The historic $5 Million ClubWPT Gold Invitational Freeroll next weekend will feature hundreds of recreational players from around the world all competing for life-changing money at Wynn Las Vegas. But there will also be a good mix of pros, content creators, and non-poker personalities competing in the record-breaking event.
Never before has the poker world seen a freeroll with a pot even close to as massive as what we're all about to witness Dec. 13-15 on the Las Vegas Strip. The tournament is one of many highlights of the third annual World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship festival, a series that includes the return of the $10,400 WPT World Championship, a tournament that had a $40 million prize pool last year.
There will be at least one Barstool Sports personality in attendance during the ClubWPT Gold freeroll. Eric "Barstool Nate" Nathan, who previously hosted the Cracking Aces poker podcast, will be heading out west next week to take his shot at the $1 million first place prize.
Nate won a ClubWPT Golden Passport and he shared the congratulatory message he received with his 130,000 X followers. The Washington Commanders fanatic is also giving away 1% of his potential cash in the freeroll to three X followers who made a Barstool Sports store purchase during a Black Friday sale.
Nate doesn't shy away from the fact that he's, by his own admission, punted some major events in the past, including a couple times in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He did, however, cash in 717th place in the Main Event this past summer, and it was the last live tournament he's played.
The longtime Barstool Sports personality tweeted that he is "extremely excited to play" the freeroll, and "let us pray I don't punt." Avoiding the punt and running deep in the freeroll should make his Barstool Sports boss, Dave Portnoy, happy.
PokerNews Podcasters, "Chainsaw" to Compete
Allen Kessler
Two members of the PokerNews Podcast — Kyna England and Mike Holtz — have won tickets into the historic freeroll at Wynn. Holtz, an online poker crusher, has $765,000 in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob. England, a Chicago area native, has over $1 million in cashes and was the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Season 12 Player of the Year.
The duo of PokerNews podcasters will be joined in the $5 million tournament by a number of other familiar faces from within the poker world, including longtime WSOP announcer Lon McEachern and Allen Kessler, who won a Golden Passport through a drawing Xuan Liu held.
There are still plenty of opportunities for poker players to win a Golden Passport into the $5 million freeroll. ClubWPT Gold will be giving away 300 seats via satellites in the coming days and various contests. Players are also encouraged to visit the ClubWPT Golden Tree booth at Wynn Dec. 8-12 for additional opportunities to snag a Golden Passport (you can also win other prizes such as a McLaren GTS luxury car).
