT what it is today,” said Pliska. “We attempted to make this a true festival atmosphere and are so grateful for the overwhelming reception we received.”
The entire final table of the Championship event walked away with seven-figure paydays, with 25-year-old Canadian Eliot Hudon taking the top prize of $4,146,000 after defeating England’s Benny Glaser heads-up.
2023: Raising the Guarantee to $40 Million
Building on the success of the inaugural WPT World Championship, which was also recognized as the Best Event of 2022 at the 4th Global Poker Awards, the WPT went even bigger in 2023, announcing a $40 million guarantee for the Championship event. This guarantee required an astonishing 4,082 entries to meet THE number, truly a crazy goal and a big risk at the time, given the simultaneous scheduling of WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas that was announced in July of that year.
Still, the $40,000,000 guarantee was within reach on the last day of registrations but ultimately fell 247 entries short, resulting in a $2.4 million overlay. However, the event and festival itself were still a success. The WPT Prime Championship saw a record-breaking field of 10,512 entries, doubling its $5 million guarantee, while the WPT Ladies Championship attracted 457 players, with Lisa Costello claiming victory and $85,297. Additionally, the first-ever WPT Big One for One Drop, with a $1,000,000 buy-in, drew 17 entrants.
Reflecting on the event, Pliska noted, “The sincere hope for year two of the WPT World Championship was to improve upon the success of last year. With the help of player feedback, we feel that together we have met our goal.”
Of course, players got their value and didn’t really mind the overlay on their $10,400 buy-in for the event. Dan Sepiol emerged as the 2023 WPT World Champion, outlasting a field of 3,835 players to win a career-best $5,282,954. It was a tough and star-studded final table featuring Ben Heath, Andrew Lichtenberger, Artur Martirosian, Georgios Sotiropoulos, and Chris Moorman.
2024: $5 Million Freeroll
The 2024 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas is set to stay as the tour’s flagship event, but WPT set no guarantee this time. It could be a more cautious approach following the $2.4 million overlay in 2023. However, WPT has instead introduced a $5 million freeroll, giving back players “twice as much.”
WPT dubbed the tournament the largest freeroll in poker history, part of their new ClubWPT Gold online sweepstakes platform. The freeroll will award a $1,000,000 first-place prize and an additional 100 entries into the WPT World Championship. Entry to the event can be exclusively won through ClubWPT Gold.
The 2024 festival will still boast a packed schedule with over 60 tournaments, including a $5 million guaranteed WPT Prime Championship, a $250,000 guaranteed WPT Ladies Championship, and a $500,000 guaranteed Seniors Championship. “We have crafted an incredible schedule for this year’s World Championship, featuring more than 60 tournaments and satellites,” said Ryan Beauregard, Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas. “I’m confident that the loyal fanbase of Wynn Las Vegas and WPT, as well as more than 500 qualifiers and satellite winners, will make the 2024 WPT World Championship another rousing success.”
With the WPT Player of the Year race also in its final stretch and closer than ever, the 2024 World Championship promises to be a grand finale filled with intense battles, spectacular payouts, and yet another display of WPT’s hosting excellence.
