WPT Prime Championship Prize Pool Cracks $10 Million

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Championship, which began Dec. 7 at Wynn Las Vegas, had a lofty $5 million guaranteed prize pool, quite sizeable for just an $1,100 buy-in. But that guarantee turned out to be just a starting point.

When registration closed on Sunday’s Day 1d session, the field had reached 10,512 entrants, making it the largest field in live poker history outside the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

The numbers just get even more staggering from there, starting with the prize pool, which hit $10,196,640, nearly doubling last year’s inaugural WPT Prime Championship at Wynn, which had $5,267,100 in the pot and 5,430 entrants. And the 2022 edition was widely considered a rousing success.

Even more impressive about the 2023 turnout, there weren’t near as many competing tournaments around the world last December. No WSOP Paradise or European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague to compete with for players. Despite the stiff competition, the Encore Ballroom was packed wall to wall during the four Day 1 starting flights.

WPT Prime Championship Update

On Monday, Day 2 of the WPT Prime Championship will begin. The field has dwindled down to 1,309 players, only about 12% of the initial entries. It will drop even further on Day 2 and then play down to the final table, which takes place Dec. 19, on Tuesday.

The winner next week will receive $1,386,280, a significantly higher amount than the $712,650 Stephen Song earned when he took it down last year after beating Lara Eisenberg heads-up.

At the conclusion of four Day 1 sessions, no one even came close to matching the 1,706,000 bagged by Adam Thaggard on Day 1a. David Goodman, on Day 1c, came the closest with 1,309,000 chips. In total, 11 players will enter Day 2 with a seven-figure stack.

End-of-Day Chip Leaders

Big name players who bagged large stacks include Calvin Anderson (978,000), Mike Dentale (825,000), David Jackson (818,000), and Andrew Moreno (700,000).

_{*Image courtesy of WPT.}