Florida Caretaker & ClubWPT Qualifier Albert Cohen Making Way to WPT World Championship
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The World Poker Tour (WPT) ushers in its 20th anniversary this year and has been celebrating all year long and thing will culminate at Wynn Las Vegas with its $10,400 buy-in, $15 million GTD WPT World Championship. It will be held from December 12-20, with 22 other events also on the Wynn WPT World Championship schedule.
A tournament of this size with a $15 million dollar guarantee will attract its fair share of high-profile poker players, and will also be a televised event. Its field will also be filled with satellite winners and qualifiers as the Wynn, WPT, and ClubWPT have all been running special promotions awarding passports and entries into the championship tournament.
ClubWPT awarded its final qualifier a passport into the championship on November 13th. The winner of each satellite won a $12,000 Passport to the WPT World Championship. The passport included the tournament buy-in, as well as a hotel and travel stipend.
However, you can still win an entry into the tournament by playing one of the Wynn’s live $1,100 buy-in satellites, which run up to December, with a mega-satellite on December 11th, which will award at least 50 entries into the tournament. You can also play on WPT Global which will also be awarding seats up to the end of November.
Click here to see a list of qualifier and satellite opportunities!
Caretaker Making His Way from Florida
PokerNews recently caught up with Albert Cohen, one of these ClubWPT qualifiers who won his passport at ClubWPT’s August 28th event.
Albert lives in Mount Dora, Florida and is a Financial Service Professional who took a sabbatical from work to be the primary caretaker for both of his parents. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in Advertising and Public Relations.
“My father taught me to play poker when I was about 12.” While taking care of his parents, “playing online has been a blessing” he states. He’s been a ClubWPT member for the past year and a half. Playing online allowed him to take care of his mother, who has dementia, and his father who is wheelchair-bound.
Albert had previously won a seat in the World Series of Poker, while he was able to play live poker, however took the $10,000 prize money“instead of going. “I promised myself if I ever won a similar prize, this time I would play," he said.
He mused, “I think I am prouder of winning the ClubWPT package, because I will actually be playing in this one.”
This will be the first time in several years that he’s been able to travel alone. Two players he’s thrilled to potentially play with and/or meet are Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.
“I think Phil is the greatest professional gambler alive and I think Daniel reads people at the poker table better than anyone I have ever seen," said Cohen.
He added: “I have been to Las Vegas about a dozen times, and I have played in numerous high buy-in tournaments, but this is the highest buy-in tournament he’s ever played. I am… looking forward to getting away to my favorite destination and playing the game I love.”
Learn More About the Subscription-Based ClubWPT here!
ClubWPT Qualifiers Thus Far for WPT Wynn
| Date Qualifier | Player | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/14/2022 | Drew Rautenberg | Medfield | MA |
| 5/28/2022 | Bruce Ramoth | Selawik | AK |
| 5/29/2022 | Quran Cruse | West Hartford | CT |
| 6/5/2022 | William Hays | Jackson | TN |
| 6/12/2022 | Anthony Greene | Penfield | NY |
| 6/19/2022 | Michael Ensey II | Gun Barrel | TX |
| 7/3/2022 | Jason Kilby | Wakeman | OH |
| 7/10/2022 | Philip Aleman | Staten Island | NY |
| 7/10/2022 | Kurt Carlson | Golden | CO |
| 7/17/2022 | Ronald "Tigar" Penepent | Cleveland | TN |
| 7/24/2022 | Sepideh Moghaddam | Bellaire | TX |
| 8/7/2022 | Joseph Giannone | Citrus Heights | CA |
| 8/14/2022 | Dan Lincoln | West Bridgewater | MA |
| 8/28/2022 | William Haines | Superior | CO |
| 8/28/2022 | Albert Cohen | Mount Dora | FL |
| 9/4/2022 | Richard Jaros | North Anson | ME |
| 9/11/2022 | Mike Robinson | Lone Star | TX |
| 9/18/2022 | Timothy Robins | Lincoln | NE |
| 9/25/2022 | Stacey Breslin | Lakemoor | IL |
| 10/2/2022 | Jerry Tucker | Florence | KY |
| 10/9/2022 | Charles Ralston | Hot Springs | AR |
| 10/16/2022 | Joseph DiTommaso | Concord | NH |
| 10/23/2022 | Bob Bacon | Overgaard | AZ |
| 10/30/2022 | Richard Hill | Paso Robles | CA |
| 10/31/2022 | Mark Symons | Byron Center | MI |
| 11/6/2022 | Steve Hohn | Fort Worth | TX |
| 11/13/2022 | Peter Espitia | Los Angeles | CA |
The televised WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas main event takes place at Wynn Las Vegas and is the culmination of a larger multi-tournament festival that runs December 1-20, 2022. Click here for more details on the Wynn Winter Open.
Did You Know the World Poker Tour is Online?
The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world's largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 50 countries and territories around the world.
WPT Global offers a large deposit match bonus: 100% on deposits up to $1,200 (using any payment method). New players depositing a minimum of $20 automatically receive this match bonus which is unlocked in $5 increments (credited straight to the cashier) for every $20 of rake contribution.
Both tournaments and cash games count towards bonus unlocking; new players have 90 days from the date of first deposit to unlock and claim their full bonus amount.
Listen to more about the WPT World Championship on the new PokerNews Podcast!
*Images courtesy of Albert Cohen.
Christina is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer who discovered poker at the age of twelve. She's been a contributor to PokerNews since 2022.
