$10,400 WPT World Championship
Giorno 1a iniziato
2023 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
$10,400 WPT World Championship
Giorni 1a
Event Info
Risultati finali
Event Info
Informazioni Giocatori - Giorno 1a
2023 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
Buy-in
$10,400
Montepremi
$40,000,000
Entries
3,835
Entries
609
Giocatori Rimasti
202
In an attempt to combat stalling near the bubble, Wynn and the World Poker Tour (WPT) made a significant change to the $1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Championship on Day 1.
Many tournament players take issue with incessant tanking from short-stacked players attempting to stall their way into the money. This is especially problematic during major events with massive guarantees. And the WPT Prime Championship had over $10 million in the pot when registration closed during Sunday's Day 1d session.
Wynn Boss Explains Action Clock
Ryan Beauregard, Wynn's Director of Poker Operations, wants the entire WPT World Championship series to run smoothly. One way of doing so is to minimize stalling as best as possible when the big events approach the money bubble.
After Level 15 of Day 1 in the WPT Prime Championship, Action Clocks were implemented at each table. Players were given four time extension chips to start, which can be used in situations that call for deep thought, such as facing a bet for an entire stack with top pair.
The Action Clock gives players 15 seconds to act preflop initially or their hand is declared dead. If, however, a player behind then raises their initial bet, they will be given 30 seconds to act this time around.
"Our goal was to get it started before we hit the money bubble, so that players had an opportunity to get used to it," Beauregard said. "As well, we wanted to make sure it came in when it could do some good."
When the bubble is approaching in any major tournament, short-stacked players often stall as much as possible in fear of busting before reaching the money. The WPT has used the Action Clock for years, but typically much later in the tournament.
Time Extension Chips
At the first break of Monday's Day 2 session, each remaining player received an additional four time extension chips. Four more were added at the start of Day 3 on Tuesday. Once the tournament reaches 24 players, everyone left gets an extra four, and then a final four chips at the start of the final table.
Heading into Day 3, the tournament had just 128 players remaining out of the original 10,512 entrants. First place is set to pay nearly $1.4 million at the Dec. 19 final table.
The tournament structure otherwise didn't change. When the bubble was approaching, hand-for-hand play began and two minutes was automatically taken off the clock for each hand dealt, similar to how operators structure nearly any major event.
"After conversations with (Matt Savage) and the WPT team, we determined this was the right time to try it," Beauregard said. "Especially with the World Championship coming up, our goal is to innovate, to try to change the industry for the better, and we're going to try some things."
The feedback of the pre-bubble Action Clock implementation seems to be mostly positive. Ben Ludlow gave props on X to the Wynn for adding the Action Clock before the bubble. He referred to the process as "smooth and painless."
The first ever $40 million guaranteed poker tournament — the $10,400 buy-in WPT World Championship — kicked off Tuesday morning inside the Encore Ballroom. Prior to the bubble bursting in that historic event, the Action Clock will be implemented to help speed up the action and prevent short stacks from spending too much time in the tank on hands they instantly know they're going to fold.
*Images courtesy of WPT
The WPT Prime Championship is well underway at the Wynn Las Vegas with the brutally long Day 3 of the massive event ending when the field hit nine players.
Over four Day 1 flights, the tournament attracted 10,512 entries for a $10,196,640 prize pool more than doubling the guarantee. These nine players are all that remain of the 10,000 entrants and form the unofficial final table.
Jon Glendinning will be chip leader when play resumes at 2 p.m. local time tomorrow to play down to the official final table of six.
Glendinning has 72,600,000 in chips, putting him in a good position to chase the first prize of $1,386,280.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jon Glendinning | United States | 72,600,000 | 73 |
| 2 | Jay Lu | United States | 67,900,000 | 68 |
| 3 | Calvin Anderson | United States | 61,200,000 | 61 |
| 4 | Valeriy Pak | Uzbekistan | 60,200,000 | 60 |
| 5 | Bob Buckenmayer | United States | 46,600,000 | 47 |
| 6 | Aaron Pinson | United States | 45,900,000 | 46 |
| 7 | Yuebin Guo | United States | 32,600,000 | 33 |
| 8 | Mukul Pahuja | United States | 17,900,000 | 18 |
| 9 | Tri Dao | United States | 16,500,000 | 17 |
Read more: Cash And Tournaments—Which Is Better For Your Poker Game?
Day 3 Action
The 1,309 Day 1 survivors combined into one field on Day 2 and played down to 128.
Along the way, the bubble burst seamlessly with smooth play assisted by the new shot clock system.
The 128 players who made Day 3 included names like Andrew Moreno (118th - $7,260), the final table bubble boy Steven Jones (10th - $135,850), and Calvin Anderson who survived into Day 4 as the third chip leader.
Valeriy Pak — currently fourth in chips — was one of the big heroes of the day. Pak played entertaining poker on the WPT live stream, applying plenty of idiosyncratic strategies such as setting up a three-bet bluff by leading the flop with a bet of less than two big blinds.
Final Table Payouts
| Position | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,386,280 |
| 2 | $910,000 |
| 3 | $675,000 |
| 4 | $505,000 |
| 5 | $380,000 |
| 6 | $290,000 |
| 7 | $225,000 |
| 8 | $173,000 |
| 9 | $135,850 |
More To Come Wednesday
Play was initially meant to reach the official final table of six players. However, as the day dragged on into its fifteenth hour, the decision to cut it short came as a great relief to the players.
Glendinning leads tomorrow's field with 72 big blinds at 500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 ante. However, he will be up against stiff competition, with three of his opponents—including the very tough Anderson and Pak—still at least 60 big blinds deep.
The final nine are all guaranteed a min-cash of $135,850, but Glendinning et al. will have their eyes on the top prize of $1,386,280 and the WPT Prime Championship title that comes with it.
The players will reconvene tomorrow, December 13 for more action to be live-streamed on the WPT Youtube channel.
Once they reach the final six, play will pause again to be resumed on December 19.
Hustler Casino Live fan favorite Alan Keating, who rarely plays tournaments, finished Day 1a of the $40 million guaranteed World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship on Tuesday with a healthy chip stack.
The loose-aggressive player who routinely VPIP's in the 80% or higher range was among a large group of big name players who competed in the opening session of the historic $10,400 buy-in tournament. Many of those high-profile players found a bag and will come back on Saturday for Day 2.
A total of 609 players showed up to play the first of four Day 1 flights, six fewer than last year. But there was only three opening sessions in 2022, and there is expected to be a number of players registering for one of the later flights upon returning to Las Vegas from The Bahamas where the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise series is currently taking place.
Keating Running Hot
The poker world last saw Keating earlier this month in the first-ever 24-hour live-stream on Hustler Casino Live. He was back in action at Wynn Las Vegas chasing what figures to be a prize pool that exceeds the $40 million guarantee.
On Day 1a, he began with 100,000 chips and quickly spun it up. Late in the session, Keating hit a lucky runner-runner to bust a player and crack the 800,000-chip mark. In that hand, he had Q♠J♠ on a flop of 10♦6♦3♠ and bet out 15,000. But his opponent moved all in for 130,000, a big enough raise to convince just about anyone other than Alan Keating to fold.
Unfortunately, for the other player who had K♦10♥, he was up against Keating, who decided what the heck and called. In most cases, the player with top pair would be ecstatic to get called in that spot, but the turn K♣ and river 9♣ gave the high-stakes recreational player a winning straight.
Huge First Day
When the final card of the night was dealt, only 202 players remained. Those who bagged small stacks can enter one of the other three Day 1 starting flights in hopes of carrying over a larger stack. And anyone who busted on Day 1a can give it another try until registration closes on Friday evening.
There were plenty of big stacks at the end of the first session, but none bigger than Jeff Hakim, who left the Encore Ballroom with 998,000. Keating, with 957,000 chips, is the closest to Hakim.
Darren Elias, the only player in World Poker Tour history with four titles, did what he so often does — bag a monster stack (564,000). The WPT G.O.A.T. is also looking to extend his WPT records for cashes (48) and final table appearances (13).
Other notables who bagged and advanced to Day 2 include Ben Lamb, David Pham, Arden Cho, Patrick Leonard, Cliff Josephy, and many others.
2023 WPT World Championship Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Hakim | 998,000 |
| 2 | Adekunle Olonoh | 972,000 |
| 3 | Alan Keating | 957,000 |
| 4 | Arden Cho | 798,000 |
| 5 | Jeremy Joseph | 773,000 |
| 6 | Jon Borenstein | 745,000 |
| 7 | John Myung | 712,000 |
| 8 | Patrick Leonard | 706,000 |
| 9 | Tjan Tepeh | 695,000 |
| 10 | George Tomescu | 676,000 |
For full Day 1a chip counts,visit WPT.com
Day 1b kicks off Wednesday at 11 a.m. local time in Las Vegas. Stay tuned to WPT.com for live reporting updates throughout the day, and right here at PokerNews for exclusive coverage of the WPT World Championship.
*Images courtesy of World Poker Tour
$10,400 WPT World Championship
Giorno 1a completo