Another big year is just around the corner World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Tour after an outstanding 2023 with 14 events in 12 countries.
The inaugural mid-major tour achieved a total prize pool of $22,734,998 from 22,290 entries in 2023 across the numerous events worldwide. Eight new events took part in the campaign and the whole thing was crowned by the WPT Prime Championship at the Wynn in December.
The flagship event in Las Vegas attracted 10,512 participants with a prize pool of $10,196,640. Ultimately, Calvin Anderson beat the largest field ever in WPT history to claim the top prize of $1,386,280. Anderson topped a field that nearly doubled turnout from last year and wiped out the $5 million guarantee.
Read more about Calvin Anderson’s victory at the WPT Prime Championship
The seven new stops in 2023 included Paris, Amsterdam, India, Slovakia, Sanremo, Aix-en-Provence and Liechtenstein – with an additional event taking place for the first time WPT Global.
Records broken
In addition to the largest turnout ever for a WPT event, several other records fell: The largest WPT event ever held in Paris kicked off the 2023 season with 1,071 participants and a prize pool of over $1,000,000. WPT Prime Gold Coast A short time later there were 1,224 entries and WPT Prime Taiwan followed with 1,359. Finally, a WPT record for the largest event in Europe was set in Liechtenstein with 1,644 entries.
Of the 14 events in 2023, eight attracted over 1,000 entries.
What’s next for the WPT?
The WPT Prime Tour returns to its €1,100 championship event on February 1 in Aix-en-Provence with three opening flights. The remainder of the first half schedule includes stops in Amsterdam, Slovakia, the Gold Coast, Sanremo and the WPT Voyage cruise. Additional stops are expected to be announced in the coming months.
WPT Prime Winners 2023
| Event | Buy in | Participant | Price pool | champion | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WPT Prime Paris | €1,100 | 1,071 | €1,028,160 | Fabrice Bigot | €177,240 |
| WPT Prime Gold Coast | A$2,000 | 1,224 | A$2,206,639 | Sheng Ye | A$374,953 |
| WPT Prime Cambodia | $1,100 | 1,011 | $970,270 | Kono Reiji | $121,331 |
| WPT Prime Amsterdam | €1,100 | 1,000 | €959,618 | Philip Hollederer | €161,552 |
| WPT Prime India | ₹65,000 | 857 | ₹50,648,700 | Prasit Chowdhury | ₹8,600,000 |
| WPT Prime Slovakia | €1,100 | 552 | €529,920 | Buddy Sandor | €109,660 |
| WPT Prime Vietnam | ₫25,000,000 | 1,151 | ₫25,099,729,000 | Duy Thuc Nguyen | ₫4,173,000,000 |
| WPT Prime Sanremo | €1,100 | 838 | €804,480 | Simone Andrian | €147,020 |
| WPT Prime Aix en Provence | €1,100 | 457 | €438,720 | Both Boujmala | €83,180 |
| WPT Prime Taiwan | NT$33,000 | 1,359 | NT$39,546,900 | Seonguk Huh | NT$6,652,200 |
| WPT Prime Liechtenstein | 1,100 francs | 1,644 | 1,644,000 francs | David Kozma | SFR 224,953 |
| WPT Prime Madrid | €1,100 | 396 | €366,758 | Oscar Gironella | €67,461 |
| WPT Prime World Championship | $1,100 | 10,512 | $10,196,640 | Calvin Anderson | $1,388,280 |
ClubWPT gives out weekly WPT passes on Super Saturdays
ClubWPT has a new membership level called “ Great Saturdays and it will allow players to take part in exciting live WPT events.
Super SATurdays offers players the opportunity to participate in a freeroll satellite that awards multiple WPT passes. Current passes include live event buy-in, hotel accommodations, a travel stipend and the usual WPT VIP treatment.
ClubWPT memberships start with the free basic package, with VIP membership available for $29.75 per month and Diamond membership available for $149.95. You can connect the Super SATurday add-on to any membership level for $100 per month.
The Super SATurdays started on January 13th and the grand prize was a WPT Voyage Passport valued at $6,000along with WPT Prime Championship Passes valued at $2,500 for everyone who ended up in second to fifth place. The next event will take place on January 27th and the winner will receive a WPT World Championship Passport worth $12,500.
For more information, including schedules, rules and location permissions, see ClubWPT.com
Meet the 2023 WPT World Championship ClubWPT qualifiers
*Images courtesy of WPT.
Matt Hansen
Live Reporting Manager
PokerNews Live Reporting Executive based in Las Vegas, originally from Chicago, IL
