Live Poker Series in December Off to Historic Start
There has always been December poker in rooms across the world, but one of the main attractions was the World Poker Tour in years past and the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague in recent years. However, in 2022, the World Poker Tour took it up a notch with its new Wynn partnership to offer the WPT World Championship like never before. The company ended its 20th season with a widely-acclaimed series at Wynn that included a $10K Main Event that nearly doubled its $15M guarantee. That success prompted many other poker rooms and tours to step up their December games.
This year, the competition was fierce. The EPT Prague offered an always-impressive series. The WPT World Championship at Wynn upped its offering to add events like the $1M buy-in Big One for One Drop and to increase its Main Event guarantee to an eye-popping $40M. After WSOP executives stopped by the WPT extravaganza in 2022, they introduced a WSOP Paradise series with 15 bracelet events offered in the Bahamas…in December. The WPT inspired poker rooms all over Las Vegas to offer competing series, though most came in with lower buy-ins and simply complemented the WPT schedule.
There had been some doubt about the WSOP’s ability to meet its guarantees due to the majority of players in poll after poll expressing their preference for the WPT. But the WSOP – as well as the EPT and WPT – kicked off their series with big numbers.
EPT Prague
The festival was set for December 6-17 at the King’s Casino operating at Hilton Hotel Prague. And it started strong:
- €1,100 NLHE Eureka Main Event: 4,403 entries / €4,226,880 pool (new record)
- Alexander Tkatschew of Germany won for €511,710
The EPT Prague Main Event was a €5,300 buy-in affair that garnered 1,250 entries in its two starting flights. However, registration remains open until the start of Day 2. It turned out that there were plenty of late registrants, as the total for the tournament came to 1,285 entries. That surpassed any previous year and set a record €6,232,250 prize pool.
WSOP Paradise
With no records to break, the hope of the World Series of Poker was to meet or exceed its guarantees in the Bahamas. The inaugural WSOP Paradise offered 15 events, each awarding a gold bracelet. So far, the events have met the mark:
- Event 1 = $1,650 NLHE Mystery Millions: 3,446 entries / $5,169,000 pool ($5M GTD)
- Event 2 = $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker: 3,496 entries / $5,233,000 pool ($5M GTD)
- Event 3 = $26K NLHE GGMillion$ High Roller: 533 entries / $13,325,000 pool ($10M GTD)
- Event 4 = $1,100 NLHE Mini Main Event: 2,234 entries / $2,234,000 pool ($1M GTD)
- Event 5 = $26K PLO High Roller: 140 entries / $3.5M pool ($2M GTD)
- Event 6 = $3,300 NLHE 6-Handed: 755 entries / $2,265,000 pool ($1M GTD)
- Event 7 = $52K NLHE Super High Roller: 137 entries / $6,688,600 pool ($2M GTD)
In addition to Event 7 more than tripling its guarantee, the winner was Erik Seidel, who claimed his tenth gold bracelet. The only other players with 10 bracelets are Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Ivey, though Phil Hellmuth has 17.
The Main Event, on the other hand, appears to have just barely surpassed its guarantee. The WSOPP Main Event was a $5,300 buy-in tournament with four starting flights and a $15M guarantee. The tally of entries came to 3,010, which put the prize pool at $15.05M.
WPT World Championship
The World Poker Tour is off to a solid start at Wynn Las Vegas. The series actually got underway at the end of November, and it will continue through the first three weeks of December. And some of the initial events showed strong numbers:
- $600 Limit O8 = 152 entries / $78,250 pool ($50K GTD)
- $600 NLHE = 4,950 entries / $2,554,400 pool ($1M GTD)
- $1K NLHE Seniors Championship = 805 entries / $780,850 pool ($500K GTD)
- $1,600 NLHE Mystery Bounty = 3,421 entries / $3,215,740 pool ($2M GTD)
- $1K NLHE 6-Max = 367 entries / $355,990 pool ($100K GTD)
- $1K PLO/NLHE Mix = 376 entries = $364,720 ($100K GTD)
The one that most people were watching was the WPT Prime Championship, which would give a good indication of the entire series’ ability to bring players back for a second year. They did so, unequivocally. The $1K buy-in tournament brought in 5,430 entries last year, which created a prize pool of $5,256,100, well past the $2M guarantee. This year, the WPT upped the guarantee to $5M, and the players showed up to the tune of 10,512 entries. That created an actual prize pool of $10,196,640.
That bodes well for the $40M guarantee on the Main Event, which will be the ultimate stamp of the WPT on December poker.
APT Hanoi Billions
Many poker players in the United States hadn’t heard about the Asian Poker Tour’s big December, which consisted of the APT Hanoi Billions series. The National Convention Center was going to host the APT in conjunction with the Vietnam Series of Poker (VSOP) and sponsored by Natural8, sister site of GGPoker.
The plan was to make it the largest poker event in Vietnam’s history. The Main Event alone boasted of a $1M guarantee for the $1,500 buy-in tournament. In all, there were 95 events.
That Main Event was historic, bringing in 2,350 entries for a prize pool that hit approximately $3M, a new APT record and a new high point for Vietnamese poker.
But as the action played on into its final days, there was a sudden halt. All tournaments for December 9-10 were cancelled, and the APT issued refunds for all who had bought in. The statement on social media read, in part, as follows:
“The decision to cancel the remaining days of the festival has not been made lightly. It is rooted in extenuating circumstances that have arisen, ones that, despite our utmost efforts, we are unable to overcome. The safety and well-being of our players and staff are of paramount importance to us, and we must prioritize these concerns above all else. We are truly sorry, and we appreciate your understanding during this challenging situation.”
Ultimately, Poker Media AU reported that police had visited the event the day before its cancellation, which was the result of a citizen’s complaint. The hosts of the tournament said they obtained written permission to host the series from the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports. However, sources told Poker Media AU that the hosts didn’t have all of the necessary permits. There was also an issue with the sponsorship by Natural8, which does not operate legally for Vietnamese players.
While the APT did make poker history with its Hanoi Billions, it didn’t finish on the high note it likely hoped for.
