Rodrigo Rivelli (pictured above) and Nery Escalona will be heading to Las Vegas in December to play WPT Prime Championship, one of the many tournaments taking place throughout the WPT World Championships festival which kicks off in just 3 weeks!
The full WPT World Championships festival, which marks the grand finale for Season XXL of the World Poker Tour, runs from November 29 to December 21 at the glamorous Wynn Las Vegas casino. The robust schedule features a great mix of tournaments including the $5 million guaranteed WPT Prime Championship (December 7-12) and the $40 million guaranteed WPT World Championship Main Event (December 12-21) which features four starting flights and a televised final table.
South American Winners Head to Las Vegas
Rodrigo nominated his mate Nery (pictured below) in the recent MainEventTravel.com X WPT Prime Championship promotion and both were surprised and excited to hear they won! 36-year-old poker pro Rodrigo from Paraguay has been playing for nearly 15 years, primarily online. He has never been to Las Vegas and has never played a large field live event such as a WPT.
37-year-old Nery, from Argentina, is also a professional online player. And he is no stranger to getting in for the minimum. In 2020 he freerolled his way into the $5M Guaranteed Main Event on PartyPoker and finished 124th for $5,500.
And this is not the first time Nery will play a WPT! He was a WPT Prime India Passport Winner earlier this year, he said ‘Goa was absolutely beautiful, a unique experience, it was my first series of live tournaments. I am very happy for the chance to attend this tremendous event in Las Vegas, this is a dream for me’.
They will both be playing Day 1C in the $5 million guaranteed WPT Prime Championship on Saturday 9 December, 2023. We wish them both heaps of luck and look forward to hearing about their Tournament Travels!
WPT Prime
The WPT Prime series made its debut last year and has already proved a huge success. This year’s season-ender – the $5 million guaranteed WPT Prime Championship – is running from December 7-12 at the Wynn with a $1,100 event featuring four starting flights and a televised final table on December 19. The inaugural $1,100 WPT Prime Championship event was a blockbuster with 5,430 entrants and a prize pool of $5,267,100, way more than the $2 million guarantee. The winner was American Stephen Song (pictured below) for a career-best live cash of $712,650. Among the 677 players who cashed was Britain’s Tom Middleton who finished 11th for £56,500.
WPT World Championship
The $10,400 WPT World Championship gets underway on December 12 just as the WPT Prime Championship is drawing to a close. Last year’s event carried a $15 million guaranteed prize pool - the largest guaranteed prize pool in live tournament poker history. The World Championship Main Event attracted nearly 3,000 entries creating a prize pool of $29,008,000, nearly double the $15k guarantee. The award-winning tournament was named Event of the Year in the 2022 Global Poker Awards. This year the prize pool guarantee has been boosted to an incredible $40 million making it the biggest tournament guarantee ever offered.
Staying in Vegas
When it comes to accommodation, MainEventTravel has rooms available at every hotel on the Vegas strip, some only a few minutes from the tournament venue. Even those hotels that are slightly further away are a great option as the weather in December is ideal for a refreshing stroll along the Strip as you prepare yourself for a day at the tables.
Full schedule
The festival features more than 30 events overall kicking off with a $1 million guaranteed, $600 multi-flight NLH tournament from November 29 to December 4. This is followed by other player favourites such as the $250,000 guaranteed WPT Ladies World Championship from December 6-8, the ever-popular $2 million guarantee Mystery Bounty, a $1,100 50+ Seniors Championship and a $10,000 Seniors High Roller. Multiple mixed game tournaments are also available ranging from a $1,100 HORSE Championship to the new $3,000 Dealer’s Choice Championship. The $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop runs from December 18-20 and a $25,700 High Roller is set for December 17-18, followed by the $50,000 buy-in WPT Alpha8 from December 20-21.
WPT, World Poker Tour and Spade Card Design are registered trademarks of WPT Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Credit: World Poker Tour
£ GBP
$ USD
€ EUR
