By Frank Op de Woerd
The World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions is an unparalleled event for the world’s best!
Season XVI WPT Tournament of Champions Group Photo at ARIA
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive
Winning a World Poker Tour Main Event has been as illustrious a feat as any. The bocal features some of the biggest names in poker who won events through the tour’s 18 seasons. Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Anthony Zinno, Antonio Esfandiari, and four-time WPT Champion Darren Elias are just some illustrious poker names with WPT titles on their resume. And let’s not forget about Mr. WPT himself, the cup’s namesake Mike Sexton won the WPT Montreal in Season XV.
Getting your name inscribed on the beaker is one thing, but there’s something even bigger awaiting this year’s World Poker World Tour Online Championships main event winners. Like the winners of the traditional land-based WPT events, the five winners of these online events get a seat in the next World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions (TOC).
Lynn Gilmartin and Darren Elias at the Season XIV Monster WPT Tournament of Champions Player Party
Given that the world is back to normal and live poker is possible again, the next WPT Tournament of Champions will once again be an as exorbitant an event as imaginable. Think of swooping spotlights, the camera’s buzzing, trumpets blaring, and Lynn Gilmartin hosting. When it comes to poker, few events top the spectacle of the WPT Tournament of Champions!
Having a hard time imagining such a spectacle? Here’s a reminder of how things looked last year:
Rake Free with a ton of added money
The next TOC will once again be a rake-free $15,000 buy-in event. The winners of the five WPT World Online Championships Main Events will get their ticket and are signed up right away. Travel and accommodation will be taken care of.
While the dates for next year’s TOC aren’t official yet, you can be sure players qualifying will keep their schedules free. Past WPT champions can buy-in for the event as well, handing over $15,000 will give you a ticket given that you’ve won a WPT before.
The WPT Tournament of Champions presented by Baccarat Crystal is a rake-free event with a ton of extra prizes. The World Poker Tour gives all TOC players a gift bag valued at a $1,000.
And if that isn’t enough, the World Poker Tour has added $100,000 to the prize pool in previous seasons and added another $50,000 to the winner’s first-place prize.
The World Poker Tour World Online Championships is the ultimate tournament series online, with mouth-watering guarantees and a ton of extra value. The Player of the Championship $100,000 leaderboards are one thing, but the WPT Tournament of Champions is on another level when it comes to added value!
The WPT World Online Championships is chockful of great events. With buy-ins big and small (and tiny), it’s not hard to find something to your liking. We’re currently in the PLO week with some tremendous four-card events, but some events are really standing out.
Sprinkled throughout the entire festival, are five so-called Main Events, the biggest buy-ins with the biggest guarantees, likely to attract the biggest names in poker. Here they are:
| Dates | Time | Event | Buy-in | Guarantee | partypoker # |
| Aug 1-4 | 7 pm (BST) | WPT World Championship 8-Max by partypoker | $3,200 | $3,000,000 | #277675496 |
| Aug 8-11 | 7 pm (BST) | WPT World Championship 6-Max by partypoker | $3,200 | $3,000,000 | #277683004 |
| Aug 15-18 | 7 pm (BST) | WPT World Championship Knock Out by partypoker | $3,200 | $3,000,000 | #277687185 |
| Aug 22-25 | 7 pm (BST) | WPT World Championship Mix-Max by partypoker | $3,200 | $3,000,000 | #277687096 |
| Sept 5-9 | 7 pm (BST) | WPT World Championship Main Event by partypoker | $10,300 | $10,000,000 | #277703191 |
Win a WPT Main Event and get a WPT TOC Ticket worth $15,000
It’s not just the lofty guarantees that set apart these five events. Winning one of them guarantees your name will be etched into the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup. And while it will be a tough venture, if you happen to win more than one, you can bet your name will be engraved as many times as well.
On top of that, the four winners of the $3,200 Main Events get a Hublot Classic Fusion Titanium watch worth $7,500. The $10,000 WPT World Online Championships $10,000 guaranteed Main Event winner will receive the iconic Hublot Big Bang timepiece, valued at $15,000. Last but not least the 5 winners will get Everyday Baccarat tumblers, and are invited to a special Baccarat champion’s toast via Zoom with WPT talent.
World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions History
The World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions was created back in 2016. Here’s a quick overview of the four previous editions.
World Poker Tour Season XIV Tournament of Champions (2016)
Venue: Seminole Hard Rock, Hollywood, Florida
Buy-in: $15,400
Entries: 64
Prize pool: $1,060,000
Past WPT winners and Season 14 victors traveled to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, to battle for the first TOC title. Big names like Darren Elias, Noah Schwartz, Jonathan Jaffe, and Michael Mizrachi made it to the final table while the rest of the poker world looked in awe. In the end, though, it would be a heads-up match for the title between Romanian superstar Vlad Darie and the relatively unknown Dutch player Farid Yachou. Yachou, who had won the WPT Amsterdam that season, ended up winning, becoming the first WPT TOC champion! He took home $381,600 and a brand-new car on his first trip to America!
1st Farid Yachou Netherlands $381,600
2nd Vlad Darie Romania $224,190
3rd Michael Mizrachi United States $140,450
4th Jonathan Jaffe United States $95,400
5th Noah Schwartz United States $74,200
6th Darren Elias United States $58,300
World Poker Tour Season XV Tournament of Champions (2017)
Venue: Seminole Hard Rock, Hollywood, Florida
Buy-in: $15,000
Entries: 66
Prize pool: $1,090,000
The next season, the WPT TOC returned to Florida with another stellar final table, all eyeing the $381,500 first-place prize. The likes of Dylan Wilkerson, Erik Seidel, and again Michael Mizrachi made the final table, but it ultimately was Daniel Weinman to lift the trophy. Weinman not only won the $381,500, but he also got a 2018 Audi S5 Coupe, a pair of rose gold headphones, a Hublot watch, a custom poker table, and a ton more totaling to $150,000 in value.
1st Daniel Weinman United States $381,500
2nd Michael Mizrachi United States $218,000
3rd Daniel Santoro United States $133,525
4th David Ormsby Canada $95,375
5th Erik Seidel United States $73,575
6th Dylan Wilkerson United States $57,225
World Poker Tour Season XVI Tournament of Champions (2018)
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive
Venue: HyperX Esports Arena (The Luxor)
Buy-in: $15,000
Entries: 80
Prize pool: $1,365,000
In season sixteen, the final table of the WPT Tournament of Champions moved venue to the HyperX Esports Arena in The Luxor, Las Vegas. With again just past champions able to buy-in, a star-heavy final table was guaranteed.
The 2018 edition didn’t disappoint with Nick Schulman, David Benyamine, and Darren Elias giving acte de présence. They all made the best of it, but the heads-up would be between Lithuanian poker superstar Matas Cimbolas and Mathew Waxman. Waxman triumphed, taking home $463,375 and a bag full of extra prizes. Waxman received a Hublot watch, a $50,000 membership to JetSmarter, a custom poker table by BBO Poker Tables, a Baccarat Crystal Bubble Box, and of course, the gold WPT Tournament of Champions trophy.
1st Matt Waxman United States $463,375
2nd Matas Cimbolas Lithuania $265,590
3rd Darren Elias United States $177,060
4th David Benyamine France $123,045
5th Nick Schulman United States $89,290
6th J.C. Tran United States $67,800
World Poker Tour Season XVII Tournament of Champions (2019)
Venue: HyperX Esports Arena (The Luxor)
Buy-in: $15,000
Entries: 76
Prize pool: $1,290,000
Last season’s World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions equaled the others in terms of star power. Nick Schulman was back for more, though he finished one spot below his position the year before; 6th. Griffin Paul, Simon Lam, and Ryan Tosoc all aimed for the win but ended up falling short.
The ultimate heads up was between WPT’s own Tony Dunst and German poker megastar Ole Schemion. Dunst, winner of the WPT Caribbean event back in 2013 and commentator on the show after Mike Sexton’s departure, finished runner-up, settling for $250,265. Schemion took down the title, $440,395 in prize money, a special-edition Hublot watch, a handcrafted Baccarat Crystal Tornado Vase, a Baccarat Crystal Champagne Flute set, and a custom-made BBO Poker Table.
1st Ole Schemion Germany $440,395
2nd Tony Dunst United States $250,265
3rd Ryan Tosoc United States $166,845
4th Simon Lam United States $115,945
5th Griffin Paul United States $84,140
6th Nick Schulman United States $63,890