Every year, WPT Champions haul in millions of dollars in prize money at events all over the world. In 2011 alone there were 21 new names added to the WPT Champions Cup at events in nine different countries. In the spirit of looking back at the success of 2011, here’s a list of the top 5 prizes awarded at World Poker Tour events during the last year. The list spans the second half of Season IX and the first half of Season X and all clock in at more than $1 million.
- $1,654,120 – This impressive prize was captured by Gregory Brooks at the 2011 WPT LA Poker Classic. After fighting his way through six days of tournament play and a field of 681 poker players, Brooks finally added his name to the WPT Champions Cup after defeating a WPT televised final table that featured noted pros Carlos Mortensen and Vivek Rajkumar.
- $1,618,344 – Just barely getting edged into second, the payday hauled in by Scott Seiver at the $25,000 buy-in 2011 WPT World Championship is no less impressive. The 220-player field featured some of the biggest names in poker, including Farzad Bonyadi, his eventual heads-up opponent and member of this list (see below), and Galen Hall, who finished in third.
- $1,122,340 – Taylor Von Kriegenbergh‘s win at the first-ever WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown put this Hollywood, Florida, event in distinguished company. The 433 entries and $4,156,800 prizepool made this one of Florida’s largest ever poker tournaments and one of the biggest of WPT Season IX.
- $1,061,900 – As mentioned above, Farzad Bonyadi finished second at the WPT World Championship, but the prizepool was large enough to secure him a spot on this list.
- $1,039,000 – Rounding out the top 5 is the payout taken home by 2011 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Champion Alan Sternberg. With a field of 415 entrants and a WPT televised final table that included Mike Matusow, Vivek Rajkumar and WPT’s own Mike Sexton, the million dollar prize was well-deserved and secures Sternberg the last spot on the list.
Check back with us through this week and the beginning of 2012 for more wrap-up posts as we take a look back at another successful year of World Poker Tour events and TV programming.