The World Poker Tour fell just short of the ambitious $40 million, however WPT CEO believes the overlay is an investment in the future of the event, the WPT, and the players themselves.

Jeff Walsh Dec 15, 2023 The WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.The holidays arrived a little early for poker players at the Wynn and it was the World Poker Tour came was bearing gifts. When the total entries in the $40 million guaranteed WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas were tallied at the end of registration, the final number reached 3,835. An impressive number for any $10K, but not the 4,081 needed to hit the target guarantee.

So, in the end, the final prize pool is exactly that: $40 million, which now includes an overlay of just over $2.4 million, an added amount of value to players in the field of one of the biggest poker events of the year.

Just one year after crushing the inaugural $15 million guarantee, to the tune of $29 million, the World Poker Tour and Wynn Las Vegas partnered again and kicked up the stakes. In the face of worldwide competition, they came up with an ambitious guarantee – one that energized players and reinforced the must-play aura of the WPT World Championship. In the end, the unadjusted prize pool was just over $37.5 million – $8.5 million more than last year.

The amount of money missed represents just 6% of the guarantee, and for players it’s the equivalent of having 246 fewer players to get through to reach the destination of the now-announced $5,678,000 first-place prize. It’s not just first-place that will walk with life-changing money, all six players of the final table will walk with seven-figure paydays.

Right after registration closed, World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska spoke with the media in attendance about the event, the overlay, and his vision for the future of the partnership with Wynn Las Vegas.

“We were creating a stretch goal, substantially higher definitely than the guarantee last year, but more than that, substantially higher than the prize pool for last year,” Pliska said. “We wanted that because we realized that was the best avenue to provide the value to the players. Now our ultimate goal is to create absolutely the best tournament that we can.

“We are growing this franchise and we want to make this something that lasts for many, many years,” he continued. “The $40 million guarantee is our way of making a truly stretch goal and to say that we are committed. We’re not going any place. We’re building this up. We’re going to continue to make positive changes.

“But the most important thing we are after – we want players to say that this was the best player experience. And we’ve had so much positive feedback. And a lot of that is that the players have been contributing to that feedback. If you ask me what I’m proudest of is that I truly believe that we have taken the feedback to heart.”

To put it in perspective, according to WPT Executive Tournament Director Matt Savage, this is not only the biggest prize pool in World Poker Tour history, but the day 1D field of 1,523 entries is also the single biggest one-day prize pool in the Tour’s history ($14,925,400, rake adjusted)

A breakdown of the entries by starting flight:

Day 1A: 609 entries (202 advanced – 33% of the field) Day 1B: 730 entries (265 advanced – 36% of the field) Day 1C: 973 entries (337 advanced – 34% of the field) Day 1D: 1,523 entries

Total Entrants: 3,835

Pliska went on to praise his team at the World Poker Tour as well as the partnership with the Wynn calling the partnership “probably one of the great transformational chapters of the World Poker Tour.” Ultimately, Pliska viewed the overlay not as a failure but as an investment in the company, the events, and the players.

“We believe that the growth of the World Poker Tour, the growth of good poker all over, helps poker. At the end of the day, what are we competing with? We’re competing with the real estate in the minds of people that they want to play this game. And so, if they come here and they have an excellent experience, I think we’ve done a great job for the brand, but I (also) think we do a good job for poker.”

FeatureTim FiorvantiDaniel Negreanu Wins Poker Players Championship, 7th WSOP Bracelet For the first time since October 2013, Daniel Negreanu won a World Series of Poker bracelet. His seventh career victory at the WSOP came in one of the highest profile tournaments of the summer schedule, the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship.

FeatureTim FiorvantiMeet the Final Table of the 2024 WSOP Poker Players Championship The $50,000 buy-in WSOP Poker Players Championship has five players remaining entering the final day of play, with Daniel Negreanu in position to make a run at his first bracelet in over 10 years and Chris Brewer holding the chip lead.

FeatureTim FiorvantiBrock Wilson Claims First Major Title, $571K at WPT Alpha8 Trifecta In the first of three $25,000 buy-in WPT Alpha8 Trifecta events at Wynn Las Vegas, Brock Wilson broke through for his first major live title and a summer-altering cash worth over $571,000.

FeatureTim FiorvantiSanthosh Suvarna Mounts Comeback to Win $5.4M, 2nd WSOP Bracelet Santhosh Suvarna made a tremendous comeback to win the WSOP $250,000 Super High Roller, overcoming a substantial lead held by Ben Tollerene and outlasting a final table that featured six-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus, WPT Champions Club member Taylor von Kriegenbergh and recent $100K High Roller winner Chris Hunichen.

AnteJeff WalshNeymar “Buries” Alan Keating In Wild Hand on Hustler Casino Live One of the wildest hands of the summer took place on Hustler Casino Live as Neymar and Alan Keating take it to the river again and again until one of them was broke, capping off a wild night of poker that also featured Jimmy Butler, Ninja, Ryan Garcia and Dan Bilzerian, among others.

FeatureTim FiorvantiChris Hunichen Rides Rollercoaster to $2.8M, First WSOP Bracelet More than 15 years after he started coming to the World Series of Poker, and a year after the sudden passing of his father, Chris Hunichen emerged from one of the wildest final tables in recent poker memory with his first career WSOP gold bracelet and over $2.8 million.

NewsWPT StaffWin Your Way to Any WPT Event with WPT Global Passport Dollars WPT Global Passport Dollars give you the opportunity to choose your own poker adventure with buy-ins, travel, and accomodations to any WPT event anywhere in the world.

FeatureTim FiorvantiReigning WPT World Champion Dan Sepiol Strikes Gold at WSOP Dan Sepiol won the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December, and on Sunday he added the second major live title of his career by winning a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout at the World Series of Poker.

FeatureJeff WalshBorgata Victory Signifies Arrival of The Funaro Brothers Nick Funaro seeing the success of his brother Frank followed in his footsteps in taking the game of poker seriously. After just a couple years of working and studying together, both siblings are finding high-level success.

This site only collects related articles. Viewing the original, please copy and open the following link:WPT World Championship $40M Prize Pool Includes $2.4M Overlay – World Poker Tour