WPT500 Las Vegas is right around the corner, with action kicking off on Monday, June 26, 2017, from ARIA Resort & Casino.
The event has a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million guarantee and is the feature event of the 2017 ARIA Poker Classic. It’s the fourth year this spectacular tournament will be played, and if the first years are anything to learn from, then this event is going to be a can’t-miss affair with a huge first-place payday in comparison to the $565 price tag.
To shed a little more light on just how much money will be at stake, let’s take a trip down memory lane.
In the event’s first year, a field of 3,599 entries was generated, for a prize pool of $1.799 million. Sean Yu (pictured below) won the event and scored the $260,000 first-place prize. Yu topped Kareem Marshall in heads-up play at a final table that included Scott Clements and Christian Harder.
The following summer, in 2015, more than 5,000 entries were tallied in WPT500 Las Vegas. To be exact, 5,113 entries were totaled to put the prize pool at $2.556 million. Craig Varnell (pictured below) entered the final day of play with a sizable lead over the rest of the pack, and Varnell rode that lead to a victory worth $330,000. Varnell defeated Lucio Antunes in heads-up play at a final table that included Alexander Lakhov, Nick Binger, Hunter Cichy, and Brett Mueller.
Last year, Andreas Olympios (pictured below) emerged victorious atop a field of 3,956 entries. Olympios outperformed all others to earn the lion’s share of the $2 million prize pool for $260,000. In the end, it was Olympios versus Wesley Hicks for the title after Drazen Ilich hit the rail in third place, and Olympios came out on top.
All told, WPT500 Las Vegas has awarded $6.356 million in prize money, and the three winners have walked away with an average of $283,000 in first-place prize money. That’s quite the amount of dough for the accessible buy-in of $565.
The 2017 edition of WPT500 Las Vegas has nine starting flights, with the first kicking off June 26 at 11 a.m. PT. The first seven starting flights, taking place each day from June 26-July 2 starting at 11 a.m., will see competitors begin with 15,000 in tournament chips and play 30-minute levels for the first eight levels. Level time will increase to 40 minutes starting with Level 9.
The final two starting flights will take place on Monday, July 3, and both will be turbo versions of the structure. The first flight of that day kicks off at 11 a.m., and the second kicks off at 7 p.m. In these two flights, levels will last 20 minutes each.
Each starting flight will play down to five percent of the field, and 12.5 percent of each Day 1 field will be paid.
Click here for full WPT500 Las Vegas rules.
We’ll see you at ARIA Resort & Casino starting June 26 for WPT500 Las Vegas!