This year’s World Poker Tour World Championship $10,400 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event was the first in the tournament’s three-year history not to feature a headline-grabbing guarantee. The inaugural running of the $10,400 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, hosted at Wynn Las Vegas in 2022, sported a $15 million guarantee that was nearly doubled. The following year, organizers set a lofty $40 million goal and fell just short, resulting in a $2.4 million overlay.
In 2024, the event was going up against both the World Series of Poker Paradise’s record-setting $50 million guaranteed super main event and the tail end of the European Poker Tour Prague main event, which also set a turnout record.
Despite the stiff competition in other parts of the world, and the lack of a guarantee, the WPT World Championship still drew a massive 2,392 total entries, resulting in a final prize pool of $23,441,600.
The largest share of that sum was captured by Scott Stewart, who is no stranger to closing out a poker tournament. He had already recorded 18 wins in his career, including six WSOP Circuit gold rings.
None of those triumphs could compare to this $2,563,900 windfall, however, as it was by far the largest payday yet for the 36-year-old poker pro from Long Beach, California. It topped his previous high score of $535,000, which he earned as the 13th-place finisher in the 2017 WSOP main event, by over $2 million. With this marquee win, Stewart now has more than $5.6 million in lifetime earnings.
Stewart earned the trophy in front of a large rail of supporters. After coming out on top, he thanked them and highlighted the celebrations that were soon to come.
“No plans for the money, but plans to have some fun,” Stewart told WPT reporters. “I got the best friends in the world.”
The top 299 finishers cashed in this gigantic event, which ran from Dec. 14-21. Big names that made it down to the business end of the tournament but fell just short of the final table included Paul Volpe (28th), Mikita Badziakouski (19th), Jeremy Wien (14th), and Brian Yoon (11th).
The final day began with just six players remaining and Eddie Pak in the lead, with WPT champion and two-time bracelet winner Chris Moorman in second chip position. This was the second straight year that the UK poker pro made the final table of this huge event, having finished fourth in 2023 for a career-best score of $2,095,300.
There were fireworks right away, with three eliminations in the first 10 hands. Christian Roberts of Venezuela was the first to fall (6th – $665,000), running into the pocket aces of Stewart. The very next hand saw all of the chips go in with Canada’s Ryan Yu (5th – $875,000) losing with pocket nines against the A
K
of Pak.
Moorman took a big hit on the next hand, running pocket sixes into the pocket queens of the UK’s Rob Sherwood. A few hands later he found his own pocket queens, and was in great position to double against Pak’s pocket tens. Unfortunately, the 10 hit the turn, and the bad beat sent Moorman to the rail in fourth place for the second time in as many years. He cashed for $1,150,000 this time around, bringing his recorded earnings to $11.3 million.
“Not coming f***ing fourth next year,” he joked on Twitter, calling back to Mark Newhouse’s infamous tweet before he finished ninth in consecutive WSOP main events.
While the first three players were dispatched in rapid succession it took several hours before the next knockout. Pak had entered three-handed action with the lead but lost a big pot early on running a multi-street bluff into the flopped aces full of Stewart. In his final hand, his flush was rivered by Stewart’s full house and he couldn’t get away. The 31-year-old from Los Angeles earned $2,000,000 for his efforts.
Heads-up play began with Stewart holding a 2:1 lead over Sherwood. The two went on to battle for over 100 hands, with plenty of ups and downs along the way. Sherwood took the lead and stretched a big advantage of his own, but Stewart managed to fight his way back to nearly even before the decisive hand of the tournament arrived.
Stewart picked up pocket kings on the button and raised. Sherwood three-bet shoved from the big blind for more than 28 big blinds with pocket sixes and Stewart snap-called. The board came down clean for the pocket kings and Stewart took a commanding lead, which he easily converted into the title. Sherwood earned $2,200,000 as the runner-up.
VanKeuren Defeats 9,670 Entries In WPT Prime Championship
While the main event was the marquee attraction of this festival, there were 46 events on the action-packed schedule in total. All told, more than 30,000 entries were made throughout the series, with over $64 million in prize money awarded along the way.
The second-largest event, by prize pool, was the WPT Prime Championship. With 9,670 total entries, the $1,100 no-limit hold’em tournament beat its $5 million guarantee by nearly $4.4 million. The sizable turnout for the third-annual running of this event resulted in a seven-figure payday for the champion despite the affordable buy-in.
Zak VanKeuren was ultimately the player to capture that massive $1,162,350 top prize. The New Yorker now has more than $2 million in career earnings, with this being far and away the largest payday on his tournament résumé.
“It doesn’t feel real… I’m just thinking I’m in a lucid dream right now. I’m just going to wake up soon. Hopefully it’s still real life in an hour,” VanKeuren told WPT reporters.
VanKeuren will add the WPT Prime Championship trophy to his collection, which includes a WSOP gold bracelet from this year’s $3,200 online event back in July.
Another WPT champion managed to make the final table, only to be bounced early on thanks to a brutal preflop cooler. Justin Young got all-in with A K, three-bet shoving over Kevin Calenzo’s under-the-gun min-raise. Calenzo quickly called the shove with A
A. Young earned $114,000 as the ninth-place finisher, bringing his career tournament earnings to nearly $6.8 million.
VanKeuren then went on an elimination spree, scoring five consecutive knockouts to take a healthy lead into short-handed action. Calenzo was eliminated via preflop race against Jim Casement. The WSOP Circuit winner earned $560,000 as the third-place finisher, the largest score of his career.
VanKeuren held roughly a 3:1 chip lead over Casement and closed it out when his A K
held against K J. Casement walked away with $759,890 for his runner-up showing.
Chase Bricker Banks Million In Largest Freeroll Ever Held
The ClubWPT Gold Invitational Freeroll made history as the largest guaranteed free-to-enter poker event ever held. The tournament saw nearly 1,500 participants take a seat at Wynn Las Vegas for their share of $5 million, having either won their way there via satellites on ClubWPT Gold or social media contests, or having been invited by organizers.
While players didn’t have to post a buy-in for this event, there was plenty of money up for grabs, including the $1,000,000 top prize that was eventually captured by Texas poker player Chase Bricker. (Yes, that’s his real name.)
“Just a completely surreal moment. What an amazing three days,” Bricker told WPT staff.
Prior to this windfall, Bricker’s top score had been the $74,037 he earned for winning a $800 buy-in mystery bounty event at Texas Card House Dallas back in 2022.
The top 503 finishers earned a share of the $5 million in prize money put up by the organizers of the event. The pay jumps were steep, especially at the final table. Ninth-place finisher Jacob Stufflebean walked away with $20,000, and there was a $750,000 gap between first place and the $250,000 earned by eventual runner-up Jason Christopher.
The final table also featured mystery bounties, with payouts ranging from $0 to $200,000. The one zero-dollar ticket was drawn by Christopher. The bounty had six zeros on it, which resulted in a painful sweat for him… as it appeared for a moment that he might be drawing a six-figure payout.
The top bounty payout of $200,000 was drawn by Daniyal Gheba, who also finished third for $125,000.
Rising Star Travis Egbert Takes Down WPT Alpha8
Travis Egbert came into 2024 with just shy of $263,000 in total recorded tournament earnings to his name. The Northern California resident has broken through in a major way this year, however, cashing for nearly $1.3 million, with four titles won and eight final-table finishes recorded along the way.
Egbert fittingly capped his impressive run with his largest victory yet, emerging victorious from a field of 111 entries in the WPT Alpha8 Championship $25,800 high roller, earning $684,684.
This was Egbert’s first recorded cash in a high roller with a buy-in of $25,000 or larger. It was also his first outright win away from Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento, where he won three WSOP Circuit rings in 2024, including taking down the $1,700 main event at the stop held there in October for $214,565.
Jim Collopy and Joe McKeehen Headline Other Winners
Sergio Soto banked $318,623 as the last player standing from a field of over 3,000 entries in the $1,000,000 guaranteed $800 buy-in that kicked off the action.
The $1,100 buy-in event was a $100,000 guaranteed turbo. The 215-entry field was narrowed down to a champion in a single day, with bracelet winner Barry Hutter earning $49,342 and hoisting the trophy in the end.
The early $1,600 no-limit hold’em mystery bounty event drew 933 entries, resulting in a prize pool of $1,343,520 that nearly tripled the $500,000 guarantee. Israeli bracelet winner Ran Koller walked away with $158,027 as the champion, plus $9,000 in bounty payouts.
Bradley Miller topped a field of 175 entries in the $250,000 guaranteed $3,000 pot-limit Omaha event, earning a career-best score of $117,780.
2015 WSOP main event champion Joe McKeehen bested a field of 211 entries in the $3,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event. The $250,000 guarantee was more than doubled in the event, with $580,250 in total prize money ultimately awarded. McKeehen left with $120,943 as the champion, increasing his lifetime tournament haul to more than $21 million.
The three-time bracelet winner now has 26 recorded titles under his belt, with 291 cashes. While his win in the big dance nearly a decade ago accounted for nearly $7.7 million of his career earnings, he has also accumulated more than $13.3 million outside of that one career-defining triumph.
After the main event and the two $5 million guaranteed events, the next-largest prize pool belonged to a $3,000 no-limit hold’em event. With 1,570 entries, the $3 million guarantee was surpassed by over $1.3 million.
In the end, Adam Hendrix and Ian O’Hara struck a heads-up deal that resulted in Hendrix earning the top payout and the trophy. Hendrix walked away with $629,000 for the win, a new high score for the Alaskan poker pro.
The $300,000 guaranteed $3,000 progressive knockout event drew 296 entries, which made for an $814,000 prize pool. The final knockout of the tournament was secured by Matthew Sabia, who earned $92,056 and $69,500 in bounties to walk away with $161,556 in total prize money.
Ren Lin closed out 2024 with a flurry of deep runs. The top POY contender made the money in 11 live events since the start of November, including making five final tables. Just a day removed from a second-place finish in a $5,000 turbo bounty event at the WSOP Paradise, Lin managed to travel all the way from the Bahamas to Las Vegas and emerge victorious in the $3,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event at this festival.
Lin earned $180,000 and 900 POY points for his second title and 23rd final-table finish of the year, moving him into seventh place on the POY leaderboard.
Tirza Sanders won the $1,100 ladies championship, earning her first live title and the top prize of $90,432. This year the tournament sported a $250,000 guarantee. With 485 entries, the final prize pool swelled to $479,450.
There were also two seniors events on the schedule. Glenn Gillam overcame a field of 939 total entries in the $1,100 buy-in seniors championship, earning $112,117 for the win. Keith Lehr came out on top of a 127-entry field in the $10,000 seniors high roller event, earning $331,787 for the win. This was the fourth-largest score yet for the two-time bracelet winner from Louisiana, giving him nearly $5 million in recorded earnings.
The final few days of this festival featured two more $10,000 buy-in events, both won by three-time bracelet winner Jim Collopy. On Dec. 20 he came out on top of a field of 84 entries in the $10,500 pot-limit Omaha event, earning $209,628. One day later, Collopy bested a field of 105 entries in the $10,500 no-limit hold’em tournament to add another $298,147.
This was his sixth title and 26th final-table finish of 2024. With 7,463 total points and more than $3.7 million in POY earnings, Collopy moved to eighth in the overall standings.