Family and friends, I’m thrilled to share some exciting news. I’ll be playing in the Club WPT Gold $5 Million Freeroll Poker Tournament. This event will take place in Las Vegas this December! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ve been blessed to win one of the 2,000 freeroll seats for this incredible event.
How I Got Here
For those of you who follow poker, you may know of Brad Owen, a popular poker vlogger on YouTube. Brad is a poker ambassador for the WPT (World Poker Tour). A few months back, he announced he’d be giving away 100 freeroll entries to the Club WPT Gold $5M Freeroll Tournament. To enter, all you had to do was sign up for a free account at ClubWPTGold.com and use promo-code ‘BRAD’. I signed up right away. Much to my surprise, shortly thereafter I saw my name in one of Brad’s vlogs. I was one of the lucky winners!
This tournament is a promotional event for ClubWPTGold.com, and the free entry I’ve received is a $2,500 value. I’ll dive into more details about Brad’s vlog and how this opportunity came about in a separate post later.
My Poker History
I’ve been playing poker for about 12 years, mostly cash games at micro stakes. The highest stakes cash game I’ve ever played is $1/3. Although I’ve dabbled in tournaments, my experience is limited—fewer than a dozen live tournaments and around 25-30 online ones. The largest buy-in for a live tournament that I’ve ever participated in was $100. I’ve won a handful and cashed in several others, still cash games are where I’m most comfortable.
Opportunities to play live tournaments are rare in central Illinois. They never have the number of players needed for large payouts. This tournament in Las Vegas is a big deal for me.
The Tournament Details
This $5M Freeroll is one of the largest freeroll events ever. Here’s what’s at stake:
- The top 503 finishers (25%) make the money, with payouts ranging from $1,000 up to $1,000,000 for first place.
- The top 297 finishers are assigned mystery bounties, which range from $500 to $100,000 – going to whoever eliminates them from the tournament.
- Those who make the money but bust before the final table (top 9) have a 20% chance to win a seat in the WPT World Championship Main Event ($10,400 value)—a tournament where the winner could walk away with over $5 million!
- $750,000 in extra cash and prizes (above & beyond the $5M prize pool) given at random to registered players.
My personal goal is to play sound poker, minimize my mistakes, and look for opportunities to capitalize on my opponents’ weaknesses. While I’d love to go deep and certainly hope to at least make the money, I know a field of 2,000 is massive and winning will be tough. Whatever the outcome, I’ve already won and I am going to enjoy the experience.
Why the Blog?
I decided to start this blog to share my experience and at the same time update everyone on my progress. Instead of juggling updates to multiple people while I’m trying to focus on the tournament, I can post here once. Everyone who’s interested can follow along.
I’ll be sharing everything—my current standing, highlights, challenges, and lessons learned—so I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Feel free to leave comments, share advice, or just wish me luck. I’d love to hear from you!
What’s Next?
In my next post, I’ll talk more about Brad Owen’s poker vlog. I’ll also post more details about this amazing opportunity and give links to the tournament details, payouts, and other prizes. For now, I’m preparing for the trip by learning more about tournament strategy, and I’m counting down the days.
Stay tuned for updates as I head to Las Vegas for this unforgettable experience!
Footnote
What’s a mystery bounty? In a mystery bounty tournament, players who eliminate another player get a special reward. This reward is called a bounty. The amount of the bounty is random. In this event, the bounties start with the top 297 finishers and range from $500 to $100,000. At the final table, the bounties increase and range from $10,000 to $200,000.
What are your thoughts on this?