Youve very likely already heard: the award-winning WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas is returning this December. But heres the real headline – the 2023 edition is coming with a staggering $40,000,000 guarantee.

Forty. Million. Dollars.

World Poker Tour and Wynn are pushing the envelope once again, setting a new record for a live guarantee with promises of life-changing paydays to those who make it to the end. As WPT CEO Adam Pliska has said, the event is poised to reach new heights but in reality, its going to smash WPT records across the board. And, for players, its not only the chance for a poker experience like none other, as well as for a lucky few, the opportunity at a life-changing score.

The astonishing support and excitement weve seen from th poker community after just one year is nothing like Ive seen before, said Ryan Beauregard, Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas.

Last year, when the televised $10,400 WPT World Championship was announced with its $15 million guarantee there was some debate at the time about whether or not it would even be reached. Well, players turned out en masse – 2,960 entries to be exact – and pushed that prize pool to just over $29 million.

Some might say $40 million is simply a matter of if you build it, they will come but this year its going to take 4,081 (roughly) entries just to hit the lofty $40 million number. And, thats not a slam dunk by any means. So its going to take work. Work that both WPT and Wynn are up for and have already begun through an abundance of ways to help players qualify. Here are just a few WPT World Championship qualifiers you should note:

In short, the bigger the event, the more qualifiers are needed. And that means ample opportunity for casual players to get into the mix for far less than bringing $10K to the cage.

Youve got to be in it, in order to win it. And while its impossible to know exactly what first-place will bring, we can take a look at last year and extrapolate. Canadas Eliot Hudon outlasted the UKs Benny Glaser heads-up to take home his first WPT title and the $4,136,000 first-place prize. Assuming that the base percentage of first-place will be nearly identical, roughly 14-15%, the winner of the 2023 WPT World Championship could see a payday of right around $5.5-5.7 million if the guarantee is just made. Anything north of $40 million in the prize pool, and $6 million is definitely within reach. Wherever first-place lands, the payday is set to be the richest in World Poker Tour history.

Of course, the increase in prize pool and entries should ripple throughout the payout structure. In 2022, the final six players (which for WPT is the official final table) each locked up more than $1 million with sixth-place finisher Colton Blomberg walking with $1,001,050, nearly $300,000 more than seventh-place finisher Lucas Foster. While not promised, its very likely that seven-figure paydays could stretch to the actual final table of nine. There will be, after all, no less than an additional $10 million in this years prize pool.

The $40 million guarantee is great for players monetarily, of course, but its also an extension of a promise that this entire WPT World Championship festival is going to be bigger and better headed into Year Two. That applies to a healthy prelim schedule of more than 30 events that includes a $600 Opening Event with a $1 million guarantee, the return of the $1 million buy-in The Big One for One Drop, and this years WPT Prime Championship which also has an improved guarantee in 2023 of $5 million.

No matter how you look at it: everyone can expect more from the 2023 WPT World Championship.

Click here for the full schedule of WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas events.

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