Several of you have asked how I got to be in this tournament. Did I have to win a satellite tournament to get a seat? Did I make a video that was selected? Did I write something? Or was it a random drawing? Well, the answer is: It was a random drawing. In my first post I mentioned poker vlogger Brad Owen. He’s one of the WPT’s ambassadors. He announced on a vlog back in September that he’d be giving away 100 golden passports to lucky random winners that signed up for a free account on ClubWPTGold.com using promo code Brad. Of course I signed up immediately, not thinking there was really any chance I’d get one, knowing that Brad’s YouTube channel has over 750,000 subscribers. Maybe signing up early helped? Who knows. What I do know is that about 3 weeks later I received an email from ClubWPTGold notifying me that I had won a Golden Passport. This was confirmed as real when Brad’s next video was posted with the latest winners and my name was among them (beginning of the video, 11 second mark). I want to say a huge thank you to Brad and ClubWPTGold.com for this opportunity!
So, now that you know how I got here, let’s get into the tournament details. One quick item first: If you want to receive email notifications as I post updates, scroll to the bottom of this page, enter your email, and SUBSCRIBE.
The tournament is a 3-day tournament in Las Vegas, starting tomorrow, Friday, December 13th. The tournament structure can be found here. Blind levels on day 1 are 30 minutes and play starts at 10am. Day one will see 20 blind levels (10 hours of game time) with 15-minute breaks every 4 levels (2 hours). There’s also a 1-hour dinner break after 16 levels (6:45pm). Play will then resume for 2 more hours. I fully expect the field will be narrowed from the starting 2000 players down to under 500 and maybe as few as 200 players by the end of day 1. Goal #1 – Play sound poker and make it to 1 more break… all the way to the end of day 1!
Day 2 starts at 10am on Saturday with 40-minute blind levels and a 15-minute break every 3 levels. Play will continue on day 2 until it’s down to the final table of 9 players. Goal #2 – Stay in there, looking for opportunities to capitalize on other’s mistakes and build a solid stack going into the final table!
Day 3 doesn’t start until 4pm and will play with 40-minute blind levels until a winner is declared. Goal #3 – Take this thing down!
I expect the field to be soft since this is a freeroll, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy. There are still 2000 players that’ll need to be eliminated. I’ll not only have to play my best game, I’ll also need a little luck with the cards and runouts. So, wish me luck!
I’m including a couple links to some additional info on the WPT’s website if you’d like to read more about the other prizes and giveways. I plan to start posting travel updates today and will post status updates during the breaks tomorrow. I’m not at all nervous but I am excited for the opportunity and the experience. Regardless of the outcome, I’ve already won.
WPT $5M Freeroll event details
2025 McClaren GTS with ClubWPTGold graphics going to a lucky winner.
What are your thoughts on this?