WPT EveryOne for One Drop $10K

This event was played from July 9-14 at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas and featured a buy-in of $10,500. A total of 1,676 entries created a prize pool of $16.2 million, far exceeding the $10 million guarantee.

Among the notable players who finished in the money were: Isaac Haxton (198th), Erik Seidel (197th), Joe McKeehen (192nd), Andrew Moreno (186th), Chris Moneymaker (141st), Ethan “Rampage” Yau (127th ), Dan Smith (115th), Jeremy Ausmus (79th), 2022 WPT World Championship champion Eliot Hudon (66th), Adrián Mateos (57th), WPT Prime Championship winner Stephen Song (39th), 4-time WPT champion Darren Elias (19th) and Stephen Chidwick (16th), among others.

The winner of the tournament was Bin Weng, who collected the biggest prize of his career: $2.2 million. Weng is in the midst of his best year ever, having already made two final tables in WPT Main Events — placing fourth at the WPT Choctaw for $143K and winning the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown for $1.1 million. With these results he leads the WPT Player of the Year rankings, and has passed the $7 million mark for career live tournament earnings.

Bin Weng Wins the WPT EveryOne for One Drop ($2,227,054)
Photo Credit : WPT#onedrop #wpt #wynnlasvegas #everyoneforonedrop #poker4water pic.twitter.com/BYMSrwPQTP

— All In For ONE DROP (@allinforonedrop) July 15, 2023

The final table consisted of a half dozen crushers, each of whom happily padded their bank accounts:

1. Bin Weng –  $2,227,054
2. Scott Baumstein  –  $1,503,988
3. Niko Koop  –  $1,872,438
4. Freddy Heller –  $956,000
5. Dominik Nitsche   –  $700,100
6. Tom Cannuli  –  $524,500

WPT Alpha 8 For One Drop $111K

After several years of absence, the exclusive Alpha 8-branded tournament returned and was played from July 14-16 at the Wynn Casino. With 45 entrants paying $111K each for seats at the tables, the total prize pool was $4.6 million, and it was split among the final seven players.

The lion’s share went to Jonathan Jaffe, who collected the biggest prize of his career: over $1.5 million. Jonathan is a regular player on the World Poker Tour, where he boasts 14 cashes, 4 final tables and 1 title (WPT Montreal in 2014). With his Alpha 8 win, he boosted his live tournament earnings to $9 million.

Here’s how the final table played out among those who made the money:

1. Jonathan Jaffe –  $1,537,600
2. Taylor von Kriegenbergh –  $1,042,100
3. Dan Smith –  $701,700
4. Aleksejs Ponakovs –  $485,200
5. Michael Lim –  $350,100
6. Iaron Lightbourne –  $273,200
7. Isaac Haxton –  $222,600

Congratulations Jonathan Jaffe, Winner of the $111,000 @WPT Alpha 8 For One Drop Event. Jonathan battled his way to victory through a star studded field, taking home $1,537,600! pic.twitter.com/BGVNylpKxX

— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) July 17, 2023

WPT Big One For One Drop $1M

The crown jewel of the WPT-One Drop Foundation trifecta will be the return of the “Big One For One Drop,” which will feature a whopping $1 million price tag to enter, and which will be played from December 18-20 as part of the 2023 WPT World Championship. It will be the fifth edition of this event after previous installments of the tournament held in 2012 (winner: Antonio Esfandiari – $18.3M), 2014 (winner: Dan Colman – $15.3M), 2016 (winner: Elton Tsang – $12.2M) and 2018 (winner: Justin Bonomo – $10M).

How many entries will the new edition have? Who is most likely to emerge atop as a newly-minted multi-millionare among millionaires? Learn more in this article.

It’s coming. #TheBigOne @onedrop @allinforonedrop @WynnLasVegas @WynnPoker pic.twitter.com/0dpunxnMBV

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) July 12, 2023

The full 2023 WPT World Championship schedule will soon be announced, with even higher numbers expected than last year, and the returning Big One For One Drop on top of it all. This will signal a perfect end to 2023, a year where live poker has broken numerous records, with more likely to fall at the Wynn in December.

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!