The WPT Prime Liechtenstein Festival

The WPT Prime Liechtenstein will feature 12 events, including some of the most popular modalities: Mystery Bounty, Ladies, Seniors, Pot-Limit Omaha, High Roller and of course Prime Main Event, which will begin on September 6 and will have six starting flights. Those who wish to qualify for the Main Event for a lower investment will be able to take advantage of one of the nine qualifying satellites.

Below is a chart with details of the 12 festival events:

You can see the full schedule at this link.

The WPT Prime Liechtenstein Main Event

The most important tournament of the festival will begin on September 6 and, as mentioned, players will have six initial days to try to make it through to Day 2. The entry will be CHF 1,100 and will have a guaranteed prize pool of CHF 1,000,000.

The tournament structure will be as follows:

• Buy-In: CHF 1,100
• Re-entry: Unlimited re-entry is allowed until the start of Level 7, when registration ends.
• Guaranteed prize pool: CHF 1,000,000
• Starting stack: 30,000
• Blind Levels: 40 minutes on Day 1 and 60 minutes on Days 2 and 3
• Ante Format: Big Blind Ante
• Late Registration: Registration closes at the start of Level 7
• Action Clock: Will be put in place at the start of Day 2 and will be used until the completion of the tournament
• Payouts: 12.5% of the field

Exciting news! Thrilled to share I'll be heading to WPT Prime Liechtenstein fest in just 2 weeks! With CHF $1 Million GTD for the Main Event, it's bound to be unforgettable. Don't miss out: more info @WPT or https://t.co/hqH7ljo6m4 pic.twitter.com/ysQmTdgjwx

— Ivy Teves (@IvyTeves) August 17, 2023

The Venue: Grand Casino Liechtenstein

The festival will be played at the Grand Casino, which aims to become one of the best poker destinations in Europe. Its poker room has 17 cash game tables and for tournaments they have space for 70 tables.

Those planning to attend WPT Prime Liechtenstein will be able to take advantage of 25% discounts at any of six hotels using the promo code “wpt2023” starting on August 29. You can see the different promotions in this link.

The City: Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein is a Central European country located between Switzerland and Austria. Its territory is the result of the union of two enclaves: Vaduz and Schellenberg, made up of a total of 11 communities. The capital is Vaduz and the most populous city is Schaan. It is known for being the fourth smallest country in the world behind the Vatican, Monaco and San Marino.

The principality is known to be considered a tax haven. Although it is not a member of the European Union, since December 2011 it has been part of the European area of free movement. Liechtenstein is one of the six micro-states in Europe. It is also, together with Uzbekistan, one of the only two countries in the world that is doubly isolated from the sea, that is, from Liechtenstein you have to cross at least two borders to reach the sea.

The main attractions of the country are:

• Vaduz Castle
• National Museum of Art and History
• Hiking and mountain biking in Malbun
• St. Peter’s Cathedral
• Liechtenstein National Park
• The Postal Museum
• Taste country’s traditional cuisine like fondue, ribel, Käsknöpfle and local wine

With WPT Prime Liechtenstein you can visit a small country, but win big and be the next one to claim the WPT Prime Perpetual Trophy!

The 2023 WPT Choctaw Main Event was played from May 5-8 and had 612 $5,000 unique entries, distributing a total of $2.1 million in prizes. Jaffee was the last one standing, managing to weave his way through the field and gather all the chips, as well as the second biggest prize of his career: $400K. When asked what the victory meant to him he told us: “WPT is as prestigious a tour as there is in poker, so winning two main events on their tour is a special accomplishment.”

While Jaffee has 34 cashes and 6 final tables on the World Poker Tour, the recent win in Choctaw is his best memory from all his years playing on the tour: “Obviously winning makes it special to begin with, but I also had tons of friends there cheering me on as well as my parents. Having my parents there to see it firsthand and seeing them as happy as they were definitely made it extra special.”

With his first place finish, he also won a seat in the 2023 WPT World Championship and rose to third place in the WPT Player of the Year rankings. Bin Weng is currently leading the rankings and we asked Jared if he has aspirations of sitting atop the leaderboard: “I doubt I will be able to catch Bin because his lead is so huge. I may only play one or two more events this season and it would likely take another win at least. Anything is possible, but I consider it highly unlikely and it isn’t really something I’m thinking about.”

Jaffee’s first World Poker Tour win came almost a decade ago, back in November 2013 at the WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, which had 358 entries pay the $3,500 buy-in. For his first place finish, he took home a prize of $252K and got his name affixed to the (now-called) Mike Sexton Cup. Below is a clip of Jaffee’s interview with the WPT’s Tony Dunst after his victory:

When asked what advice he would give someone who is going to play their first WPT Main Event, Jaffee replied “I would just tell them that the structures are very forgiving. You don’t need to panic if you lose a few pots early on and you should still be in a position where you won’t need to force the issue. Try not to think to far ahead and just focus on the next hand. Also, just enjoy it: they are fun events to play with a great staff!”

We wondered if Jaffee was among those who actively utilize poker training sites, but he said that “To be honest I’m not much of a studier. For me it’s more about getting in reps and playing as much as possible. I’ll also talk hands occasionally with people I think are more studied than myself hoping to grab some extra insight the easy way.”

Here’s a list of the six WPT final tables that Jared has made:

Date	Event	Buy-In	Entries	Result	Prize
January 2010	Southern Poker Championship	$10,000	208	4th	$135,079
August 2010	Legends of Poker	$5,000	462	5th	$86,000
November 2013	Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble	$3,500	358		$252,749
January 2014	Borgata Winter Poker Open	$3,500	1,229	4th	$258,590
October 2019	WPTDeepStacks Pittsburgh	$1,100	386	6th	$14,615
May 2023	Choctaw	$3,800	612		$400,740

The World Poker Tour’s final tables are 6-handed, but Jaffee notably also placed 7th at the 2014 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $167K, 7th at the 2015 WPT Choctaw for $112K, 8th at the 2016 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale for $88K and 8th at the 2021 WPT Venetian for $93K.

His First Cash, Poker’s Triple Crown and December’s Tournaments

Jaffee’s first recorded cash according to HendonMob is a tournament at the 2009 EPT Deuville . When asked what he remembered from that event, he replied “Yeah, I won a seat to the EPT Deauville on PokerStars somewhat accidentally. I thought it was a satellite to something else and next thing I knew I was headed to France. It was a nice trip and a fun experience but honestly at that point I didn’t really know what was going on. I was awful at poker and had no idea what the big time tournament scene was like. I was definitely sort of a deer in headlights, but at the same time it helped solidify that this was something I wanted to pursue and be a part of. So it was a springboard for me.”

With both a WSOP bracelet and WPT titles, Jaffee is just missing an EPT Main Event title to achieve poker’s “Triple Crown”. Is it something he would like to achieve in his career? “I’ve been missing just an EPT title for the Triple Crown now for quite a while, but my EPT experience has been very limited. It would definitely be a very cool accomplishment and I hope to play some EPT’s in the future, but I realize that I’m not likely to play a ton of them so it will be pretty difficult to make it happen. But if I pulled it off, I would definitely find it to be pretty special” he said.

In December the WPT World Championship returns to the Wynn. Jaffee shared his thoughts on the 2022 edition and whether he thinks that this year the tournaments will be even bigger: “I think pretty much everything the Wynn does is top shelf. Last year’s event was tremendous and as soon as it was over, I knew it was there to stay and I was looking forward to playing it again. As far as the field size, I assume it would be similar depending on the exact timing of the WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas. I think having the two series compete is truly unfortunate and undesirable. With that said, I can’t see a time where I won’t support the Wynn and promote their events. I think it’s important to be vocal when venues do things right because sadly that isn’t the norm.”

To finish, Jaffee shared what he enjoyed most about live tournaments: “I think my favorite part of live tournaments is that every time you sit down you get a different experience. Not all of them are good, but never knowing who you are going to be playing with and what you may see definitely makes for an entertaining environment. I’m not a big fan of routine and when it comes to poker tournaments you never know what’s gonna happen from one minute to the next. It’s definitely more my speed.”

*All images courtesy WorldPokerTour.com

Check out some more great interviews here on Cardplayer Lifestyle:

• Scott Eskenazi, 2023 WPT Rolling Thunder champion
• Alex Gray, WPT presenter
• David Costabile, actor and player
• Hili Shakked, former head of 888poker
• Andre Akkari, poker legend from Brazil
• Tom Wheaton and Alec Rome, producers of the documentary “Dreamers”
• Erin Lydon, Poker Power Managing Director
• Kyna England, Poker Power Instructor & 2021 MSPT Player of the Year

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

We head back to Taipei in August for #WPTPrimeTaiwan featuring our first ever $1 MILLION GTD Main Event with a TWD 33,000 (~$1,100) buy-in!

Festival: Aug 8 – Aug 21
Main Event: Aug 17 – Aug 21

More Info & Full Schedule: https://t.co/4xevRBalOk pic.twitter.com/tfXRrRKrrq

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) June 22, 2023

The WPT Prime Taiwan Festival

The festival will kick off on August 8 at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP) and will run through August 21. It will consist of 46 events with buy-ins starting at TWD 6,000 up to the TWD 300,000 High Stakes Challenge. The WPT Prime Main Event will take place from August 17 to 21. It will cost TWD 33,000 ($1,100) to buy-in and have a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000.

In addition, a large number of satellites will be played for the most important events. There will also be a freeroll satellite with free entry on August 8th with 10 tickets available to the Warm Up event satellite. So even if your bankroll isn’t too flush, you can still win your way into a seat at the table.

These will be the most high-profile events of the festival:

You can download the Player’s Guide with the full schedule and structures of all tournaments at this link.

The WPT Prime Taiwan Main Event

The marquee tournament of the WPT Prime Taiwan festival will begin on August 17 and will have three starting days, according to the schedule below:

• Day 1A: August 17 at 11:30 AM (Play till field is in the money)
• Day 1B: August 18 at 11:30 AM (Play till field is in the money)
• Day 1C: August 19 at 11:30 AM (Play till field is in the money)
• Day 2: August 20 at 11:30 AM (Play till the Final Table of nine players has been reached)
• Day 3: August 21 at 11:30 AM (Final Table)

The tournament structure will be as follows:

• Buy-In: TWD 33,000
• Re-entry: Unlimited re-entry is allowed until the start of Level 7, when registration ends.
• Guaranteed prize pool: $1,000,000
• Starting stack: 30,000
• Blind Levels: 40 minutes on Day 1 and 60 minutes on Days 2 and 3.
• Ante Format: Big Blind Ante.
• Late Registration: Registration closes at the start of Level 7.
• Action Clock: Will be put in place at the start of Day 2 and will be used until the completion of the tournament.
• Player per Table: Play will start with 9-handed tables where space available and will move to 8-handed as soon as possible when in the money.
• Payouts: 12.5% of field
• Requirement for players: In order to play in the event, each player must sign the WPT Player Release Form and be a Crown Poker Club member.

The Venue

The Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP) was created in 2015 and has nine branches in Taiwan. The largest of all is the one located in the capital of Taipei and the venue can accommodate up to 250 players at the same time. The WPT Prime Taiwan festival will be played there and its location is ideal for getting to know the city center.

As in Brazil, gambling and casinos are illegal in Taiwan. But poker lovers have the possibility to play in legal clubs where tournaments are held exclusively. The only requirement to participate is that you be a member of the club.

The City of Taipei, Taiwan

Taipei is the capital of the Republic of China. It is the political, economic and cultural center of the country. The city has an elevated subway and is connected by high-speed rail to Kaohsiung. It straddles the Tamsui River and is 25 kilometers southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean.

What can you see in Taipei? The most visited attractions are:

• Taipei 101, the eleventh tallest building in the world
• National Palace Museum
• Shilin Night Market
• Longshan Temple
• The Grand Hotel
• Tamsui river

The World Poker Tour in Taiwan

The World Poker Tour visited Taiwan for the first time at the Taipai CTP during December 2020 with its WPTDeepStacks circuit. The tournament featured 526 NT$15,000 buy-ins and the prize pool was NT$6,768,000 ($236,921). The winner was Huang Pu , who collected a prize of NT$1,317,800 ($46,131).

The first WPT Prime Taiwan was played in Taipei in November last year and had 877 entries worth NT$33,000. The prize pool was NT$25,196,600 ($809,133), more than doubling the guaranteed prize pool of NT$10,000,000. The champion was Marc Inizan , who won a grand prize of NT$4,326,600 ($138,939).

Marc Inizan / Photo: Tomas Stacha

If Taiwan is on your list of places to visit and you also want to play a tournament that will distribute a million dollars in prizes, you should head on over to WPT Prime Taiwan.

The WPT Prime San Remo Festival

The festival features 26 events, with the Prime Main Event running from June 7-11 carrying a buy-in of €1,100. It features tournaments for all bankrolls, with buy-ins starting from €200 up to the €1,650 buy-in High Roller. A variety of satellites for the Main Event Prime and High Roller are available for players who want to win their entry for a low investment.

These are the festival events:

Find the full schedule, including satellites at this link.

The WPT Prime San Remo Main Event

The most important tournament of the festival features the details below:

• Buy-In: €1,100
• Re-entry: unlimited during late registration
• Starting stack: 30,000
• Blind levels: 40 minutes
• Late registration: 6 levels
• Payouts: 12.5% of the field

Schedule:

• Day 1A: Wednesday June 7 at 1 PM
• Day 1B: Thursday June 8 at 1 PM
• Day 1C: Friday June 9 at 1 PM
• Day 1D: Friday June 9 at 7 PM
• Day 2: Saturday June 10 at 1 PM (until the final table)
• Day 3: Sunday June 11 at 1 PM (final table)

The Main Event champion will add his or her name to the new WPT Prime Perpetual Trophy , which was released in the last stage of WPT Prime Vietnam .

The Venue

The Casino di Sanremo first opened in 1905 under the name of Kurzaal and was managed by the architect Eugene Ferret. Activities at the casino included parties, shows, concerts, and games of chance. In December 1927, the casino was  renamed Casino di San Remo and authorized to offer legal gambling. The official opening of the casino occurred on January 21, 1928 with a grand gala night.

The casino stands at 18 Corso Inglesi, in the heart of the city. It is connected to Piazza Colombo by the Via Matteotti pedestrian street, which is ideal for shopping, culture, and entertainment.

The City of Sanremo, Italy

The most popular activities in San Remo include:

• Enjoy one of the beautiful beaches such as Tre Ponti, Serenella, or Lido Foce
• La Pigna: the old historic center built to defend against pirates
• The Reina Elena Gardens: one of the most charming green spaces in the city
• Get to know the Co-Cathedral of San Ciro: the oldest church in San Remo
• See a show at the Ariston Theatre: it has been the venue of the famous Festival Della Canzone Italiana since 1977
• Go to the Fort of Santa Tecla, built in 1756

Past WPT Events in San Remo

It will be the fifth time that the World Poker Tour visits the city of San Remo. Past editions include:

Date	Circuit	Buy-In	Entries	Prize Pool	Champion	Prize
June 2015	WPT National	€990	354	€309,042	Denis Karakashi	€70,000
April 2016	WPT National	€990	616	€456,503	Joeri Zandvliet	€102,000
October 2016	WPT National	€1,000	444	€387,612	Christophe Bouziane	€78,000
June 2018	WPTDeepStacks	€1,000	286	€249,678	Melanie Hafeli	€57,081

The last leg of the WPT Prime took place in Vietnam. The Vietnam Main Event garnered 1,151 entries and distributed $1M in prizes. This was the biggest WPT Main Event in Asia, the second-largest WPT Prime Main Event in history, and the largest non-High Roller event in terms of entries in Vietnam.

We’ll see if the WPT Prime San Remo   manages to break some records this month!

“Virgin Voyages has totally re-imagined the cruising experience, and their ideals perfectly align with the evolution of WPT in our commitment to build unique memories for poker players across the globe,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. He added: “The WPT Voyage will elevate an already amazing onboard experience with world-class poker and entertainment, creating one of the most fun and sought-after events on the calendar”.

The Valiant Lady will depart from Miami on March 31 and make stops in Grand Cayman and Bimini in the Bahamas. The cruise will return to the port of Miami on April 6.

The Festival

There will be 80 poker tables on board the ship to satisfy the demand of all poker players. The most high profile tournament will be the $5,000 Main Event, which will have a huge $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. There will also be a $1,100 Prime Event with a $500,000 guarantee, and a $25,000 High Roller event. Cash games of all stake levels will also be offered throughout.

Here are the most high-profile events of the festival:

• $5,000 Main Event – $1,000,000 Guarantee
• $1,100 Prime – $500,000 Guarantee
• $25,000 High Roller
• $1,000 Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold’em
• $200 Ladies Event
• $125 No-Limit Hold’em Freeze-out

In another direct result of the new Virgin Voyages-World Poker Tour partnership, The Scarlet Lady has debuted the “WPT at Sea” poker room. This is the first shipboard standing poker venue. Each sailing of the Scarlet Lady will offer qualifying satellites for the WPT Voyage Main Event. The poker room features eight poker tables and will offer tournaments and satellites each time it departs on a voyage.

Already making booking for our inaugural @WPT @VirginVoyages takeover March 31-April 6, 2024! https://t.co/0jRQ8BdWSt

Don’t miss the boat! https://t.co/9KTKn2INh5 pic.twitter.com/IgVGmskhJ8

— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) May 17, 2023

Onboard entertainment

In addition to poker, there will be many entertainment options on board the Lady Valiant during the WPT Voyage festival next spring, including:

• Grand Cayman Golf Tournament: Join Matt Savage in Grand Cayman for an unforgettable golf tournament.
• Bimini Beach Club Party: Massive Pool Party at Bimini Beach Club featuring world-class DJs.
• Parties onboard: Unforgettable parties onboard!
• Restaurants: 20 boutique restaurants with delicious, made-to-order meals.
• Shows: modern and immersive shows developed by industry-leading directors, choreographers, and artists.
• Private karaoke rooms: Sing and have fun with friends.
• Relax in the swimming pools and spa.
• Tattoos: Get inked at the tattoo parlor.
• More entertainment: pub games and trivia nights.

The Valiant Lady

The Valiant Lady first floated in May 2020. It is reserved exclusively for adults and the minimum age to board is 18 years old. The ship offers 1,330 cabins, 78 RockStar quarters, and two iconic Massive Suites. Eighty-six percent of the cabins feature balconies and 93 percent have ocean views. In total, the ship can accommodate 2,800 guests and more than 1,150 crew members. The ship offers several swimming pools, a gymnasium, tattoo studio, beach club, theater, karaoke rooms,  a cooking school, a restaurant with a tasting menu, discotheques, and a spa.

Since the brand’s launch in 2021, Virgin Voyages has earned a number of top awards in the consumer travel and cruise industry categories. Most recently, the brand took home all five awards in its category for this year’s Cruisers’ Choice Awards with Cruise Critic. This includes Best Overall Cruise Line, Best Dining, Best Cabins, Best Service and Best Value for Money. On top of this awards sweep, Virgin Voyages was recently named on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2023 Hot List, a curated list of the world’s best new cruises.

Spots for the 2024 WPT Voyage are sure to fill up quickly, so be sure to reserve your cabin now.

You can learn about and take a virtual tour of the ship in this video:

If you are looking forward to a cruise, having fun on board, and playing poker, you know where to go next year. The WPT Voyage awaits.

The WPT Prime Vietnam Festival

The festival offers 38 events with entries ranging from $140 to the Billionaire Club High Stakes Challenge at $9,000. The action will begin on May 16 with an Opener event with a $375 buy-in. This event offers three starting rounds and a $85,000 guaranteed prize pool. Additionally, WPT Prime Vietnam offers a guaranteed prize pool of $1.2 million to be distributed among all tournaments in the series.

The featured events:

You can see the complete schedule and structures of all the WPT Prime Vietnam events in this link.

The Main Event

Schedule:

• Day 1A: Thursday, May 25 at 11 AM (play till field is in the money)
• Day 1B: Friday, May 26 at 11 AM (play till field is in the money)
• Day 1C: Saturday, May 27 at 11 AM (play till field is in the money)
• Day 2: Sunday, May 28 at 11 AM (play till the final table has been reached)
• Final Table: Monday, May 29 at 12 PM

Structure:

• Buy-In: $1,066
• Starting Stack: 30,000 chips (150 big blinds)
• Guaranteed Prize Pool: $511,751
• Ante Format: Big Blind Ante
• Blind Levels: 40 minutes during Day 1 and 60 minutes during Day 2 and Final Table
• First Blind Level: 100/200 with 200 Big Blind Ante
• Late Registration: registration closes at the start of Level 7
• Payouts: 12.5% of the field

The WPT Prime Vietnam Venue

Crown Poker Club is located at 214 Hao Nam, 7th floor of NHS Center, Dong Da in Hanoi. The lounge features 30 poker tables and has its own kitchen offering a wide variety of dishes. It is equipped with the latest table system and the best live streaming devices available.

The WPT Prime Vietnam festival organizers are offering a variety of packages to players that include lodging at the Pullman Hotel, breakfast, a 20% discount on food and beverages for $95 per night. To qualify for this price individuals must play the Main Event, the Warm-Up, or one of the High Roller events. For more information please email [email protected].

We're headed back to Asia for #WPTPrimeVietnam in May featuring a VND25,000,000 Main Event @CrownPokerClub!

Festival Dates : May 16 – May 29
Main Event Dates : May 25 – May 29

More Info & Full Schedule: https://t.co/90zg7EeRbk pic.twitter.com/MZ22sssurN

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) April 21, 2023

The City

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the second largest city in the country after Ho Chi Minh City. It is located in the northern part of the country, on the right bank of the Red River just over 1,000 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City and about 75 miles west of Hải Phòng, Vietnam’s main port.

The ten most popular attractions in Hanoi are: the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, Water Puppet Theatre, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, The Perfume Pagoda, Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son, Dong Xuan Market, Hanoi Old Quarter, Ba Vi National Park, Hanoi Opera House, and the Temple of Literature.

Past Editions of WPT in Vietnam

The World Poker Tour visited Vietnam five times, starting in 2014 with the WPT Dragon Series. The most recent edition was last year with the new WPT Prime circuit. Below are all the champions of the Vietnam main events:

Last year’s edition of WPT Prime Vietnam registered a record 777 entries (the largest WPT tournament ever in Vietnam) and distributed $738,020 in prizes among the top 96 players. Two players from India defined the tournament: Ashish Munot took second, winning $87K, while the champion was Zarvan Tumboli, winning the biggest prize of his career: $131,394.

Zarvan Tumboli won his way into the WPT history books by taking down the 777-entry field of the WPT Prime Vietnam Main Event at the Crown Poker Club in Hanoi to become the first-ever WPT Prime champion!

Zarvan takes home the trophy, the glory, and $131,134 USD for first! pic.twitter.com/gRv6gk1PJ1

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) May 30, 2022

Will it be possible to surpass the 777 entries in the Main Event this year? During 2023 the WPT Prime circuit has thus far passed through Paris (1,071 entries), Gold Coast (1,224), Cambodia (1,011), Amsterdam (1,000) and India (857). Will WPT Vietnam Prime top the 1,000 entry mark to become the largest WPT field in Vietnam yet? We will soon find out.

Photo: Joe Giron

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown

Between the two initial days, there were 2,290 registrations. This was thus the second largest edition of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. There was a huge prize pool of $7,328,000 which was distributed among the top 287 players. Among the awarded participants were: Andrew Moreno (15^th place), Natasha Mercier (18^th place), WPT Champions Asher Conniff (20^th place), Taylor von Kriegenbergh (22^nd place), Ryan Riess (28^th place), Matthew Wantman (55^th place) and Chance Kornuth (105^th place), WPT Global Ambassador Ethan “Rampage” Yau (65^th place), and many more. All of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown payouts can be found here.

Danny Garcia became the father of his first daughter, Leah Alize on Day 2, and had to let his stack be consumed by the blinds. Her birth was expected in mid-May, but it came early and he had to rush to the hospital mid-tournament. He was eliminated in 236th place and won $5,850 without playing a single hand on Day 2.

I had a baby girl Best reason to miss Day 2 pic.twitter.com/Ks6xJcVCsF

— Danny Invested (@DInvested) May 1, 2023

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Final Table

During Day 4 the final table was defined:

1. Bin Weng – 46,050,000 (154 bb’s)
2. Sridhar Sangannagari – 19,100,000 (64 bb’s)
3. Mitch Garshofsky – 18,550,000 (62 bb’s)
4. David Mzareulov - 13,350,000 (45 bb’s)
5. Naing Thu – 13,250,000 (44 bb’s)
6. Rafael Farah Jarufe – 4,275,000 (14 bb’s)

The chip leader is Bin Weng with a stack of 154 big blinds and 40% of the total chips. In 2017, Bin started playing the live circuit and has 111 cashes under his belt, with earnings of $3.2M. He is playing his second WPT final table at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. In 2020 he finished fifth at the Borgata Winter Poker Open, winning $187K. If he is crowned champion, he will win the biggest prize of his career.

Bin Weng / Photo: Joe Giron

Second in chips is Sridhar Sangannagari of India with 64 big blinds. He has earned $1.7M online and $175K in live events. This is his second WPT cash and his first final table. The other non-American at the final table is Rafael Farah Jarufe, who will seek to become Peru’s first WPT champion. This is his third cash in a WPT Main Event.

These are the prizes still to be distributed:

1. + $1,128,250 + $10,400 seat at the 2023 WPT World Championship
2. $745,000
3. $550,000
4. $413,000
5. $312,000
6. $238,000

The final table of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown will commence on May 25 at the HyperX Arena located in the Luxor Hotel & Casino. All remaining action is set to be filmed for television. Who will add their name to the prestigious Mike Sexton trophy?

If you wish to see photos of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown you can do so on the WPT Flickr website.

WPT Choctaw

The next WPT stop will be at the Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma and will be played May 5-8 with a $3,800 buy-in and a guaranteed prize pool of $2,000,000. The festival began on April 28 and will feature 70 events altogether, with buy-ins starting at just $130.

Main Event Schedule:

• Day 1A: May 5 at 11 AM
• Day 1B: May 6 at 11 AM
• Day 2: May 7 at 12 PM
• Day 3: May 8 at 12 PM

You can see the complete calendar with all the events and satellites at this link.

WPT Gardens Poker Championship

The 2023 WPT Gardens Poker Championship will be held May 15-31 at the Gardens Casino in California. The main event will feature a buy-in of $5,250 and will be played May 21-25. On May 19 at 11 AM, one of Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen‘s popular Meet Up Games will be held with $5/$5 cash games.

Main Event Schedule:

• Day 1A: May 21 at 11 AM
• Day 1B: May 22 at 11 AM
• Day 2: May 23 at 12 PM
• Day 3: May 24 at 12 PM
• Day 4: May 25 at 12 PM

These will be the dates of the final tables that will be played out in Las Vegas:

• WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown: May 25
• WPT Choctaw: May 26
• WPT Gardens Poker Championship: May 27

Across just three days we will have three new World Poker Tour champions!

The WPT Prime Slovakia Festival

The festival will be held at the Card Casino in the capital city of Bratislava, Slovakia. A total of 18 tournaments will be played, guaranteeing a total of €1,250,000 in prizes. There will also be satellites to the most important tournaments and to the 2023 WPT World Championship to be played in December in Las Vegas.

Kicking off the WPT Prime Slovakia festival will be Event #1, the WPT Bratislava Championship, which will have a buy-in of €330 and a huge guaranteed prize pool of €250,000. Seven starting flights will be available for participants to seek their pass to Day 2.

Listed below are the WPT Prime Slovakia events that will have guaranteed prize pools:

You can see the complete schedule at this link.

The WPT Prime Slovakia Main Event

The highest profile tournament of the festival will be the WPT Prime Slovakia Main Event, which will feature a buy-in of €1,100 and a guaranteed prize pool of €500,000. Starting stacks will be 30,000 chips and the blinds will increase every 40 minutes.

This will be the schedule for WPT Prime Slovakia Main Event:

• Day 1A: Thursday, May 11 at 4 p.m.
• Day 1B: Friday, May 12 at 1 p.m.
• Day 1C: Friday, May 12 at 6 p.m.
• Day 1D: Saturday, May 13 at 1 p.m.
• Day 1E: Saturday, May 13 at 6 p.m.
• Day 2: Sunday, May 14 at 3 p.m.
• Day 3: Monday, May 15 at 2 p.m.

#WPTPrimeSlovakia is coming up next month at @cardcasino_svk featuring an €1,100 €500k GTD Main Event!

Festival Dates: May 3 – 15
Main Event Dates: May 11 – 15

More Info & Full Schedule: https://t.co/KbqaQzG5YR pic.twitter.com/a6ZV8veFaS

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) April 10, 2023

The WPT Prime Slovakia Venue

The Card Casino is the largest gaming establishment in Slovakia at 8,000 square meters. In addition to the traditional games of blackjack, slots, roulette and baccarat, the facility features a Cabaret and several restaurants. It is located right next to Bratislava airport and just 30 minutes from Vienna airport in neighboring Austria. If you’re further afield, it’s only two hours from Budapest, Hungary and three hours from Prague, Czech Republic.

The Poker Room awaiting players at Bratislava’s Card Casino

The Card Casino offers players three different packages that include transfers, hotel and tournament entry:

• WPT Silver €1,600: airport pick-up, 5 nights in Vienna House Hotel, free buffet and WPT Prime entry
• WPT Gold €1,900: airport pick-up, 5 nights in NH One Gate Hotel, free buffet and WPT Prime entry
• WPT Premium €4,900: airport pick-up, 5 nights in NH One Gate Hotel, free buffet, WPT Prime entryand WPT High Roller €3K entry

The City of Bratislava, Slovakia

Bratislava is the seat of the Slovak parliament and government and offers a wide range of artistic, cultural, and educational offerings. The southern territories of Slovakia, including Bratislava, were part of the Kingdom of Hungary from the arrival of the Hungarians in 895 until the end of World War I in 1918.

What is there to see in Bratislava? There is a wide variety of options, from touring the historic center, passing under St. Michael’s Gate, visiting Bratislava Castle, learning about the country’s past at the Bratislava History Museum, and admiring St. Martin’s Cathedral. You can also climb the tower of the Old Town Hall, photograph St. Elizabeth’s Church, explore nature around the city, stand in front of the Savlin, and admire the facade of Grassalkovich Palace. Other alternatives include looking for Bratislava statues, climbing the Most SNP or Bratislava UFO, taking a trip to Devin Castle and enjoying the city’s nightlife.

WPT Prime tournaments have been very successful around the world so far in 2023. The Paris leg registered 1,071 entries in January and that number was surpassed in Australia with 1,224 entries on the Gold Coast. Can WPT Prime Slovakia surpass it? We will see in a few days!

ClubWPT will stage 14 satellites (two per month) from April 16 until the end of October. Each satellite will have 20 guaranteed entries to the WPT World Championship Challenge, which will be played on November 5. The top 10 placed players in that event will win a WPT World Championship Passport valued at $12,500 to play in the WPT Season 2023 Grand Final in Las Vegas.

“ClubWPT is an essential branch of the World Poker Tour landscape, and as such, we sought to link the site and its members to our biggest event of the year,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “We are proud to offer a chance to win a seat to the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas to all members of the WPT community.”

PRESS RELEASE@ClubWPT will run a 300-player #WPTWorldChampionship Challenge finale on November 5, giving away $150,000 in prizes!

Read more: https://t.co/2s2DwvYKPr

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) April 20, 2023

Here are the details of the next satellite to be played this Sunday:

• Date & Time: Sunday, Apr 23 @ 5:30 PM ET (Diamond eligible)
• Lobby Name: $150K WPT WC Passport Challenge – Satellite
• Game: No-Limit Texas Hold’em
• Top twenty (20) finishers of each satellite will win a seat into the $150,000 WPT World Championship Passport Challenge qualifier on Sunday, November 5, 2023.

In addition to the two monthly satellites, there will be one last chance to qualify with the Last Chance Invitational to be played at the end of October. ClubWPT members who were unable to qualify via the previous satellites will be able to participate and will also have the chance to claim 20 entries for the WPT World Championship Challenge.

$150,000 WPT World Championship Challenge

On Sunday November 5, the WPT World Championship Challenge will be held with the 300 people who won their entries via the 15 satellites. The top 10 finishers will win a passport package valued at $12,500 which includes the following prizes:

• $10,400 WPT World Championship Main Event seat.
• Hotel stay at the luxurious Wynn Las Vegas.
• $1,000 cash (self-arranged flight and incidentals).
• Dedicated ClubWPT VIP host.
• Official ClubWPT branded merchandise.
• Meet & greet with WPT talent.

In addition, a total of $25,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to those finishing in 11th-100th place in the final:

• 11th-13th: $1,000
• 14th-15th: $750
• 16th-20th: $500
• 21st-40th: $350
• 41st-60th: $250
• 61st-80th: $200
• 81st-100th: $100

With a full third — 100 of the 300 participants — receiving some sort of prize, just getting to play in the WPT World Championship Challenge is a lucrative opportunity.

About ClubWPT

ClubWPT is the official subscription online poker game of the World Poker Tour. VIP and Diamond users pay a monthly subscription fee for exclusive access to member benefits including full episodes from every past season of the WPT television show, valuable savings and coupons, invites to official World Poker Tour live events and much more. Each month, members can play poker to win a share of more than $100,000 in cash and prizes, including seats to live WPT events.

WPT World Championship 2022

The 2022 WPT World Championship was an absolute success and broke numerous World Poker Tour records. The series’ Main Event featured the largest guaranteed prize pool in history at $15 million, which came very close to being doubled with over $29 million in prize money being awarded.

Last year, ClubWPT sent nearly 30 members to the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas to play in the $10,400 event and aims to top that mark this season. Along with an extraordinary poker experience, Passport winners were granted access to an exclusive VIP lounge and unique promotions.

Eliot Hudon

Last year, three of the series’ most prestigious events were won by Eliot Hudon, Stephen Song, and Lina Niu.

The return of the World Poker Tour’s highly anticipated festival is scheduled for November 29 to December 23. The full schedule of events has not yet been announced, but we already know that the 2023 WPT World Championship Main Event will be played from December 12-18.

New and additional ways to qualify for the 2023 WPT World Championship will surely continue to be announced, so keep your eyes peeled and check back with us here at Cardplayer Lifestyle for the news!

His victory sent the world of poker into a frenzy and triggered a global boom which has often been referred to as the “Moneymaker effect”. Many of my current and past peers started their journey during these years and the poker industry has gone through several stages of marketing efforts, ambitious projects, development, setbacks and regulations.

Although the current streak of record numbers in flagship tournaments all over the world feels like an reiteration of the initial poker boom, there are several circumstances that ought to be considered in the grand scheme of things. Even now in 2023, the poker industry remains a niche market with limited visibility across the mainstream media and tarnished by the negative effects of its gambling reputation.

This Era’s New Major Power Player: GGPoker

From my personal point of view, poker’s being a niche market hasn’t really changed in more than a decade. Rather, there were just temporary flashes of engagement with mainstream celebrities initiated by the likes of PokerStars, partypoker, Full Tilt and the latest challenger for the industry spotlight, GGPoker. With the latter, a new contender has somewhat revolutionized the online poker scene and made it by far more competitive while they also made strides on the live poker circuit with numerous partnerships.

Standing out the most is perhaps GGPoker’s close-knit cooperation with the WSOP over the last few years, replacing prior long-term partner 888poker at the helm of dedicated satellites. They have launched countless innovations and have essentially set the pace out of the blue, becoming the first brand to not only get close to, but then even overtake PokerStars in terms of online poker traffic and perhaps even global exposure.

Even the Triton Poker High Roller series has teamed up with GGPoker as title sponsor in 2023 and the high-stakes brand also welcomed Shamballa Jewels and SecretLab as further event sponsors. It isn’t the first time Shamballa has entered the fray in poker as they previously cooperated with the World Poker Tour (WPT). SecretLab is a company based in Singapore that specializes in gaming chairs, catering to yet another niche market that has become a rapidly growing global industry.

World Poker Tour Still Going Strong After 20 Years

On paper, the WPT is perhaps a prime example of a major poker entity to embrace main stream partnerships outside of the enclosed poker bubble. They have recently celebrated their 20th anniversary and during that spell, the WPT engaged with several global enterprises to expand their horizon. Standing out the most from that list are perhaps the luxury jewelry brands Hublot and Baccarat, but they also have ties within the poker industry to companies such as Zynga Poker and Faded Spade.

The recent success of the global online and live poker operator culminated in stunning numbers during the WPT World Championship in December 2022 at the Wynn Las Vegas. It’s flagship $10,400 Main Event came with the largest guarantee in history ($15 million) which was nearly doubled thanks to an incredible 2,960 entrants, creating the largest live poker event for the brand to bring on the fireworks.

Moreover, the WPT have moved their major final tables to Sin City as well with the showdowns taking place at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas since 2019. As part of the move, the broadcasts were recorded for the FOX Sports Networks, which was later followed by Bally Sports. WPT’s poker content was also distributed to the South American market via TV Azteca, which furthermore promoted the social poker gaming site WPTGO as part of the partnership.

Poker on TV… and PokerGO

Poker on TV was not necessarily an extraordinary occasion since the initial poker boom 20 years ago, especially as the WSOP gathered the most attention thanks to its shows on ESPN.  However, that cooperation concluded in 2021 when CBS Sports took over thanks to a new multi-year rights agreement.

Streaming platform PokerGO also joined the fray and took over many final tables during the annual summer camp in Las Vegas, which likely reduced the overall exposure of the card game to a wider audience in mainstream media channels. While poker enthusiasts wouldn’t worry about forking out a few dollars per month to watch new and exciting content because the card game has become their passion, the very same cannot be said about casual viewers who would otherwise have stumbled over a broadcast by chance.

Where Does the Poker Industry Go From Here?

Poker remains tightly connected to a gambling image that hasn’t been distinguished enough to the public despite numerous portals showcasing the multi-faceted aspects in regards to strategy, psychology, and risk-versus reward scheme. Poker operators themselves have launched their own schools to complement the available pool of poker training sites and learning communities.

They have also spent fortunes on advertising through various different verticals in the hopes of attracting new customers. One such method included the signing of well-known international figures such as sports or music stars, and even established marketing agencies to boost their exposure. In the grand scheme of things, that may very well have been a successful strategy in the past, much like sports bettors rely on NBA expert picks to make informed wagers. Then again, times are changing with social media influencers on Instagram and TikTok becoming a perhaps more considerate choice among the younger generation.

It still feels as if poker hasn’t been able to break out of its self-inflicted bubble and the most attention gathered in mainstream media is typically triggered by a select few moments or viral cheating scandals. The card game may have broken out of smoke-filled back rooms only to gather in the corner section of a casino instead. Even so, poker still has so many lessons to teach that can be used in all areas of life; alas, these things barely ever get any attention whatsoever.

As far as Chris Moneymaker himself is concerned, his name will forever be etched into the history books of the poker world. Now enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame for his contributions to the industry, he represented PokerStars for more than a decade before eventually switching to become an ambassador for another operator. His latest venture is (re)launching the Moneymaker Tour at live poker stops across the USA.