Lynn Gilmartin made a mad dash from the middle of the Encore Ballroom to its stage. She'd been in her seat playing Day 1B of the 2024 WPT World Championship when it came time to congratulate the winner of the ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitational. No matter how many hands she missed, she had a job to do. Job done, she rushed back to her seat and finished the day with a better-than-average stack to advance to Day 2.
Every other player who finished Day 1B with chips had Monday off. Not Gilmartin. Barely more than 12 hours later, she was back on stage again, looking out over the Day 1C field.
"We are at Day 1C, and we are already over the $20 million mark," she said. As she continued, the players in the crowd began to clap, and she joined them. "Right? Yes! This is huge."
Left unknown at that point was just how much over the $20 million mark that prize pool would get before registration closed eight hours later. Left unsaid was how it might compare to the World Championships of the previous two years.
That answer came just before 10pm Monday when the final audit revealed a total prize pool worth $23.4 million. The winner will take home more than $3 million for first place.
No guarantee = no overlay
The WPT made it clear before this festival began: they had little interest in the Comparison Game. No matter how much the media or WPT's competitors cared about comparing the competing December festivals in Prague, The Bahamas, and Las Vegas, the WPT, as CEO Adam Pliska had repeated many times in the past, was "going to do its own thing."
In 2022, the WPT surprised even itself by nearly doubling the $15 million guarantee it set for that year's World Championship. In 2023, the company made an audacious move and set the guaranteed prize pool at $40 million. That same year, the WSOP announced it was going to counter-program the December poker offering and host a winter WSOP series in The Bahamas. By the time the WPT World Championship registration closed, it had come up nearly $3 million short of the guarantee.
This year? The WSOP and the WPT ran in different directions fast. GGPoker took over ownership of the WSOP brand and the Paradise festival hosted a $50 million guaranteed $25,000 buy-in Main Event. That event posted a half-million overlay on Monday.
Meanwhile, the WPT turned its back on the winter war story, hosted a $5 million freeroll supporting a ClubWPT Gold sign-up effort, and offered no guarantee on the World Championship.
The result is the smallest World Championship in three years, despite 100 ($1 million) of the entries being paid by part of the $5 million freeroll.
Nevertheless, on the final Day 1 flight, 960 players jammed the Encore Ballroom and put nearly $10 million into the prize pool in one day. Of the 2,932 entries, the tournament is paying 299 places deep and the winner will pocket $3.1 million. Put against almost any other $10,000 event throughout the year, the World Championship is still a monster. The 2024 festival itself has already produced two new millionaires before the World Championship hits the money.
Talking to players on Day 1C, Pliska remained upbeat.
"Thank you. You are part of our WPT legacy. We appreciate you. We really do appreciate you. The feedback we have received from the players over the last three years has helped us create this festival as it is today," he said.
Money bubble looms
The 2024 WPT World Championship resumes Tuesday, and tournament directors expect to reach the 299-player money bubble by the end of Day 2 play. Everyone who cashes will earn at least $19,600. The top four finishers in the event will take home at least a million bucks.
Here's how the top ten payouts look.
- 1st: $3,138,900
- 2nd: $2,075,000
- 3rd: $1,550,000
- 4th: $1,150,000
- 5th: $875,000
- 6th: $665,000
- 7th: $515,000
- 8th: $400,000
- 9th: $310,000
- 10th: $310,000
Phillip Lee holds the chip lead going into Day 2 with 1,102,000 at 3,000/6,000/3,000 blinds. Former WPT Prime Champion Fabian Gumz is very close behind at 1,013,000. Countless notables remain in the top of the running, including:
- Igor Kurganov - 866,000
- Scott Stewart - 821,000
- Calvin Anderson - 721,000
- Maria Konnikova - 719,000
- Kevin Rabichow - 614,000
- Asher Coniff - 600,000
- Preston McEwen - 579,000
- Jared Jaffee - 559,000
Cards are back in the air at 12pm PT Tuesday.
Pictures from Day 1C of the 2024 WPT World Championship
All photos courtesy WPT
