$2,400 buy-in event will crown a champion for $532,395 in Las Vegas
Live tournament fatigue certainly hasn’t set in yet on the Las Vegas poker scene. The Strip hosted the massive $10,000 Wynn Millions earlier this month, followed by the World Poker Tour Venetian Main Event just last week.
The Wynn Millions set a new bar for what’s possible for a $10,000 buy-in live tournament, while the WPT Venetian set a tour record for the biggest prize pool in a $5,000 event.
The next chapter in the 2021 Las Vegas poker boom kicked off on Friday, in the form of the WPT DeepStacks Venetian. By the close of the weekend, the WPT had another tournament for the record books on its hands.
A total of 1,512 entries registered for the WPT DeepStacks Venetian, with the prize pool ending up at $3,288,600. That figure puts the prize money well past the $2 million guarantee for the tournament.
The eventual winner will take home $532,395. That figure marks a record for a first-place prize in the history of the WPT DeepStacks.
WPT DeepStacks Venetian payout structure (top ten)
| Place | Place |
| 1 | $532,395 |
| 2 | $383,595 |
| 3 | $249,375 |
| 4 | $185,275 |
| 5 | $139,180 |
| 6 | $112,235 |
| 7 | $91,865 |
| 8 | $72,350 |
| 9-10 | $54,280 |
Another massive live tournament unfolds in Las Vegas
A major surge in live poker attendance was probably to be expected across the U.S. as COVID-19 restrictions waned at the nation’s live poker rooms. The recent string of Las Vegas events has produced tournament attendance that might exceed even the loftiest of expectations.
The WPTDeepStacks operates as a mid-major tour under the World Poker Tour banner. The $2,400 buy-in WPT Deepstacks Venetian followed up on a pair of larger buy-in events, with the $10,000 Wynn Millions and $5,000 WPT Venetian Main Event already playing out on the Strip this month.
Coming in behind a pair of huge events didn’t seem to dampen the interest in the WPTDeepStacks Venetian. The field of 1,512 entries included 734 registered for Sunday’s Day 1C flights.
With the trio of Day 1 flights completed, the tournament resumes with Day 2 action today. Day 2 sees 298 players come back to the Venetian, vying for 189 spots on the payout ladder.
Big names in the hunt on Day 2 include Joseph Cheong (458,000), Anthony Spinella (419,000), Matt Stout (387,000), Upeshka De Silva (368,000), Eric Baldwin (357,000) and Chance Kornuth (333,000). The blinds resume at Level 16 (2,000/4,000/4,000) when play continues today.
Day 2 plays out today, with all surviving players returning for the Final Day on Tuesday. Tuesday’s flight will crown a champion, with that player going home with a WPTDeepStacks record $532,395 in first-place prize money.
Featured image source: Twitter
