On Saturday, the highly anticipated World Poker Tour World Championship kicked off with the first of three Day 1 flights at Wynn Las Vegas. Despite an absence of a guarantee for this year’s $10,400 buy-in event, players flocked to the felt, eager for one last shot at a monumental payday before 2024 draws to a close.
When late registration closed at the start of Level 8, the field had swelled to 751 entries—a remarkable 23.32% increase over last year’s Day 1A total of 609 players. Some of that boost is likely thanks to the 100 WPT World Championship seats awarded through the ClubWPT Gold $5M Freeroll Invitational, which will crown its champion today at 4 p.m. as the action continues in Sin City.
From the 751 players who took their seat at the tables, 252 made it over the first hurdle. Phillip Lee, who has just two WPT cashes, stood atop the chip counts, bagging and tagging a stack worth 1,102,000 (184 big blinds).
2024 WPT Prime Slovakia Champ Fabian Gumz also found himself in the upper echelons of the leaderboard and was the only other player to cross the seven-figure threshold after he ended the first stage with 1,013,000 (169 big blinds). Ricardo Martinez rounded out the top three after seeing his 100,000 starting stack rise to 925,000 (154 big blinds).
Other notables in the top ten include, Paul Allen, Chris Conrad and Josef Snejberg.
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phillip Lee | United States | 1,102,000 | 184 |
| 2 | Fabian Gumz | Germany | 1,013,000 | 169 |
| 3 | Ricardo Martinez | - | 925,000 | 154 |
| 4 | Rabah Abdelmalek | Morocco | 900,000 | 150 |
| 5 | Gary Miles | United States | 880,000 | 147 |
| 6 | Paul Allen | United Kingdom | 819,000 | 137 |
| 7 | Ya Yun Liu | China | 805,000 | 134 |
| 8 | Chris Conrad | United States | 800,000 | 133 |
| 9 | Johan Schumacher | Belgium | 775,000 | 129 |
| 10 | Josef Snejberg | Czechia | 733,000 | 122 |
Reigning champion Dan Sepiol was among the Day 1A entrants. Twelve months ago, Sepiol pocketed the $5,282,954 first-place prize after besting 3,835 entries and last defeating Georgios Sotiropoulos in heads-up play.
Sepiol's win was a springboard to a monster 12-month run. He won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet this past summer, finished runner-up in an online bracelet event, and took down the $25,000 buy-in WPT Alpha8 Trifecta event at Wynn in July for $672,200. His stellar 2024 was made all the sweeter after he conquered a daily fantasy sports contest on Thanksgiving for $1 million while playing at the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship.
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"Really, I feel like the same old Danny." Sepiol told PokerNewsas he reflected on his breakthrough. "Maybe I have a little more confidence at the poker table now, but basically playing the same tournaments, doing the same stuff."
Day 1A was business as usual for Sepiol, and he avoided any major pitfalls as he advanced to Day 2 with relative ease. He wrapped up the defence of his title, ending the opening session with 258,000.
The other WPT champions joining Sepiol on Day 2 are Calvin Anderson, Michael Wang, Nick Yunis, Dan Smith, Ryan Tosoc, Mark Newhouse, Soheb Porbandarwala, David "ODB" Baker, Taylor Black, Tony Sinishtaj, Upeshka De Silva, Chanracy Khun, Tyler Patterson, Sam Panzica, and Shawn Buchanan.
Click here to see a full list of chip counts.
Images courtesy of the World Poker Tour