The countdown has begun to the WPT Rolling Thunder Championship Main Event, with plenty of players hoping to recreate Scott Eskenazi’s success last year and grab a chunk of over $3 million in guaranteed prize money.
The Thunder Valley Casino and Resort in Lincoln, California (don’t be heading to Nebraska, folks!) will once again play host to 20 days of poker action, running from March 7-26, with the last three days devoted to the $3,500 buy-in Championship Event itself.
Hit play below for a taste of what's to come...
Eskenazi scoops maiden win
Last year saw 590 players compete in the flagship tournament of the Festival, including Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler who produced one of his infamous 'min-cashes'.
Scott Eskenazi won his maiden WPT title and over $361k after battling back from a final table short stack to etch his name on the Mike Sexton Cup.
Whether or not Eskenazi will return this year to defend his title remains to be seen, but there’s two weeks of action (including Championship satellites) for anyone and everyone to bag a seat, and hopefully, a big win.
15 packages GTD in Thunder Valley's live satellite, March 8
One of the most sought-after satellite prizes will be the WPT Rolling Thunder Festival Package, available in a live satellite on March 8, where 1 player in 8 will scoop a $5,100 package. Direct entry is $700, with step 1s available for $165. These packages include:
- $500 tournament buy-in
- $1,100 entry to the $250k GTD NorCal Jacked Stack
- $3,500 golden ticket to the Championship Event
And, of course, it’s not all hold’em – there are PLO, omaha 8, 2-7 triple draw and mixed events on the schedule, with Turbo and Deepstack formats and pretty much whatever else takes your fancy. The full schedule is linked below, but here are a few of the highlights:
WPT Rolling Thunder Festival highlights
| Date | Tournament | Buy-in |
| March 10-13 | Action8 - $100k GTD | $300 |
| March 14-17 | DeepStack Thunder Valley - $1m GTD | $1,100 |
| March 17-18 | Savage Average - $50k GTD | $570 |
| March 18-21 | NorCal Jacked Stack - $250k GTD | $1,100 |
| March 21-22 | Leaning Tower of Chips - $100k GTD | $1,500 |
| March 24-25 | WPT Bounty Confidential - $100k GTD | $1,500 |
| March 23-26 | WPT Championship Event | $3,500 |
The final day of the WPT Championship Event will be streamed live.
Full details of the WPT Thunder Valley stop can be found here and PokerOrg will be bringing you all the best of the action from Lincoln, California next month. See you then!
Images courtesy of the WPT
