World Poker Tour Is Where Millionaires Are Made

In April 1993, a then 23-year-old office supply salesman was plucked form the audience at halftime of a Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls game and given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If he could make a 75-foot basket from across the court he could win $1 million dollars. So, from the foul line at the opposite end of the court Don Calhoun took the ball, loaded up, and took his shot. Nothing but net. The Calhoun Shot, as its now known, was, essentially, a million-dollar freeroll. No harm if he missed, an overnight millionaire if he hit – and Don cashed in. This December, the World Poker Tour is bringing that same energy to the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in the form of the largest freeroll in poker history – a $5,000,000 freeroll to kick-off and help promote WPTs latest online poker offering: ClubWPT Gold. Two thousand poker players are going to win a seat into this massive giveaway, and like Don Calhoun, one of them will walk away with a first-place prize of $1,000,000. These couples have all become instant millionaires on the richest game in television That was the intro on the 1986 game show ‘The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, the first game show credited with offering a million-dollar top prize. The little-known, short-lived show pitted couples against each other in a series of reverse Wheel of Fortune word puzzles where if they won three episodes in a row, including tougher bonus rounds, they took home $1 million. Chance of a Lifetime didnt last long, just two seasons where nine couples walked with a million. More than a decade later, in August of 1999, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire aired in the United States every day for two weeks. The allure of regular people answering trivia questions in an effort to climb the money ladder to reach the million-dollar question drew roughly 30 million viewers a night. It was 25 years ago that John Carpenter, a 31-year-old IRS agent, was the first to win the show becoming the biggest money winner in television history famously using his phone-a-friend lifeline to call his parents and telling them live on-air that he was about to win the million. Despite it being a hell of a lot of money, Carpenter kept his job but admitted to People Magazine that the money makes it easier to focus on family. Right on the heels of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, reality TV royalty Survivor premiered in May of 2000. The first reality show to offer a one million dollar first-place prize has become not just a cultural touchstone but helped usher in a new era where both game and reality competitions would separate themselves as high-stakes by offering the $1,000,000 top prize. Survivor pushed the boundaries for what contestants would be willing to go through to win a million. More than word puzzles or trivia, these players were given the Castaway treatment seemingly left to fend for themselves on an island. What was true then, remains true – people will do a lot to get a shot at a million. Cite inflation all youd like, becoming a millionaire still means something and its a figure that, for many, remains life-changing. At the very least, its financial security and for poker players specifically – an incredible bankroll boost. Case in point is Survivor: Blood vs. Water winner, and frequent poker player, Tyson Apostol who in his third attempt on the show outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted the competition to score his found million-dollar payday. I will probably try to wisely invest it and make it last as long as possible so that I can kick back at bit, Apostol told Entertainment Weekly after his win. I don;t care about fancy cars, maybe a bicycle. Im more of a bicycle guy than a car guy. The only reason I would buy a car is to make my car guy friends jealous. Whether its spending more than a month on an island in the Philippines or having an endless well of trivia knowledge to call upon, winning a million rarely comes easy. Mark Pate took on a challenge from YouTuber Jimmy Mr. Beast Donaldson in which he stood for nearly 48 hours with his hand on a glass cube filled with cash, outlasting three other competitors in the video entitled “Last To Take Hand Off $1,000,000 Keeps It.” Shortly thereafter, Pate was charged by Mr. Beast to spend as much of it as he could in 24 hours. Im very grateful, Pate said on camera. Like highly humble and grateful about this whole entire thing. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. In the subsequent video Pate could be seen splurging on electronics for himself and his extended family, buying a new ring for his wife, getting two new cars, and even a new house. Today, even though those million-dollar prizes are more common on TV, they remain the gold standard figure for generating eye-popping excitement over a project even as reality competitions like Deal or No Deal Island and game shows like The Wall are pushing prizes to new heights. In a sense, setting a new bar is also what is taking place in poker at the WPT World Championship at the Wynn this December. Its a record-setting, poker-history-making $5 million freeroll where the winner will take home seven figures. Add to that 100 seats to the $10K buy-in WPT World Championship are scheduled to be given away, offering those who land a seat a second shot at a seven-figure payday. Chances like this don’t come around very often and itll likely be the closest chance any of those who win a Golden Passport will come to having a “Calhoun Shot” of their own and a chance at becoming an overnight millionaire.

Real-money online poker isn’t currently legal in North Carolina. While you can find a couple of live poker rooms running at tribal casinos in the state, you won’t find any full-scale, real-money online poker sites operating legally in NC. If you’re a North Carolina poker player, sweepstakes poker sites are your best bet for legal online poker. ClubWPT is the best sweepstakes poker room currently available in the Tarheel State. This North Carolina online poker guide aims to clarify the legal status of sweepstakes poker, as well as provide a thorough overview of the games and prizes available at ClubWPT. There are no full-scale, real-money online poker rooms currently operating legally in NC. Sweepstakes poker sites offer the best way to play online poker legally in North Carolina. These sites award sweepstakes credits that can be redeemed for cash, as well as sweepstakes prizes. Because all prizes at a sweepstakes gaming site are awarded as sweepstakes prizes, these sites fall under a different legal category than real money gaming sites. Sweepstakes gaming is legal in more than 40 U.S. states. ClubWPT is the best sweepstakes poker site currently operating in the U.S. North Carolina players are in luck, as ClubWPT is legal in the Tarheel State. The U.S. was once one of the biggest online poker markets in the world. The “poker boom” era of the early 21st century saw all of the world’s biggest online poker rooms operate in the U.S. in a legal grey area. That era came to an end on April 15, 2011, a day known as “Black Friday” in poker lore. The U.S. government seized the domains of virtually all of the biggest online poker rooms offering access to U.S. players. In the modern era, U.S. states can legalize poker on an individual basis. All online poker sites doing business in the U.S. must operate in a state that has legalized online poker. The gaming regulation agency in a given state must approve and license a poker site before it can launch in the state. Sweepstakes poker sites don’t operate with the same legal restrictions as real-money poker sites in the U.S. Sweepstakes gaming sites are legal in more than 40 U.S. states, including North Carolina. ClubWPT tops the list of legal poker sites available in NC. If you’re looking for a legal platform to play poker online, ClubWPT is the best sweepstakes site available in the state. As mentioned, ClubWPT offers the best legal platform for playing poker online in North Carolina. Read on for a thorough overview of how ClubWPT works, as well as the games and prizes offered. ClubWPT is a legal sweepstakes poker room owned and operated by the World Poker Tour, one of the longest-running and most trusted brands in the poker industry. North Carolina players can find two kinds of games at ClubWPT – free-to-play games and sweepstakes games. The free-to-play games (known as “Play Chips” games) run 24/7 at ClubWPT and include both poker and casino games. These games are available to anyone in the U.S. ClubWPT’s sweepstakes games award cash and prizes to the winners. The sweepstakes games at ClubWPT award more than $100,000 in cash and prizes each month. The prizes on the line in ClubWPT’s sweepstakes tournaments include sweepstakes credits that can be redeemed for cash. Other prizes available include “Passports” to prestigious WPT live events, travel packages for WPT Voyage luxury cruises, and more. You can get access to the sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT by purchasing a monthly subscription. You can purchase one of two different subscription tiers at ClubWPT, as well as an add-on subscription allowing exclusive access to special Saturday satellite tournaments. The subscription fee grants you unlimited access to the tournaments in your subscription tier, with no additional buy-ins required. The subscription tiers at ClubWPT break down as follows: VIP ($27.95 per month, access to all VIP tournaments) Diamond ($149.95 per month, access to all Diamond and VIP tournaments) Super SATurdays ($100 add-on per month, access to Super SATurdays satellite tournaments) The VIP subscription is the most affordable subscription available at ClubWPT. The $27.95 monthly rate grants access to all tournaments in the VIP tier. When you sign up at ClubWPT, you’ll automatically get 500 “Tournament Points,” which can be used to “buy in” to tournaments in the VIP tier. Your Tournament Points (TP) balance reloads each day. VIP tournaments run like a traditional online poker tournament, with cash (in the form of sweepstakes credits), prizes, and TP awarded to those that finish “in the money.” A typical VIP tournament looks like this: Tournament Name: $1,000 Mountain Buy-In: 400TP Prize Pool: $1,000 USD + 202,500 TP Guaranteed First Place: $150 USD + 2,000 TP VIP subscribers also get access to freeroll tournaments (aka zero TP buy-in tournaments) in the VIP tier that award TP, cash, and prizes. The Diamond subscription is the best overall value available at ClubWPT. The $149.95 monthly subscription fee gives you access to all tournaments in both the Diamond and VIP tiers. If you’re a Diamond subscriber, you get unlimited access to all tournaments on the Diamond level. You don’t have to use TP to buy into Diamond tournaments. Much like the VIP level, Diamond-level tournaments award TP (which can be used to buy into VIP tournaments), cash, and prizes. The cash and prizes awarded in Diamond tournaments are significantly bigger than those awarded in the VIP tier. A typical Diamond Tournament could look like this: Tournament Name: $5,000 Cash Guarantee Buy-In: Freeroll (unlimited entry for Diamond subscribers) Prize Pool: $5,000 USD + 541,000 TP Guaranteed First Place: $1,000 USD + 5,000 TP Many Diamond tournaments also offer the opportunity to win your way into live events on the World Poker Tour. For example, the following Diamond tournament awarded cash and VIP Tournament Points throughout the payout ladder, with a WPT Prime Passport as the first-place prize: Tournament Name: $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport + $500 Buy-In: Freeroll (unlimited entry for Diamond subscribers) Prize Pool: $3,000 USD + 467,500 TP Guaranteed First Place: $2,500 WPT Prime Passport + 5,000 TP Diamond subscribers get access to both the Diamond and VIP tiers. Keep in mind that the TP earned in Diamond tournaments can be used to “buy in” VIP tournaments. The biggest event on the ClubWPT tournament schedule is the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge. The details for this flagship tournament look like this: Tournament Name: $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge Buy-In: Entries must qualify through other ClubWPT events Prize Pool: $125,000 USD First Place: WPT Event Package $12,000 The first-place prize for the World Championship Challenge is a $12,000 package that includes the buy-in and a travel stipend for the annualWPT World Championship in Las Vegas. You can only qualify for the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge through other tournaments on ClubWPT. Most of these qualifiers are in the Diamond tier. The games offered at ClubWPT don’t qualify as “real money” poker games in a legal sense. All prizes available in ClubWPT’s sweepstakes tournaments are awarded as sweepstakes prizes. The “cash” prizes on the line in the sweepstakes tournaments are actually sweepstakes credits that are redeemable for cash. Sweepstakes gaming sites are legal in more than 40 states. ClubWPT is a sweepstakes gaming platform featuring poker as the game. You can sign up for a ClubWPT account and participate in the Play Chips games from anywhere in the U.S. To purchase a subscription for the sweepstakes games (and compete for cash and prizes), you must be physically located in one of 36 eligible states while you’re playing. North Carolina is on the list of states that allow access to the sweepstakes poker games at ClubWPT. Heres how North Carolina poker players can sign up for a ClubWPT account: Click the sign-up link in any of the ClubWPT ads in this article. Click the green Sign-Up button at the top right of the ClubWPT home page Enter a valid email, choose a username and password, and click Continue Enter your name, DoB, and physical address, and choose a security question and answer. On the next screen, choose your subscription and your payment method. The Play Chips games and tournaments are open to all U.S. players, without a subscription required. To play the VIP and Diamond tournaments, you must sign up for a monthly subscription package and must be located in one of the 36 eligible states when you play. You’re in luck if you’re located in North Carolina, as ClubWPT’s sweepstakes games are accessible to you (as long as you’re physically located in North Carolina while you play). Sweepstkes poker rooms (and sweepstakes gaming platforms in general) operate in a different legal category than real-money gambling sites (like online poker rooms, online sportsbooks, online casinos, etc.) At a real-money poker site, you deposit funds into your player account, and you put that money on the line in direct competition in cash games and tournaments. You and all other players are competing for your money and their money. For example, you might deposit $1,000 at a real-money poker site, then buy into a $200 tournament. That $200 goes directly to the prize pool and tournament fees collected by the site. At a sweepstakes poker site, you don’t directly compete for cash. At ClubWPT, you purchase a monthly subscription, which grants you access to tournaments that award sweepstakes credits that can be redeemed for cash. The top prizes up for grabs at ClubWPT include “Passports” (buy-in plus travel stipend) to World Poker Tour live events, and travel packages for WPT Voyage cruises. If you’ve searched for a legal online poker site that you can play on from the U.S., you’ve likely come across a few sites that appear to offer legal online poker games in North Carolina. These sites might look legit, but you’ll notice that they are not licensed or regulated by any North Carolina gaming agency (or U.S. gaming agency, for that matter). Any online gambling site that offers access to U.S. players but isn’t licensed by a state gaming regulation agency is operating illegally in the U.S. These sites operate outside of the U.S. in terms of both legal jurisdiction and physical location. Offshore poker sites should be avoided for the following reasons: The first step toward playing online poker at any site is to either make a deposit or purchase a subscription. If you’ve ever visited an offshore gambling site, you’ve likely noticed that deposit and withdrawal options are pretty limited. It’s often nearly impossible to deposit using a bank account or debit/credit card, and cryptocurrency is often the only way to get money onto the site. If you do manage to get a deposit through with a traditional banking method, that deposit will often appear on your bank statement as a purchase from an online store you’ve never heard of. The name of the poker site is nowhere to be found in the transaction description. If a poker site has to disguise the nature of your deposit, that’s not a good sign. When you purchase a subscription at ClubWPT, that transaction will clearly appear on your bank statement as a purchase from ClubWPT. All of the online poker sites in the WPT family operate with a keen interest in protecting the money and personal information of players. If you deposit at an offshore/illegal poker site, you’re giving your banking information, personal information, and your money to an illegal gambling operation that breaks U.S. laws by offering games in the United States. There’s no telling where or with whom your information might end up once an offshore gambling site has it. When you request a withdrawal from an offshore poker site, you’re requesting money from a gambling operation that has no legal obligation to send your funds. Offshore poker sites operate illegally, and any time you deposit at such a site, that could be the last time you see that money. While offshore poker sites appear to offer legit cash games and tournaments, they’re also consistently filled with the following things: Bots (computer/AI-automated “poker players”) Player collusion Multi-accounting (one player playing under multiple screen names) Ghosting (players controlling other players’ accounts) Legitimate poker sites like ClubWPT install the necessary security measures to eliminate these types of activities. Offshore sites have little or no incentive to ensure the security of its players and the games on the site. These operations have one goal – taking deposits from players. You can’t expect much player security once they have your money. Yes. While regulated real-money poker sites aren’t currently available in NC, you can play online poker legally at sweepstakes poker rooms like ClubWPT. There doesn’t appear to be any online poker legislation on the horizon in North Carolina, so sweepstakes poker remains the best option for online poker players in the Tarheel State. No. While U.S. gaming laws allow states to offer certain forms of online gambling, North Carolina hasn’t given the green light to any form of real-money online gambling. The state did legalize sports betting at two tribal casinos located in NC. You can only bet in person, however. ClubWPT tops the list of legal online poker sites available to North Carolina players. ClubWPT operates as a sweepstakes poker room, putting it in a different legal category than real-money online poker sites. The sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT are available via monthly subscription. Those tournaments award sweepstakes credits that are redeemable for cash, as well as prizes like entries into WPT live events, WPT Voyage Cruises, and more. Yes. You can play in the sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT in 36 states, and North Carolina is on that list. ClubWPT is one of the most popular online poker sites in the U.S. The sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT award substantial cash and prizes. No. Offshore poker sites operate in the United States illegally and should be avoided. Your money, personal information, and financial information might not be safe at an offshore poker site. Additionally, you can expect the games to be riddled with unethical activity, including cheating, bots, multi-accounting, ghosting, and collusion. There is no purchase necessary to play on ClubWPT. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For more information regarding events, including how to qualify and location eligibility, visitClubWPT.com Ensure your jurisdiction allows play on WPT Global. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

The complete schedule for this Decembers 2024 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas includes a first-of-its-kind, record-setting $5,000,000 freeroll that promises to make somebody a millionaire with a first-place prize of $1,000,000. The freeroll helps WPT celebrate the upcoming launch of their latest offering – ClubWPT Gold, a new sweepstakes model online poker platform that will be available for players in the majority of the United States. Our return to Wynn Las Vegas this December is equipped with another monumental investment into the development and growth of not only the WPT World Championship but the poker industry as a whole, said WPT CEO and President Adam Pliska. In celebration of the launch of ClubWPT Gold, were aiming for another first for the poker world with the largest freeroll ever offered. The ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll is set to take place from December 13-15, in the heart of the WPT World Championship festival schedule which spans from December 3-21. In addition to making someone an overnight millionaire, part of the prize pool will give 100 players an entry into the $10.400 WPT World Championship which will be held from December 14-21. ClubWPT Gold, slated to launch in early 2025, will be operated on the established sweepstakes model similar to the longstanding ClubWPT, but it will not require a subscription. It allows players in approved markets to play poker by utilizing virtual currency, Gold Coins, which are purchased but have no cash value. Players are then also given an equal amount of Sweeps Coins, a currency that can used in a separate pool of games. Gold Coins are used for play money games while Sweeps Coins can be used to play for cash and prizes. To score a seat into the ClubWPT $5 million freeroll, players will need to obtain a Golden Passport. To be eligible to win a passport, players are required to sign up for a free account at ClubWPTGold.com. After that, from September 24, right up until the start of the tournament on December 13, 2,000 entries will be given away through a series of contests, promotions, and raffles. While the freeroll is the newest addition to the schedule, the festival is still anchored by a number of returning events including the marquee $10,400 WPT World Championship. This year the WPT World Championship event has three starting flights (December 14,15, and 16) each with a single entry available per flight. Also returning is the $1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Championship with a $5 million guarantee which kicks off December 8 and runs through December 14. In 2023, the WPT Prime Championship drew an astonishing 10,512 to build a $10,196,640 prize pool. The $1,100 Ladies Championship features a $250,000 guarantee and will take place on December 14-15 and the $1,100 Seniors Championship takes place days later on December 18-19 and comes with a $500,000 guarantee. We have crafted an incredible schedule for this years World Championship, featuring more than 60 tournaments and satellites, said Ryan Beauregard, Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas. Im confident that the loyal fanbase of Wynn Las Vegas and WPT, as well as more than 500 qualifiers and satellite winners, will make the 2024 WPT World Championship another rousing success. The complete festival schedule is available on WPT.com.

The second half of Season XXII of the World Poker Tour is officially underway with Main Tour events traversing the globe for the last four months of 2024 – starting with WPT Australia. After five days of poker, the final table of the WPT Australia Championship is officially locked in, headlined by runaway chip leader James Obst. The 34-year-old from Adelaide, Australia is one of the most accomplished Australian poker players of all time, first traversing the online poker with a multitude of major titles and then crossing over into success in live poker with two World Series of Poker bracelets to date. He currently sits at No. 10 on Australia’s all-time money list, according to Hendon Mob, and he’ll have a chance to climb depending on his result at this final table. Obst has been at or near the top of the chip counts for much of the tournament, and he’ll be looking to close out a dominant performance with his first ever WPT Main Tour title. Standing in his way is a predominantly Australian slate of competition, led in the standings by Travis Endersby, who regularly streams his online poker play on Twitch. There’s also Australians Daniel Murphy and Matthew Wakeman – Irish-born and South Korea-born, respectively – as well as a wild card in Oleg Ivanchenko and England’s Dillan Patel. All six will be playing for a top prize of AUD $585,359 ($398,512 USD), which includes a seat in the upcoming WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December. Action will resume on Wednesday morning at 11:30 a.m. local time at The Star Gold Coast (9:30 p.m. EST Tuesday), with the action streaming on a one-hour delay on all of WPT’s streaming channels. Ahead of the final table action, here’s what you need to know about each of the remaining six contenders for the WPT Australia title. Stats are courtesy of The Hendon Mob. James Obst 8,840,000 (177 BB) Age: 34 Birthplace: Adelaide, Australia Currently Resides: Melbourne, Australia Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $4,025,253 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $427,930, 13th, 2016 WSOP Main Event Other Notable Results:$411,824, 4th, 2023 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship; $265,138, 1st, 2017 WSOP $10,000 Razz Championship; $261,354, 2nd, 2016 WSOP $10,000 HORSE Championship; $260,658, 1st, 2024 WSOP $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship In recent years, James Obst has been tearing it up in the mixed game streets every summer in big buy-in, non-Hold’em events. He’s won bracelets in Razz and Seven Card Stud (the latter just a couple of months ago at the 2024 WSOP), and made the final table of both the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and $10,000 HORSE Championship. But don’t let that distract you from the fact that Obst is a tremendously accomplished No Limit Hold’em player as well. He’s made multiple deep runs in the WSOP Main Event, most notably finishing 13th in 2016, made the final table of the 2011 $100,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions, and that’s without even scratching the surface of Obst’s online poker exploits, which include multiple SCOOP titles. Now, after holding the chip lead at the end of both Day 3 and Day 4, Obst is on the precipice of adding a WPT title to his growing list of accolades. End of Day Chip Counts: Day 1: 291,500 (6/140) Day 2: 666,000 (12/50) Day 3: 3,450,000 (1/16) Travis Endersby 4,450,000 (89 BB) Birthplace: Perth, Australia Currently Resides: Willetton, Australia Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,127,708 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $300,100, 5th, 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Monte Carlo $31,800 No Limit Hold’em Other Notable Results:$127,172, 3rd, 2024 WPT Prime Gold Coast When he’s not actively chasing a WPT title, Travis Endersby spends most of his time streaming his online poker action on Twitch, with 3,200 followers to his credit. But his poker career stretches back decades, with a long stretch dedicated to playing in cash games all over the world before re-establishing a home base in Australia. The move towards playing more tournaments has already worked out quite well for Endersby, who locked down a final table appearance at WPT Prime Gold Coast a few months ago and now returns to the spotlight at Star Gold Coast for a chance at a WPT Main Tour title. End of Day Chip Counts: Day 1: 137,500 (64/140) Day 2: 671,000 (11/50) Day 3: 1,700,000 (4/16) Daniel Murphy 2,530,000 (51 BB) Age: 46 Birthplace: Ireland Currently Resides: Madeley, Perth, Australia Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $240,353 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $51,694, 3rd, 2014 WSOP Asia-Pacific No Limit Hold’em Accumulator Daniel Murphy’s first recorded live tournament poker cash was recorded almost exactly 10 years ago when he made a serious run at a World Series of Poker bracelet. During the short-lived WSOP Asia-Pacific serie, in 2014, Murphy ultimately finished third in an AUD $1,100 No Limit Hold’em Accumulator event for $51,694, and he’s been in search of a similar run ever since. A decade later, Murphy has lined himself up for his best shot at a major poker title to date, entering Wednesday’s final table comfortably in third place. End of Day Chip Counts: Day 1: 230,000 (17/140) Day 2: 492,000 (19/50) Day 3: 915,000 (8/16) Matthew Wakeman 2,145,000 (43 BB) Age: 39 Birthplace: Busan, South Korea Currently Resides: Newcastle, Australia Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,424,473 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $273,321, 5th, 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event; $188,867, 1st, 2018 WSOP International Circuit AUD $5,000 Challenge Like Obst, Matthew Wakeman sharpened his poker game in the online streets as he made a name for himself posting more than a decade’s worth of major results. He won most of the major events there are to win, accumulating well over $6 million in lifetime earnings on PokerStars alone, including a WCOOP title and wins in the $1,050 Super Tuesday and $530 Sunday 500, among many other victories. Wakeman is also one of three players at this final table with over $1 million in career live earnings, most notably making the 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event final table and winning a $5,000 WSOP Circuit high roller in major events in Australia End of Day Chip Counts: Day 1: 211,500 (23/140) Day 2: 673,000 (10/50) Day 3: 2,395,000 (2/16) Oleg Ivanchenko 1,100,000 (22 BB) Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $7,342 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $2,942, 2nd, 2024 A$300 Recurring at The Star Sydney Casino Oleg Ivanchenko is a true wild card among this final six at WPT Australia. Ivanchenko’s Hendon Mob profile includes exactly four cashes in daily tournaments at The Star Casino in Sydney – two inside of a week back in March, and another two within a week of each other earlier this month. Ivanchenko stands to multiply his career live tournament earnings many times over regardless of his result on Wednesday – and perhaps, if he wins, the poker world may get to know a little bit more about this mysterious player. End of Day Chip Counts: Day 1: 209,500 (25/140) Day 2: 827,000 (5/50) Day 3: 1,060,000 (7/16) Dillan Patel 695,000 (14 BB) Age: 28 Birthplace: Manchester, England Currently Resides: London, England Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $83,118 Biggest Lifetime Cash: $25,382, 5th, 2024 London Poker Festival 700 Main Event Dillan Patel may be coming into this WPT Australia final table as the short stack, but regardless of his result on Wednesday it will be the windfall of his career thus far. Even if he goes out in sixth place, his prize will match the sum total of all of his live career results to this point. Patel ended Day 3 of WPT Australia as one of the shortest stacks, and after a seemingly perpetual grind to stay alive bagged only slightly larger stack when Day 4 came to an end – maximizing the value of his limited chips, to say the least. End of Day Chip Counts: Day 1: 196,000 (33/140) Day 2: 591,000 (14/50) Day 3: 665,000 (13/16)

If you’re in Tennessee and looking for a guide to the best legal poker sites, you’ve found the right place. This WPT.com guide aims to clarify the legal status of online poker in Tennessee, and direct Tennessee poker players to the safest, most reputable poker sites. Sweepstakes poker is currently the only legal form of online poker available in the Volunteer State. The top sweepstakes poker room offering access for Tennessee players is ClubWPT. Read on for more on how that platform works and how to win cash and prizes at ClubWPT. Traditional real-money poker sites currently aren’t legal in Tennessee. The only way to play legal online poker in the Volunteer State is via sweepstakes poker sites like ClubWPT. Online sports betting is the only form of online gambling that’s legal in Tennessee at this time. Sweepstakes gaming falls under a different legal category than online gambling, which allows sweepstakes poker rooms like ClubWPT to operate legally in the state. If full-scale, real-money poker games were to go online in Tennessee, that would likely happen as part of a measure that would bring both online casino games and online poker to the state. The passage of such a measure doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon, however. Tennessee poker enthusiasts are still in luck though. ClubWPT offers sweepstakes tournaments where cash and prizes are on the line. The prizes include WPT Voyage Cruise packages, “Passports” to World Poker Tour live events, and more. In 2018, the US government overturned an act known as PASPA, (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act). PASPA declared sports betting illegal across the US, with a couple of exceptions (including Nevada). The fall of PASPA brought forth a new era of online gambling across the nation. All US states now have the option to legalize online sports betting. States can also legalize online poker and online casinos. More than half of US states have legalized online sports betting, but only a handful have legalized online poker and casinos. Only a handful of states currently offer access to legal online poker. These real-money online poker sites are licensed and regulated by state gaming regulation agencies. If youre in one of the 40+ states without regulated online poker, you still have the opportunity to play online poker for cash and prizes. Sweepstakes poker sites are legal in most US states, including Tennessee. As mentioned, ClubWPT is the top choice for legal sweepstakes poker in Tennessee. While ClubWPT doesn’t offer real-money poker games in the traditional sense, you can win substantial cash and prizes in the sweepstakes tournaments offered on the site. Read on for an overview of how ClubWPT works and what prizes it has to offer. ClubWPT operates as a sweepstakes poker platform owned by the World Poker Tour. Players in 36 states (including Tennessee) can compete for cash and prizes in the sweepstakes games at ClubWPT. Tennessee players will find two kinds of games at ClubWPT, including free-to-play (Play Chips) games and sweepstakes games. The free-to-play games are available in all US states. These games offer the opportunity to sharpen your poker skills with “Play Chips” (i.e. no monterary risk involved). You’ll also find free-to-play online casino games at ClubWPT. The sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT are available via monthly subscription. You can access these tournaments by purchasing one of two different subscription tiers. You can also buy an add-on subscription that allows access to special Saturday satellite tournaments. The subscription levels at ClubWPT break down as follows: VIP ($27.95 per month, access to all VIP tournaments) Diamond ($149.95 per month, access to all Diamond and VIP tournaments) Super SATurdays ($100 add-on per month, access to Super SATurdays satellite tournaments) The sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT award more than $100,000 in prizes every month. The game formats include Texas Holdem, Pot-Limit Omaha, and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. VIP is the most affordable subscription tier at ClubWPT. This subscription level allows access to all tournaments under the VIP tab. VIP-level tournaments use Tournament Points (TP) as the buy-in currency. You start with 500 TP when you sign up for either of ClubWPT’s subscription tiers. Your TP balance reloads each day. Tournaments in the VIP tier award TP, cash, and prizes. A typical VIP tournament looks like this: Tournament Name: $1,000 Mountain Buy-In: 400TP Prize Pool: $1,000 USD + 202,500 TP Guaranteed First Place: $150 USD + 2,000 TP The VIP level also includes freeroll tournaments that award TP, cash, and prizes. VIP freerolls don’t require TP to enter. The Diamond subscription unlocks access to all Diamond-tier tournaments, as well as all VIP-tier tournaments. Diamond tournaments award the biggest prizes available at ClubWPT, making it the best overall value among the sweepstakes tiers. While VIP Tournaments require Tournament Points to enter, Diamond subscribers get unlimited entries into Diamond Tournaments. Diamond tournaments are freerolls in a sense (although you do have to pay the monthly subscription to get access). Both VIP and Diamond tournaments award cash and prizes to tournament winners. The cash and prizes on the line are substantially larger in Diamond tournaments, however. A typical Diamond Tournament looks like this: Tournament Name: $5,000 Cash Guarantee Buy-In: Freeroll (unlimited entry for Diamond subscribers) Prize Pool: $5,000 USD + 541,000 TP Guaranteed First Place: $1,000 USD + 5,000 TP Diamond tournaments also offer opportunities to win “Passports” into World Poker Tour live events. The biggest tournaments in this tier award cash and TP throughout the payout ladder, with a WPT live event package as the top prize. For example, the following Diamond Tournament awarded a WPT Prime Passport (travel package and entry fee for any tournament on the WPT Prime schedule) as the first-place prize: Tournament Name: $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport + $500 Buy-In: Freeroll (unlimited entry for Diamond subscribers) Prize Pool: $3,000 USD + 467,500 TP Guaranteed First Place: $2,500 WPT Prime Passport + 5,000 TP Diamond subscribers get access to both the Diamond and the VIP tier, and Tournament Points earned in Diamond tournaments can be used in VIP tournaments. CLUBWPT AD The biggest event on the ClubWPT tournament schedule is the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge. The details for this special tournament are as follows: Tournament Name:$125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge Buy-In: Entries must qualify through other ClubWPT events Prize Pool: $125,000 USD First Place: WPT Event Package $12,000 The first-place prize for this tournament is a $12,000 package that sends you to the annual WPT World Championship in Las Vegas. You can only qualify for the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge through other tournaments on ClubWPT. Most of the tournaments that allow you to qualify are in the Diamond tier. ClubWPT doesn’t operate as a traditional real-money online poker room. ClubWPT offers online poker under a sweepstakes gaming model. Purchase a monthly subscription to ClubWPT, and you get access to poker tournaments that award cash and prizes. You dont deposit money or directly compete for cash at ClubWPT, however. ClubWPT awards more than $100,000 in cash and prizes every month. ClubWPT’s biggest tournament, the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge, awards $125,000 in total cash and prizes. The first-place prize for the Championship Challenge is a $12,000 WPT Event Package that sends the winner to the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December. You can sign up for ClubWPT from anywhere in the U.S. You can only play the sweepstakes tournaments for cash and prizes if youre in one of the 36 eligible states. If you want to play online poker in Tennessee, you’re in luck! Tennessee is on the list of states that allow access to the sweepstakes poker games at ClubWPT. Heres how to sign up for a ClubWPT account: Click the sign-up link in any of the ClubWPT ads in this article. Click the green Sign-Up button at the top right of the ClubWPT home page Enter a valid email, choose a username and password, and click Continue Enter your name, DoB, and physical address, and choose a security question and answer. On the next screen, choose your subscription and your payment method. The free-to-play cash games and tournaments are open to all U.S. players, without a subscription required. The VIP and Diamond tournaments are available through monthly subscriptions. If you want to play the sweepstakes tournaments in these tiers, you must be located in one of the 36 eligible states when you play. If youre located in Tennessee, youre in luck, as the ClubWPT sweepstakes games are available to you. CLUBWPT AD ClubWPT doesnt operate as a traditional real-money poker site. ClubWPTs subscription-based tournaments award cash and prizes under a sweepstakes gaming model. Sweepstakes gaming sites are legal in more than 40 U.S. states. As a sweepstakes poker site, ClubWPT is classified under a different legal category than a real-money poker site. At a traditional real-money poker site, players deposit money and directly compete for other players’ money in cash games and tournaments. For example, you might deposit $1,000 and put $200 down on a cash game table. A withdrawal from a real-money poker site involves a direct cash transfer of some kind. At ClubWPT, players can compete for cash and prizes, but you dont directly deposit or withdraw cash at any time. All prizes awarded in ClubWPTs tournaments are sweepstakes prizes. Those prizes include sweepstakes credits that can be redeemed for cash, WPT Voyage Cruise luxury packages, and entries to WPT Main Tour and WPT Prime events. If youve searched for a real-money online poker site that you can access from Tennessee, you may have come across a few sites that appear to be legitimate. These sites might appear as legal online poker rooms. Its important to note, however, that there are many offshore online gambling sites that operate in the United States illegally . Consider three reasons that you should avoid offshore/illegal gambling sites: Payment options are generally quite limited at an offshore poker site. Many of these illegal poker rooms essentially only facilitate deposits and withdrawals using cryptocurrency. If you cant deposit US dollars in your account at an online poker room, thats generally not a good sign. If you do manage to make a deposit with a bank account or credit/debit card, the transaction will often appear on your bank statement as a purchase from an shell company youve never heard of. Offshore gambling sites try to hide the true nature of a deposit, trying to deceive banks into letting the deposit go through. When you purchase a subscription at ClubWPT, the transaction clearly shows up on your bank statement as a purchase from ClubWPT. ClubWPT, and any online poker site backed by the World Poker Tour, operates with a vested interest in protecting your personal and financial information. If you give your bank account, credit card, or Social Security number to an offshore poker site, theres no telling where or with whom that information might end up. If you attempt to withdraw your funds from an offshore poker site, youre requesting money from an illegal operation. These sites operate outside of US laws, and have no legal obligation to send you your money when you request a withdrawal. If you end up on the wrong end of a denied or delayed withdrawal, you have no legal way to file a complaint and get your money. Offshore poker sites operate illegally. When you deposit at an offshore gambling site, you might not ever get your money back. Offshore poker sites are notorious for bots (aka computer-automated poker players), collusion between players, multi-accounting, and ghosting. If you start playing online poker at these sites, the games are quite often rife with illegal and unethical activit, as these sites have little incentive to punish bad actors. Offshore gambling sites are in the business of taking deposits from players. You cant expect a high level of player security once they have your money. Yes. While real-money online poker isn’t legal in Tennessee, you can play poker legally at sweepstakes poker sites. The best sweepstakes poker site currently available in Tennessee is ClubWPT. The sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT award substantial cash and prizes. No. You won’t find any casinos in Tennessee, whether you’re looking for land-based casinos or online casinos. If the Volunteer State ever changes its stance on casino gaming, that could pave the way for live poker rooms to open in the state. For now, the best (and only) way to play poker legally is at sweepstakes poker sites like ClubWPT. ClubWPT is the best sweepstakes poker room available to Tennessee players. While ClubWPT doesn’t function like a traditional real-money poker site, you can win cash and prizes in the sweepstakes games available on the site. ClubWPT’s sweepstakes tournaments are accessible through monthly subscriptions. The prizes up for grabs in these tournaments include sweepstakes credits that can be redeemed for cash, entries into World Poker Tour live events, travel packages to WPT Voyage cruises, and more. Yes. Tennessee is one of 36 US states in which ClubWPT’s sweepstakes tournaments are legal. Anyone in the US can sign up for a ClubWPT account and compete in the free-to-play (aka Play Chips) games. You must be located in one of the eligible 36 states to play in the sweepstakes tournaments. You don’t have to live in one of those 36 states to play the sweepstakes games, but you must be located in one of them (such as Tennessee) while you play. No. Offshore poker platforms operate illegally in the US, and should be avoided. Your money and personal information could be at risk if you deposit at an offshore poker site. The integrity of the games at these sites is often questionable as well. The best bet for aspiring online poker players in Tennessee is ClubWPT. Online sports betting is currently the only form of online gambling that’s legal in Tennessee. Sweepstakes poker sites are the only platforms offering legal online poker games in the Volunteer State. CLUBWPT AD There is no purchase necessary to play on ClubWPT. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For more information regarding events, including how to qualify and location eligibility, visitClubWPT.com Ensure your jurisdiction allows play on WPT Global. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

Poer is math. Piles and piles of math. Those are the very first words you hear in the new poker-themed feature-length action/thriller Dead Money. And for the next two minutes, our hero, via voice-over, breaks down the language of modern poker for his audience. References to ranges, counting outs, opponent betting patterns, and ROI. Its not just a summary lesson in poker that the first scene offers, its also a pair of promises – the first is that the game of poker is going to be a central character to the story, and the second, is that theyll get it right. And for the most part, Dead Money delivers. The story is a simple one (no major plot spoilers here), Andy, played by star Emile Hirsch, is a private cash game grinder on a downswing, looking to turn his fortunes around. When the high-stakes underground game hes playing in gets robbed at gunpoint, the robbers drive off with more than six figures in cash, leaving Andy with less than zero. But when an opportunistic Andy stumbles back upon the stolen cash, he grabs it and ultimately looks to run it up by playing in a series of private games as the original thieves come looking for the money. As Andy, Hirsch is confident and convincing. While the character of Andy doesnt actually do too much in the movie to ask you to align with him, Hirsch uses his own on-screen charisma to bring you in and have his back. Hirsch plays Andy knowing vibes of a studied poker player right down to the emotional detachment of winning and losing. And when, at his lowest, he spits out the battle cry of degens on a downswing – one solid heater is all I need and I am up and walking. – you almost believe that he will. The reason it feels authentic is that Hirsch did his homework by walking the walk. He attended private games, put in time studying, and even twice played on Hustler Casino Live, where he won more than $17,000 in a $50/$100 $100BBA game in his last appearance. Dead Money comes out September 13th. If you haven’t heard of it yet, check this out. I saw so many insane underground games and underworlds, filled with degenerates of all kinds. After the movie I was caught in the throes of a full blown gambling addiction- that’s how you pic.twitter.com/udvt5FRjU9 Emile Hirsch (@EmileHirsch) August 27, 2024 The script, written by Josh Wilcox who also serves as the poker consultant, doesnt speak down to its poker-playing audience. Up top, it assumes that youve not only seen the 1998 cult classic Rounders, but you know what it means if you cant spot the fish at the table. As a whole the poker in the movie feels authentic, (wellauthentic for a movie) and although sometimes the table talk can feel cliche I dont gamble. I play poker., the quips often emulate something you might actually hear if you were playing yourself. (You got a jack?, Is a jack good?) The film is bookended by two lengthy poker scenes with a series of escalating home games in between. Its the kind of poker montages that let the viewers know that it gets real-world poker. Youre not going to catch quads into a straight flush here. Sure, theres some theatrics, an over-the-top moment or two, the hero pulling off a well-timed bluff, but its just enough to add some drama and raise the stakes. The fast-paced direction in the poker scenes never has you lingering on a spot for too long. The hole cards, the all-ins, and the dragging of the pot give you the rush you are looking for. The core supporting characters all felt well-lived in, including Oscar-nominated actor Jackie Earle Haleys portrayal of the shotgun-wielding dimwit Wendel, and the archetypes seated at each poker table felt familiar. This includes a perfectly cast Hustler Casino Live star Alan Keating who pops up in a mid-stakes game at a country club just in time to get out on the greens for a prop bet. Its not all poker, of course, with a thorough line about the money, where it came from, and what criminals will do to get it back driving all the action. Theres a significant amount of violence that could turn you off, but also they use the passe poker term donkey multiple times which, to some, may be even more egregious. In the end, Dead Money may not be revolutionary as far as action/thriller movies go, but it does feel fast-paced and is pretty enjoyable. In terms of its portrayal of poker, though, Wilcox clearly knew what he was writing about. When paired with the direction of Luc Walpoth, poker fans will likely hold “Dead Money” in high regard in the pantheon of poker movies. “Dead Money” is out now on digital platforms.