WPT Prime Championship Registration Closes as Day 1 Flight Record Set
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Registration has officially closed in the $1,100 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Championship. One record has been set with a second one almost falling.
Day 1d on Wednesday at Wynn Las Vegas had 3,866 entries, bringing the tournament's total up to 9,691. The event is officially the second largest $1,000 buy-in or higher tournament in live poker history outside of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). The largest? Last year's WPT Prime Championship, which saw 10,512 entrants chase WPT glory. Calvin Anderson, a five-time bracelet winner, outlasted that massive field for $1,386,280.
History in the Making
Matt Savage, the WPT's executive tour director, told PokerNews prior to the start of the WPT Prime Championship that he was hopeful the tournament would match last year's record-setting turnout. But he expressed cautious optimism.
That record didn't fall, but World Poker Tour history was still made. Day 1d's session of 3,866 entrants is the largest starting flight in the WPT's 22-year history.
WPT Prime Day 1 by the Numbers
| Session | Entries | Survivors |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1a | 1,264 | 158 |
| Day 1b | 1,739 | 217 |
| Day 1c | 2,802 | 349 |
| Day 1d | 3,866 | ? |
The field has included a number of WPT champions, WSOP bracelet winners, poker legends, mid-stakes grinders, and thousands of recreational players. Brandon Cantu, Jeremy Becker, Nick Yunis, Steven Jones, and Pat Lyons were among the big stacks through the first three Day 1 starting flights. Day 1d was still underway at the time of publishing. Chip counts will be available by early Thursday morning.
As for the defending champion, Anderson, he bagged 505,000 chips on Day 1b, good for 50 big blinds and a slightly above average stack. Anderson has over $6 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob, and won his fifth WSOP title this past summer in the $10,000 Eight-Game Mix event ($413,446).
Day 1d has seen numerous high-profile players in the field. Many players who were unable to bag during the first three flights returned to the Wynn-Encore convention center for one last shot. World champs Joe McKeehen and Ryan Riess were among those who have fired multiple bullets in this historic event, the former sitting on a big stack at the time of publishing, while the latter was nursing a small stack.
Michael Ruane, who finished fourth in the 2016 WSOP Main Event and then 10th the following year, had a rough session on Day 1c but returned to the exact same table on Wednesday and has built up a sizable stack. Matt Salsberg, Lara Eisenberg, Tony Miles, and reigning WPT Player of the Year Bin Weng were also in the final Day 1 flight.
Payouts will be posted on WPT.com later this evening.
*Images courtesy of World Poker Tour.
