Who wants to be a millionaire? Calvin Anderson leads the WPT Prime charge

Calvin Anderson WPT (2)
Terrance Reid
Posted on: December 12, 2023 01:46 PST

When the numbers were finalized, the incredible reality sunk in on the remaining players of the World Poker Tour Prime Championship: Someone would turn their $1,100 buy-in into well over $1 million.

After Day 2, of the initial 10,512 entries, Calvin Anderson leads the remaining 128 in the quest for the lion's share of the $10,196,640 prize pool.

Calvin Anderson WPT Calvin Anderson WPT
Hayley Hochstetler

WPT Prime Championship Day 3 Chip Leaders

Place Name Chip Counts
1 Calvin Anderson 10,750,000
2 Valeriy Pak 10,150,000
3 Mukul Pahuja 9,375,000
4 Valentyn Shabelnyk 9,000,000
5 Yuebin Guo 8,600,000
6 Daniel Lowery 8,150,000
7 Adam Dunkle 8,100,000
8 Michael Clough 7,400,000
9 Aaron Pinson 7,050,000
10 Steve Karp 7,050,000

The Wynn and WPT handled the massive field "seamlessly"

This is the largest field the Wynn has ever seen for a single poker tournament. With over 10,000 entries capped off by a final day headcount of 3,757. Handling that many players is no easy feat. And yet, the Wynn and WPT made it look easy.

"Shoutout to WynnPoker and WPT for seamlessly fitting over 3,700 people in a tournament for a single day," said WPT Ambassador Ethan "Rampage" Yau. "Zero hiccups with that many people is incredible."

By adding an additional flight, opening up additional ballroom space, and utilizing a simple alternate system, one wouldn't know they just played a tournament with over 10,000 entries. Things flowed smoothly, waits for seats were seldom over a few minutes even at their longest moments.

Notables in the field and plan for the day

With 128 left in the quest for the Prime Championship title, plenty of recognizable names have chips going into today's Day 3.

Steven Jones WPT Steven Jones WPT
Hayley Hochstetler

WPT DeepStacks Champion Valeriy Pak (10,150,000), former WPT Player of the Year Mukul Pahuja (9,375,000), Daniel Lowery (8,150,000), Steven Jones (5,550,000), Kelly Lucas (Minkin) (4,925,000), Nick Marchington (2,725,000), Frankie Cucchiara (2,200,000), Jessica Vierling (1,825,000), Connor Drinan (1,625,000), and Andrew Moreno (1,475,000) all put chips in bags for today.

Kelly Minkin WPT Kelly Minkin WPT
Hayley Hochstetler

The tournament picks back up at noon local time today. The plan is to play as many one-hour levels as it takes to reach the six-handed final table. You can find the seat draw for today here, and play will be held in the Encore Ballroom.