Dates Set for the Fourth-Annual WPT World Championship Festival at Wynn
Players can start making travel plans to Las Vegas in December for the return of the city's biggest winter poker festival, and the main attraction of the World Poker Tour (WPT).
The fourth-annual WPT World Championship Festival at Wynn Las Vegas kicks off Dec. 2, and the series wraps Dec. 22, just in time for Christmas.
All the action will again take place on the Encore side of Wynn Resorts. A full schedule isn't yet available, but the WPT has released dates for the two biggest events.
Scott Stewart to Repeat as WPT World Champion?
The Season 23-ending WPT World Championship, a $10,400 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament, is always the star of the show. This year's main event begins Dec. 13 and will play down to a final table of six on Dec. 19. Those still standing will come back Dec. 21 for the final table livestream to play for millions of dollars and to join the WPT Champions Club.
Scott Stewart is the defending champion. The Budweiser-loving, colorful character from California outlasted a field of 2,392 entrants to win a career-best $2,563,900. Chris Moorman finished in fourth place for the second straight year.
The biggest event of the series, for the second year in the row, will not have a guaranteed prize pool. In 2023, the World Poker Tour set a record at the time with the largest guaranteed prize pool in poker history at $40 million.
Despite no guarantee in 2024, the prize pool cracked $23 million, making it one of the largest live tournaments in poker history outside of the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Speaking of the WSOP, the WPT will once again go up against the World Series of Poker Paradise (WSOPP) bracelet series in the Bahamas, which runs Dec. 14-18.
The WPT World Championship revealed the dates for one other major event during its Wynn series, and that is the $1,100 WPT Prime Championship starting Dec. 7. Play will be halted on Dec. 12 when the final table has been reached, and the six remaining players will return to the felt for the livestreamed finale on Dec. 20. Zak VanKeuren, who won it for $1,162,350 in 2024, is the defending champion.
Information about additional tournaments, including the WPT Ladies Championship, aren't yet available.
