If you would have told 21-year-old me that I’d someday get to be in the same room with those two legends, I’d be beside myself. Hell, 41-year-old me typing up these words still can’t believe I had that opportunity just a few short hours ago.

You might be asking yourself, “what was so special about that opportunity?”

There’s an old saying that you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. As much as the 2023 WPT Honors ceremony was about the honorees, in my eyes it was similarly about the group that assembled to pay tribute to said honorees.

A Ceremony Like No Other

A good deal of pomp and circumstance went into the ceremonial aspects of the event, with numerous individuals stepping up to the podium to “make the case” for each nominee’s worthiness of receiving the WPT Honors to the dutifully bespectacled and robed WPT President Adam Pliska. The World Poker Tour might be unrivaled in our industry when it comes to putting on special events like these, and to have had a seat at the ceremony was akin to witnessing a very special episode of poker’s greatest show.

After Angelica Hael officially nominated Vince Van Patten, a parade of World Poker Tour stalwarts including Matt Savage, Lynn Gilmartin, Tony Dunst, and company Founder Steve Lipscomb ascended to the mic to heap oodles of praise upon their longtime colleague and friend. Beyond their obvious outpouring of love and appreciation for the man, what stood out to me from the speeches about Vince was his colleagues’ admiration for his work ethic. Plainly speaking, the man showed up every single day and just put in the work. But Vince hasn’t just “clocked in” for 21 years; he’s done so with the same vim, vigor, and joie de vivre with which he showed up on his first day. A rare quality, to be sure.

Ever humble, Vince deflected the praise to in turn show appreciation for his World Poker Tour colleagues and the late Mike Sexton; the people who helped and supported him along the way. In response to the deluge of kind words spoken about him, he humorously quipped that “this is like attending your own funeral.”

I couldn’t help but draw direct lines of comparison to the reactions when Cal Ripken Jr. broke Major League Baseball’s consecutive games streak years ago; a veritable poker Iron Man was getting his due. How sublime for someone who has worked so hard for so long to enjoy such a special moment of public appreciation.

A similar cavalcade comprised of Jeffrey Haas, Hermance Blum, Lance Bradley, Israel Rosenthal, and Sven Stiel took to the stage one by one to express their gratitude and appreciation for Isai Scheinberg’s contributions specifically to their careers as well as to poker on the whole.

From my perspective, it was astounding to note the attendance of so many former PokerStars employees who had worked under Scheinberg until the then-privately owned company was sold in August 2014. It’s simply surreal to think that one man was ultimately responsible for putting together such an impressive array of talent. All of those people have since moved on to other successful endeavors and roles in the subsequent years, many still within the poker industry. But witnessing “the old PokerStars family” reunite under one roof felt like watching the Avengers assemble.

They spoke of Isai’s three simple, straightforward rules: never lie, never cheat, and always do the right thing. While simple, rules like those aren’t always easy to adhere to in an industry with billions of dollars at stake, as history has taught us.

Scheinberg has always been notorious for his preference of privacy. The entire poker world knows of his accomplishments, but the great man rarely, if ever, surfaced publicly. Being at the 2023 WPT Honors ceremony to see Isai accept his award felt like being transported to PokerStars’ headquarters prior to 2014; a place full of people who never lied, never cheated, and always did the right thing. No wonder it proved to be such a successful venture.

While fish may be surrounded by water, they still rise to the surface when it rains to welcome new droplets. So, too, the entire room full of luminaries could be seen leaning in to listen closely to the soft-spoken Scheinberg during the latter’s acceptance speech. It was a telling moment.

Reflections From Fellow Attendees

Reader can clearly identify my long-held esteem for both the World Poker Tour and PokerStars, but I’ve always been an outsider and independent media voice. So, in order to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for what I had borne witness to, I asked a few insiders who worked with Vince and for Isai, to share their thoughts and perspectives on the evening. Here’s what they had to say:

“There are two men in my life who have been incredible role models of what it means to be an honest entrepreneur. One of them was my late father; the other is Isai Scheinberg. I didn’t think that I was going to get into the world of gambling and learn more about honesty than I had learned before in my life as a journalist. Isai taught me that you can be a good businessman and you could be a good person at the same time. He was more generous with me than any other boss or company owner ever has been, and I think he is worthy of every honor he’s been given and more.”

Brad Willis, Editor-in-Chief of Poker.Org, formerly the Head of Blogging at PokerStars

“Both of these gentlemen have meant so much to me in my poker career. Isai doesn’t realize it, but of course being a part of the poker industry just would not have been the same without Isai Scheinberg. I want to thank him. He hasn’t received the accolades that he deserves; I think he should of course be in the Poker Hall of Fame.

And I think that Vince Van Patten deserves recognition for all that he’s done for the game. It’s not very often that you see someone who has been around in the game for as long as he has been. He’s become like family to me, so I speak from the heart: we’ve spent a lot of time together sharing our passion for poker. I really appreciate everything both of these guys have done.”

Matt Savage, Executive Tour Director of the World Poker Tour

“I’ve been in poker for just over seven years. It’s incredible to hear the historical stories and learn how our industry has evolved. We get into our positions these days and de facto only think about our current time and present roles. To go back and see the history is just incredible. There are so many stories from the people who came before us, and it’s important to appreciate them.”

Eric Lusch, Media Relations Manager with the World Poker Tour

“I have not been to a poker event since 2016. The only reason I came tonight was because of Isai Scheinberg. All the things that have been said about him; it wasn’t enough, about what this man taught me and what he taught everybody in the room. Not just about business and about poker, but about life and how to treat people the right way.

The emotion that I feel tonight is because of the sense of community that I’m feeling and don’t remember poker having had for a very long time. I miss it. The World Poker Tour was always the rival to the organization that I worked for… and I didn’t realize until tonight just how super cool the people who work for the World Poker Tour are, from the top down… and there’s no such thing as ‘down’ with them! Everybody’s got an important role to play in the World Poker Tour. I’m so impressed with the WPT, what they’ve done tonight, the sense of camaraderie they have, and the love they have for each other.

When we talk about playing poker, sitting around a table, and competing to take each other’s money… the game is about more than that. It’s about the friendships, and the love, and the trust, and the lessons you learn from one another. Even though I was here for just two hours tonight, I came away with a great sense of energy.”

Nolan Dalla, former Director of Communications at PokerStars

The Coolest-Ever Poker After-Party

Poker.org owner Eric Hollreiser, himself a former PokerStars employee, hosted a swanky afterparty in one of the Wynn ballrooms that featured an open bar, flowing chocolate fondue fountains, and the most succulent strawberries to delight our tastebuds as we mingled to mellifluous music. Designed to orchestrate a reunion of former PokerStars employees, many World Poker Tour personages could also be found among the attendees.

You can tell a lot about people by the folks they surround themselves with.

I hesitate to use the word “magic”, but there was something indescribably unique in the air throughout last night’s festivities.

I suppose that’s what happens when the spotlight shines on poker’s best. The entire room lights up.

Here are the key dates:

• Festival: November 29 to December 23
• Seniors: December 6-8
• WPT Prime Championship: December 7-12
• WPT World Championship: December 12-18
• WPT Ladies Championship: Decmeber 16-18
• Mystery Bounty: December 18-21

The complete schedule with all events and satellites will be published in the coming months.

Pliska, Beauregard Expect Another Great Series

WPT CEO Adam Pliska stated: “The WPT World Championship festival was such an extraordinary milestone during our 20th season last year, thanks to our partner Wynn Las Vegas and the enthusiastic support of the players.” He added: “It is our hope that we have started a tradition in poker that we can enhance and add to each season. We look forward to making this year’s World Championship even more memorable for players.”

“After paying out more than $53 million in total prize money last December, we are excited for the return of the WPT World Championship at Wynn,” said Ryan Beauregard, Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas. “Due to last year’s incredible turnout and the strong rapport we built with WPT, we have extended the festival dates and will create a tournament schedule to make 2023 even more memorable.”

Winners of the 2022 WPT World Championship

The inaugural edition of the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas was a resounding success, with 2,960 $10K entries and a prize pool of $29 million, nearly doubling the $15 million guaranteed.

The top 370 players cashed in the tournament and the champion was Canadian Eliot Hudon, winning the biggest prize of his career: $4,136,000. Second place went to Englishman Benny Glaser, who took home $2,830,000. Rounding out the podium was Jean-Claude Moussa with a prize of $2,095,000. All six players who made the final table received at least $1 million in prize money.

Eliot Hudon / Photo: Joe Giron

For its part, the WPT Prime Championship had 5,430 $1,100 entries and distributed $5,267,100 in prize money among the top 677 finishers. The winner was Stephen Song who earned a grand prize of $712,650 and thereby  multiplied his initial investment by a factor of 650.

The ladies had their feature tournament, too, with the WPT Ladies World Championship, which boasted 578 entries of $1,100 and a prize pool of $560,660. The champion was Canadian Lina Liu, who achieved her best result on the poker circuit: $105,136. Notables near the top included Kathy Liebert who finished sixth and Jamie Kerstetter in fifth.

Lina Niu / Photo: Joe Giron

The inaugural WPT World Championship festival’s 23 events awarded over $53 million in prize money, and the full results of all those events can be seen on the Hendon Mob database.

What can we expect for the 2023 edition? It is very likely that this year’s edition will be even bigger, as those who have already played will surely come back and many new players will also join and will not want to miss the “event of the year” which attracted the attention of players from different countries. Many of them, like Dr. Josef Strazynski, father of Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski, managed to snag a seat in the premier event via WPT Global, which will surely be holding numerous satellites on their online platform throughout the year once again.

To reminisce  about last year’s incredible festival, be sure to check out our top 10 highlights of the 2022 WPT World Championship article. Those of you wishing to reserve their place at the Wynn or Encore well in advance so as to be close to the action can do so by clicking here.

1. Welcome Party

After flying 7,500 miles halfway around the world for 22 hours, the thought of attending a party a few hours later might seem a little much; but this one was not to be missed. The World Poker Tour went all out with a fantastic welcome party at Area 15. From an open bar and full dinner buffet spread to virtual reality (VR) experiences, fire dancers, rides, WPT Passport giveaways, and more, hundreds of poker players got to experience the finest in Vegas-style entertainment.

Dad and I had a really great time at the @WPT Players Party at @AREA15official tonight.

After 20+ hours of travel and a day full of errands, seeing and reconnecting with so many familiar faces was an awesome way to end the day.

Props to the organizers for a phenomenal party! pic.twitter.com/C4lhlRXttq

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) December 12, 2022

2. Isai Scheinberg and Vince Van Patten Recognized with WPT Honors

While it’s a no-brainer that the World Poker Tour would use its grandest showcase to inaugurate new members into the WPT Honors club, and that highly deserving 20-year WPT veteran commentator was tapped as one of the latest honorees, the other honoree was a shocker – and in the most positive possible way.

Image courtesy: World Poker Tour

PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg was long-overdue major official poker industry recognition for his incredible, one-of-a-kind contributions to the game. it was heartwarming to finally see him get his just dues and a massive round of applause and appreciation from a packed ballroom of poker players, as well as industry and media professionals.

On a personal note, it was exceptionally cool to wish him “mazel tov” and say a few words to him, his wife Dora, and his son Robert in our common language of Hebrew.

3. My Dad’s Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience

I’ve waxed poetic about my father, Dr. Josef Strazynski’s journey as he prepared to play in the WPT World Championship Main Event and take his seat as a WPT Global prize package winner. Throughout his week here, I documented the continuation of that poker journey every step of the way: from tournament registration to his 10.5 hours of playing in the tournament itself to the fact that he wanted to squeeze one last 3-hour cash game session in before heading home.

“We have 3 hours after Shabbat ends until I have to take you to the airport, Dad. Anything specific you’d like to do?”

Look what you’ve created, Vegas?!

He says he wishes he could stay another month or two and that this entire experience has been out of this world. pic.twitter.com/scVp51OvE3

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) December 18, 2022

Beyond my own coverage, Dad’s WPT World Championship experience also got chronicled by other poker media outlets including by my new friend Landon Blackhall here and this deeply touching feature by my longtime friend Poker.org Editor in Chief Brad Willis here.

Being at Dad’s side throughout was just plain awesome, and I want to publicly express my thanks to the Good Lord Above for having handed me a golden opportunity to fulfil the Torah’s Fifth Commandment in the most special of ways.

4. The Poker Media Dinner

It’s no secret that I love what I do and that I’m also a huge fan of other poker media outlets and the many wonderful people who work alongside me in this great industry. Opportunities for us to socialize and gather together without needing to simultaneously be working are relatively few and far between – and that much rarer when you live thousands of miles away from everyone else.

The World Poker Tour kindly treated assembled media to a first-class dinner that I thoroughly enjoyed. As an extra added bonus, I was delighted to discover that the Wynn’s SW Steakhouse had a kosher meal option (massive shout out to Head Waiter, Corey!), but the evening’s main course was undoubtedly our opportunity to engage in camaraderie.

This

My inner poker fanboy still doesn’t believe I get to be part of this #WPTWCWynn festival.

Nor that I got to sit next to 2 people I consider industry legends.

I’m having an absolute blast. Thank you, @WPT!

Before I left , Miriam said: “go live your best life!”

https://t.co/ESwX84oICD

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) December 16, 2022

5. The Awesome “Halftime Show” Performances

The World Poker Tour is known for not just hosting poker tournaments and events around the world, but rather for quite literally putting on a show. This was no truer than the outstanding halftime show performances staged on no less than three separate occasions throughout the WPT world championship festival.

Image courtesy: World Poker Tour

From inspired musical performances to jaw dropping physical feats, the “halftime shows” helped add to an already “major event” type of feel in the Encore Ballroom; even WPT CEO Adam Pliska got in on the act!

Image courtesy: World Poker Tour

6. Molly Bloom

I’ve had the opportunity to interview Molly Bloom in the past. Her 2018 appearance at a Unibet Open poker event in Romania was her first at a major poker event. She hasn’t really been seen in poker circles since then, so it was surprising and delightful to see her make a big public poker appearance here in Las Vegas.

The World Poker Tour had already fully decked out the VIP Lounge for ClubWPT and WPT Global Package Winners, as well as WPT champions. From copious amounts of food and drink to pinball machines and air hockey tables, an A+ player experience was already guaranteed. To have added in a special “fireside chat” with Molly Bloom just took the proceedings to the next level for all in attendance to enjoy.

7. Ladies MUG + Championship Event

One of the pillars of our approach to poker media coverage here at Cardplayer Lifestyle has always been the proactive advocacy for increased women’s participation in poker and the spotlighting of successful players and initiatives in that realm. So, it was fabulous to see that the World Poker Tour really took things to the next level here.

The Ladies Championship was not relegated to being a sideshow but rather it took center stage with a televised final table (won by Lina Niu). Already prior to the ceremonial “shuffle up and deal” – delivered with great gusto and visible emotion by Poker Hall of Famer and the first WPT Honors recipient Linda Johnson ­– the event had exceeded its $200,000 guarantee and with 578 players it stood tall as the second-largest Ladies event of the calendar year.

Image courtesy: World Poker Tour

Moreover, the Ladies MUG, hosted by Jamie Kerstetter, was an unabashed success. Numerous current (and future!) Women in Poker Hall of Famers showed up to play low-stakes Hold’em and H.O.R.S.E. alongside many successful female pros and recreational players. That – and seemingly endless mimosas and candy-filled gift bags – resulted in a fun-filled raucous atmosphere that brought smiles to the faces of every dealer and staff member in the Wynn Poker room. The only question on everyone’s lips was “why don’t we have these things more often?!”

Image credit: Christina Bradfield for PokerNews

8. A $29 Million Main Event Prize Pool

Back in summertime, when the World Poker Tour first announced that it would be staging a $15 million Guaranteed World Championship Main Event at Wynn Las Vegas, there was some quite obvious concern about hitting that number, as such an ambitious goal had never been set before in the poker industry. Moreover, far lower guarantees had unfortunately been missed quite badly by other venues at other festivals in years prior.

The Final Numbers @WPT @WynnLasVegas
2,960 Entries
$29,008,000 Prize Pool
Televised Final Table Payouts
1st $4,136,000 + $10,400 Seat to 2023 WC
2nd $2,830,000
3rd $2,095,000
4th $1,608,000
5th $1,301,000
6th $1,001,050

370 Players In The Money
370th $17,400#WPTWCWynn pic.twitter.com/ZgePI86dXd

— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) December 15, 2022

Wynn and the WPT didn’t just hit the $15 million guarantee (by Day 1B!); they absolutely obliterated it and blew it out of the water, creating a $29 million prize pool – nearly double the stated goal! That’s got to rank up there as one of the most prominent and impressive achievements our industry has ever seen.

9. Final Table Set/Production

Every magnum opus has a grand finale, and the World Poker Tour certainly knew how to showcase the conclusion of this incredible World Championship festival.

The move from the Encore Ballroom to the Latour Ballroom at Wynn marked the transition of the events “from stadium to center stage”, and what a hell of a stage they constructed!

With poker’s most ardent fans railing the action and rooting on their heroes at the felt, they’ve constructed the perfect conduit for the atmosphere at the three televised final tables to be nothing short of electric. I can only imagine how it’s going to look and play out on the broadcast in the coming months.

Our @WPT Televised Final Tables are open to the public and located in Latour Ballroom #6!#WPTLadiesChampionship FT – Dec. 18th 4pm#WPTPrimeChampionship FT – Dec. 19th 4pm#WPTWorldChampionship FT – Dec. 20th 4pm

We highly recommend arriving early to secure a seat! pic.twitter.com/NixpK2i2PU

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 17, 2022

10. A Winter Poker Reunion

There’s perhaps no better sign that poker is finally booming once again than the emergence of a brand new, must-attend festival on the yearly calendar. As the WPT World Championships draw to a close, there comes with it a slight feeling of sadness that over the holidays we’ll all really be missing the buzz that’s accompanied these incredible past couple of weeks at Wynn Las Vegas.

Much as everyone in the poker world always looks forward to our annual summer reunion, I’m beyond ecstatic that we also now have an annual winter retreat to eagerly anticipate. That the WPT-Wynn partnership is a multi-year affair is perhaps the best news our industry could have gotten in 2022.

Especially post pandemic, we’ve all come to value just how important and special real-life engagement and interaction is and how that enriches our lives. As great and critical as “Poker Twitter” and other social media platforms are to the building and maintenance of our wonderful community, there’s simply no substitute for winning moments at the felt, hugs and smiles away from the felt, and life’s in-person beauty through poker’s prism to be felt.

After 20 years, we are so grateful to @WynnLasVegas for hosting our 20th Anniversary celebration!

We’d like to officially welcome all of our players and partners from all over the world to the #WPTWorldChampionship #WPTWCWynn!

Here’s to another 20 years! #TheBestIsYetToCome pic.twitter.com/GzP8PJW4S9

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 8, 2022

These figures represent the official tally published by the World Poker Tour for the Prime Championship 2022 No Limit Hold’em tournament. The numbers are five times greater than the previous “WPT Prime” series attendance record of 1,050 entrants set in Cambodia in August of this year.

Registration closed over an hour ago, but as alternates take their seats, the field size continues to grow in our $1,100 #WPTPrimeChampionship!

The clock currently shows 2,143 entries for Day 1C, which puts our total # of entries to 5,216 with a prize pool worth over $5,000,000! pic.twitter.com/945x5pcuuT

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 11, 2022

Overall, the 2022 WPT World Championship Festival at Wynn Las Vegas has been nothing short of a resounding success. Millions of dollars in prize pool funds have already been paid out to participants leading up to the $15 Million Guaranteed Main Event, which kicks off today, December 12th, with the first of three Day 1s.

WPT World Championship Festival Tournament Results

In the past week, a total of five WPT World Championship Festival preliminary poker events have concluded, meaning five more winners have made their mark on this year’s historic series.

On December 6, Canadian poker player Calen ‘Big Wheel’ McNeil persevered through a field of 269 players in the WPT Championship “Omaha 8 Or Better” event, taking home a first place prize of $21,305 for his efforts.

Calen McNeil won the Limit Omaha 8/B Event on December 6, beating the 269 player field, earning $21,305. Congratulations Calen on the victory! pic.twitter.com/Hk2Z3GI6f7

— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 7, 2022

The following day, Nevada live tournament grinder Gerald Morrell was awarded $101,415 upon winning the $200k Guaranteed NLHE preliminary tournament (which more than tripled its promised total prize pool).

The win marked Morrell’s second career six-figure payout in live poker tournaments, according to The Hendon Mob website.

On December 7, Gerald Morrell won the $600 NLH $200K GTD Event for $101,415. Well played Gerald! pic.twitter.com/HVNjSavIZ6

— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 8, 2022

Later in the week, New Jersey poker talent Eric Hayes was victorious in the “5 Card Pot Limit Omaha” tournament held inside the Wynn Poker Room, and collected a payout of $30,423 upon chopping heads-up with his fellow Garden State competitor Christoph Csik.

Plus, the WPT Championship Festival “8-Game” tournament witnessed Oregon native Esther ‘E-TAY’ Taylor outlasting 130 players to win an even $100,000.

Winner! Epic EPIC heads up battle with @BennyGlaser much respect. Thank you for the @WPT @WynnPoker pic.twitter.com/JwKQJf7Tp5

— E-TAY (@e_tay) December 10, 2022

Sergio Grosso of Ontario, Canada, won the Seniors Event to start the weekend. Grosso was awarded close to $90,000 for his largest-ever live poker tournament haul.

Congratulations Sergio Grosso, winner of the @WPT World Championship Seniors Event. Sergio bested the 709 player field, earning $89,544! pic.twitter.com/piC6ksPi2d

— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 9, 2022

Las Vegas poker player Lawrence Berg earned the win in the “PLO Turbo” event on Friday, walking away with a cash prize of $46,307 to add to his growing poker bankroll.

On December 9, Lawrence Berg won the $600 PLO Event for $46,307. Well played! pic.twitter.com/8sunNmjGvg

— Wynn Poker Room (@WynnPoker) December 11, 2022

The Wynn Las Vegas Poker Room continues to host numerous events in parallel, and is expected to crown a winner in the WPT Prime Championship early this week.

Notably also underway is the $25k High Roller event, which attracted a total of 108 entries, creating a prize pool of $2.7 million. Just 18 players now remain in that one, with German pro Tobias Schwect holding a commanding lead of over 7.7 million chips, more than triple the stack of Justin Saliba currently sitting in second.

*All WPT World Championship Festival events are televised for broadcast at a later time or date.

WPT World Championship 2022 Main Event Starts Today

Today, the World Poker Tour begins hosting its largest guaranteed live poker tournament in history, offering a total guaranteed prize pool of $15,000,000; a figure that — based on the stellar numbers thus far for other tournaments in this series — is widely expected to be surpassed by a considerable margin!

Late registration in the $10,400 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Championship freezeout event will last up until Level 7 of each Day 1 starting flight, and the eventual winner is scheduled to take home a guaranteed seven-figure payday.

For on-site players who still wish to try and qualify for a seat in this historic poker tournament, the Wynn Las Vegas Poker Room will have a $1,100 buy-in Milestone Satellite starting today at 12:00 Noon local time, which will award at least 10 seats into the Main Event.

The same $1,100 buy-in Milestone Satellite qualifier will also be spread tomorrow and on Wednesday for players attempting to win a seat into the WPT World Championship Main Event 2022 ‘Day 1B’ or ‘Day 1C’ flights.

Late registration into the $15 Million Guaranteed showcase poker tournament will officially end at the start of Level 7 of ‘Day 1C’ on Wednesday, December 14th.

World Poker Tour Continued Growth Is Promising

The record-breaking participant numbers for the WPT World Championship Festival 2022 at Wynn Las Vegas are showing enormous potential for “the game” – while providing a unique, unforgettable experience to thousands of poker players around the globe.

Best of luck to all poker players who are (and will be) participating in the remaining WPT World Championship tournaments!

Many players have already paid their entry fee, while others have won satellites at the Wynn Casino. Still others have won packages valued at $12K on the WPT Global platform or in numerous contests held on social media.

One of these winners was Dr. Josef Strazynski, who was chosen by gamer and author Amanda Botfeld in one of her Twitter contests. Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski will be on site in Las Vegas covering his own father at the tournament! Here’s the recently published video interview with Dr. Joe.

In this article, we’ll share some advice with those who plan to play the tournament and do not have much experience playing live. We also have some tips for those who are still looking to qualify.

Satellites

There are many ways to qualify for the tournament. If you live outside the United States and want to qualify for the WPT World Championship online, you should take advantage of WPT Global’s step format satellites.

If you are looking for some advice on satellite strategy, there are only two current books on the subject, but both are highly recommended. One of them is “Poker Satellite Strategy” (2019) by Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter, which talks about the post-flop game, the first stages, the mental game, and the final stages of satellites.

The other is “Poker Satellite Success!” (2021) by Bernard Lee, who qualified for the 2005 WSOP Main Event via satellite, and finished 13th, winning $400K. Paul Seaton recently wrote a very positive review of Bernard’s book.

Poker Training Programs

The fastest and most complete way to study and improve as a poker player is to enroll in a poker training program. One that I tried and highly recommend is Learn WPT.

Poker training programs have several advantages, including the convenience of studying from home, being able to interact with professional players, and choosing the subjects you want to study in depth. So whether it’s with LearnWPT or one of the other great poker training sites out there, it’s hard to go wrong putting in a little study time.

Poker Podcasts

Another way to study is to listen to poker podcasts. There’s a wide variety of programs, but the ones that will help you the most are those that provide strategy analysis and interviews with recognized players on the circuit. Podcasts are ideal for listening in your free time, while playing online, or when you are exercising or traveling.

Poker Videos

Watching poker videos is another way to prepare for the tournament. On YouTube, there are thousands of free videos on a wide variety of poker topics. You can also watch tournaments that have been played on the World Poker Tour. It is important to create a YouTube filter to ensure that you are watching videos that are current and from a reliable source. And of course, there’s plenty of great poker to watch on PokerGO.

Poker Strategy Books

Reading poker books, specifically live tournament strategy books, is another way you can prepare for the WPT World Championship. Plenty of top poker coaches and experts such as Jonathan Little, Alex Fitzgerald, and Andrew Brokos have written widely-acclaimed poker strategy books. If you have a long trip to Las Vegas with layovers a good poker strategy book is the ideal companion.

Poker Coaching

Personalized coaching is the most expensive study option, but the one that will likely serve you best, as you will be able to choose which topics to discuss with an experienced player. It is a worthwhile investment if you want to prepare seriously.

Play Poker!

The last tip is the simplest: play and practice at the felt! Whether online or live, playing will give you practice in different scenarios and stages of tournaments. The WPT World Championship has a starting stack of 200 big blinds, so playing tournaments with similar starting stacks would be ideal.

Let’s study and prepare! As Seneca said: “Good luck comes when preparation meets opportunity”.

The long-awaited festival will be held from December 1-20 at the Wynn Poker Room in Las Vegas, and the World Championship event will feature a historic guaranteed prize pool: $15,000,000.

There’s plenty more to discover about the year-end extravaganza, and you can learn all about it in this interview with Angelica Hael, Vice President of Global Tour Management at the World Poker Tour, and Ryan Beauregard, Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas.

Want a seat at the Wynn Las Vegas this December for the WPT World Championship? Earn your seat starting from $5 and $55 Daily Satellites! >>> https://t.co/xkhNognFix <<<#wptglobal #wptworldchampionship #lasvegas #winatwynn #gotovegas pic.twitter.com/Wy22dUNp6E

— WPT Global (@wpt_global) September 2, 2022

WPT Global Online Satellites

Outside the U.S., in countries eligible to play, WPT Global offers you very affordable methods to qualify for a prize package. If you don’t yet have an account with them, be sure to sign up for one using our bonus code CPL. There are two types of satellites: daily satellites with $5 and $55 buy-ins and weekly satellites costing $550 to buy into.

The daily satellites follow a “steps” format: the $5 satellite awards $55 entries and the $55 satellite awards $550 entries. These will continue being offered on the site until November 27.

Those fortunate enough to win a package to the WPT World Championship will be receive the following:

• A $10,400 WPT World Championship entry
• $2,000 travel stipend
• WPT Global merchandise
• A special WPT Global Player Experience during the WPT World Championship

These are the satellite schedules and prizes:

Daily Megas

Weekly Qualifier

Poker Flips

Another way to qualify online on WPT Global is by playing Poker Flips. These are fun, fast-paced games where you must choose between two characters (a Bull and a Cowboy) to see who wins a random Texas Hold’em hand.

Every time you play in Poker Flips and win a prize, you earn points for a monthly leaderboard. The top five at the end of the promotion (September 24) will win a $10,400 entry to the 2022 WPT World Championship and $2,000 for travel expenses. There are also cash prizes for the top five players each week on the leaderboard.

For more details on Poker Flips, and WPT Global’s special WPT World Championship promotion, be sure to check out this article.

Live Satellites

Finally, if you prefer to win your way into the event by playing in a live satellite, the Wynn Poker Room is offering you multiple shots at it in December:

As you see, there are a wide variety of options to qualify for the WPT World Championship. It’s quite literally guaranteed to be a spectacular event, and Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski will be on-site to cover it in person. Good luck qualifying!

The series kicks off with a $600 buy-in $500k GTD No Limit Hold’em event on December 1, and there are six Day 1 flights that will take place from then until December 3. The tournament will conclude the following day, December 4, with the remaining players from all Day 1 flights playing until a winner is crowned. There are a few other NLH tournaments with this same buy-in including a $200k GTD tournament beginning December 5, a Turbo Bounty on December 10, and a very unique Tag Team Bomb Pot event on December 19.

Fans of mixed games will delight in having multiple options in the series. There are $600 H.O.R.S.E., Limit Omaha 8+, 5 Card PLO, and PLO tournaments on the schedule. H.O.R.S.E. and Limit Omaha 8+ will also have $1,100 Championship tournaments with $100k guaranteed for both.

A Wynn staple and fan favorite event is also on the schedule, as the $1,600 buy-in $2 million guaranteed Mystery Bounty will begin on December 16, with two additional starting flights on the following two days. Wynn’s previous mystery bounty tournaments have become a favorite in the poker community, so this tournament should draw a large crowd.

Women will take center stage for a spell as well, with the $1,100 Ladies Championship also set to run from December 16-18. Word on the street is that the festivities will be enhanced with a Ladies Meet-Up Game, a relatively new happening that was met with great fanfare when the WPT helped run one in early July.

Televised Ladies’ @WPT Championship yayyyy

Let’s run back another Ladies’ MUG in December! Who’s in?https://t.co/HZ9xA64YcO pic.twitter.com/8x60x1BVlK

— Jamie Kerstetter (@JamieKerstetter) August 12, 2022

The series’ marquee event, of course, is the WPT World Championship which boasts a record-setting $15 million guaranteed prize pool. The buy-in for this event is $10,400 but of course it’ll be possible to get a seat for substantially less if you don’t happen to have that kind of cash lying around. The World Poker Tour recently announced its WPT Feeder and Funnel program that will offer satellites for this event worldwide. Via significantly less expensive satellite tournaments, players will have a chance to compete for their share of the $15 million in prize monies for much less than the sticker price buy-in.

World Poker Tour Live Events Specialist Danny McDonagh stated, “The WPT Feeder and Funnel program is designed to ensure that the WPT World Championship lives up to its name. We continue to explore the ways we can offer more options for players in all markets to secure their seat for this event.”

Below is a breakdown of where and how you can qualify for the WPT World Championship either online or live.

ClubWPT.com

ClubWPT.com is a USA-friendly subscription-based online poker site that allows Americans to play online poker for cash prizes. Diamond and VIP members are given a schedule of tournaments running each month and can redeem their cash prizes.

ClubWPT.com is hosting satellites every Sunday for their Diamond and VIP members. A total of 40 seats to the WPT World Championship will be given away on ClubWPT.com. If y ou manage to win one, your $12,000 prize package includes:

• $10,400 tournament buy-in
• A 3-night stay at Wynn Las Vegas
• $1,000 for travel expenses.

You will also have a dedicated VIP host, a chance to meet WPT ambassadors, and receive some merchandise.

WPTGlobal.com

For players located outside the United States, you can qualify for the championship at WPTGlobal.com. If you don’t yet have an account, be sure to sign up for one using our bonus code CPL. The site offers many direct satellites, the cheapest being a $5 Mega Satellite that runs daily. You can claim your seat on Saturdays from the $5 Mega Satellites. Players who qualify via WPTGlobal.com will receive a full prize package as well, which includes:

• $10,400 WPT World Championship buy-in
• $2,000 for travel expenses
• WPT merchandise
• WPT Global player experience in Las Vegas.

WPT Feeder and Funnel Program

Regarding the aforementioned Feeder and Funnel program, which offers live satellites across the world, Wynn Las Vegas will be regularly running $1,100 10-seat guaranteed satellites into the WPT World Championship. In South Korea, India, Taiwan, Australia, Cambodia, Japan, and Canada, poker rooms have the option to run satellites into the WPT World Championship and the WPT Prime Championship as part of the program. Details for these satellites are at the poker room’s discretion, so if you are in one of the aforementioned countries you can check your local casinos for WPT satellite opportunities.

Additional information on how to qualify for the WPT World Championship and WPT Prime Championship can be found at WPT.com, and the full tournament schedule can be found at wynnpoker.com.

The addition of this event to the schedule represents another important step in growing poker’s female player base. It is no surprise that poker is dominated by men. Whether it be regular $1/$2 cash games at casinos or large field poker tournament series, the overwhelming majority of the player pool is typically male. The debut of the WPT Ladies Championship will undoubtedly have a hand in boosting women’s participation in poker.

Having this premier tournament for women hosted at Wynn Las Vegas and being one of the televised final tables  makes its inclusion in the series even more potent. Located on the Las Vegas Strip, the Wynn has earned the reputation as one of poker’s largest stages. The TV broadcast will give half a dozen fortunate and skilled women an important stage to showcase their poker prowess.

Angelica Hael, VP of Global Tour Management at the World Poker Tour stated, “We are committed to increasing the number of women in our global poker community, and will continue to introduce thoughtful initiatives both live and online at ClubWPT and WPT Global.”

Following Suit

Events geared towards women are not new for the World Poker Tour. Just earlier this month, WPT hosted the first-ever Ladies Meet Up Game at MGM Grand Las Vegas. A roaring success, this event hosted $1/$2 and $2/$5 cash games and also saw $10,000 worth of WPT prizes raffled off. The Ladies Meet Up Game gave women a chance to meet fellow female poker players and some notable pros like Kristen Bicknell and Jamie Kerstetter. Angelica Hael was in attendance herself, representing the WPT brand, but of course this wasn’t her first rodeo.

Back in 2018, the WPT hosted a Women’s Poker Summit in Los Angeles at the Bicycle Casino, also led by Hael. Especially as an organization where women represent over 50% of the employees, the World Poker Tour has long set a positive example for the entire industry.

Robbie Strazynski of @CardplayerLife chats with WPT VP of Global Tour Management @AngelicaHael to reflect on the inaugural WPT Women’s Poker Summit. https://t.co/LGMg3Vlpu1

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) September 11, 2018

Wynn Las Vegas is no stranger to ladies’ events either. The Wynn Summer Classic is a tournament series many poker players circled on their calendars. There is regularly a dedicated tournament for women, as this year they hosted a $550 No-Limit Holdem Ladies $50k Guaranteed. Marguerite Spagnuolo of Staten Island, NY took the tournament down for $18,840.

Wynn Las Vegas is excited to be hosting poker tournaments geared towards increasing female attendance. Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas, Ryan Beauregard, stated: “We are thrilled to include this event as part of December’s festivities, and to round out the WPT World Championship lineup.”

The announcement of the Ladies Championship as part of the WPT Championship Series is yet another indication that the World Poker Tour is clearly pulling out all the stops in celebration of its 20th anniversary. Moreover, by creating this new marquee event to showcase women in poker and choosing it to be one of the few televised final tables, the World Poker Tour is doing whatever it can to grow the female poker player base.

In particular, the emergence of this event signifies a notable change from the former “August-June seasonal poker calendar” to a more proper January-December calendar year for the World Poker Tour, with the WPT World Championship officially marking the close of their 20th Season.

READ MORE: The World Poker Tour Turns 20 | Episode 16 of The Orbit Celebrates

Events of this magnitude don’t “just happen” and magically appear on the yearly poker calendar. It takes a special group of individuals working hard behind the scenes for marquee poker tournaments like the WPT World Championship to materialize. With that in mind, we reached out to Angelica Hael, Vice President of Global Tour Management at the World Poker Tour, and Ryan Beauregard, Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas, to gain some further insight into the efforts they’ve spearheaded on the tour side and operator side of things that eventually led to the formation of the major announcement.

The largest guarantee in live poker history.

This December.

The WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/ZFrdQOKvfV

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) June 6, 2022

The big announcement happened on June 6. How long had things been in the works? When was the idea of attempting a $15 million GTD tournament first conceptualized?

Angelica: The idea’s inception dates back to Q3 of last year. When WPT was acquired by a new investment group, it was unanimously agreed that we truly had to deliver a special event that would be synonymous with how we want to celebrate our 20-year anniversary.

It was still a chaotic period at that time for the global tour with widespread uncertainty amongst our global partners. It was an unbelievably challenging time; however, the concept of the World Championship Festival really began to take shape and so began many lively discussions and animated debate as to what the final product will look like.

Can you give us a bit of an idea as to what sort of logistical work was happening behind the scenes during the planning stages? I imagine that you living in Australia and the Wynn staff being in the US Pacific time zone meant that Zoom meetings and phone calls were often happening at some rather unusual hours…

Angelica: When your business is a global one, one has natural advantages because that’s the standard fabric of your everyday professional life. I lived in the US for a very long time, and together with the team we were executing events in different continents outside of North America so I guess this is just the norm for us. The Global Tour Management team are made up of very unique individuals whose DNA don’t seem to know what time zone differences mean, so that is also a tremendous benefit.

The World Poker Tour has scores of casino-resort partners across the globe. What factors went into the decision to stage this event in the United States, Las Vegas in particular, rather than elsewhere in the world?

Angelica: We are truly blessed to have some pretty fabulous partners around the world however, we knew fairly early on that an event like this could only take place in Vegas. After all, it is the entertainment capital of the world – there’s no other place that can host a festival of this magnitude!

Once it was decided that Las Vegas was the right place to hold such a prestigious, one-of-a-kind event, you still had numerous potential venues to choose from. What, in your minds, made the Wynn the perfect place to play host to the 2022 WPT World Championship?

Angelica: Partnering with Wynn Las Vegas for our exclamation point on WPT Season XX means having our Festival in a globally renowned casino, with world-class amenities and one of the best poker rooms in the world!

Their receptiveness to take on a project of this magnitude was refreshing; their history of running the highly successful Wynn Millions and the stellar reputation that Ryan Beauregard and his team have were the key factors. Throughout the years, we have had exploratory discussions with Wynn but the timing just wasn’t right. It wasn’t until the start of this year that discussions really got traction and we’re just absolutely delighted to have this partnership in place.

One detail that emerged from the announcement is that the staging of the 2022 WPT World Championship marks the beginning of a multi-year partnership between the Wynn Las Vegas and the World Poker Tour. Why do you believe that it was important that a longer-term deal be struck between the two parties rather than “just” collaborate closely for this one (massive) event?

Ryan: The World Championship is much bigger than a single event. The $15 million GTD marquee is going to lead headlines, but in year one we are scheduled for 20+ tournaments and more than $20 million in total guarantees. The scale is much bigger than our previous events, and requires a thoughtful amount of planning and logistics.

The long-term agreement now in place validates our commitment to growing this festival, from both sides, and ensures everything we put into it beginning year one is ultimately rewarded. I’m hopeful that the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas will be going strong for years to come, and creates a lasting legacy as one of the most fun, well-run events on the poker calendar.

Some partnerships are just meant to be. Looking forward to delivering this fabulous festival with @LVPokerBeau and his @WynnPoker team! #thebestisyettocome

— Angelica Hael (@AngelicaHael) June 6, 2022

Such a gigantic guarantee practically ensures that hordes of players will show up to take their shot. There are three Day 1 “freezeouts” on schedule, with one entry permitted per player per day. With that said, it’s not as though someone needs $10,400 cash-in-hand to play. Can you tell us about the other ways in which someone could conceivably qualify for a seat at the WPT World Championship?

Angelica: We know to expect strong demand for players to try to get their seats into the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, so we’re going to be pushing from all angles. ClubWPT is the only way for American players to qualify online for the tournament, and with the promotions now active, we expect a lot of players to be generated from now until December. WPT Global will also be running online satellites with hundreds of packages up for grabs! Select global casino partners (including the US) will also be running satellites during their WPT events.

WPT Global is the only place outside of the US where you can win your WC package online. Packages and seats can also be won via WPT Steps, WPT League and LearnWPT. We have many avenues, pathways and feeders to the World Championship which we intend to announce shortly. These, of course, are all in addition to the many satellites that Wynn will run in the lead up to the event.

READ MORE: LearnWPT Online Poker Training — A Comprehensive Review

The Wynn Las Vegas poker room has proven unafraid to step up and take some bigger risks, which have thankfully paid off both for the players as well as via the room’s increasingly stellar reputation in the poker community. Getting behind a $15 million single tournament guarantee might be in a league of its own though. How do you prepare on the operations side to handle an event of this magnitude? Is there anything you’ll be doing differently beyond your usual excellent pre-series tournament prep, to handle what might end up being bigger crowds than you’ve ever experienced before?

Ryan: While we have certainly hosted some large, multi-day events, the grand scale of this series will be a first for us. The bulk of the series will run in the Encore Ballroom, 4-5 minutes from the poker room, and feature approximately 120 tables. Getting the area ready for multi-day fields of 2,000-3,000 entries (including an anticipated 500+ online and live satellite winners) is no small feat. And that’s just for the main event!

On top of that, we will be hosting cash games and additional events in the poker room. So, to your point, the entire series is “different” for us and requires more prep than anything we’ve ever done before. But we’re up for the challenge, and look forward to bringing it all to fruition.

As popular as the Wynn poker room is and as many marquee events as you’ve hosted before, surely in the wake of this big announcement there will be some new players making their way to your room for the first time to play in the WPT World Championship, or perhaps some of the other big-name tournaments you have on the schedule. What practical tips do you feel would be helpful to share with these players to ensure that they have the smoothest possible experience with tournament registration, gameplay, obtaining information, etc.?

Ryan: First and foremost, reserve your hotel accommodation at Wynn Las Vegas now, even if you have to make adjustments later. We are offering preferred booking through the WPT.com website and, while we have a large amount of rooms held, they will likely sell out. Beyond that, keep your eyes open for the full event schedule, which will debut shortly, and follow along on Twitter (@WynnPoker and @WPT) for exciting festival announcements from now through December!

The World Poker Tour’s motto has always been “the best is yet to come.” Your organization seems to be ringing that bell increasingly often, as a cavalcade of major announcements have come out of the gates during this year’s 20th anniversary celebrations. From a new logo to new ambassadors to new tour names and trophies to a new branded online poker venture via WPT Global and now the new record holder for biggest guaranteed poker tournament in history… It’s incredible! I can’t help but ask what else can you tease us with, that the poker world will get to see from the WPT from now until the end of 2022?

Angelica: We’ve been on a hot streak of announcements, as you’ve noticed. Poker players should look forward to the complete December schedule for the WPT World Championship, and you have my assurance that our motto will continue to ring true throughout the rest of 2022 and into the future. Our successes from new endeavors in Season XX will be the foundation for WPT’s growth going forward.