Record $40M prize set for 2023 World Poker Tour World Championship

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DAVID PURDUM via <a href="http://espn.go.com/" title="ESPN" class="espn_sc_byline">ESPN </a>
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August 31, 2023, 12:39 PM ET
1 min read

The largest guaranteed prize pool in poker history was announced Thursday -- $40 million for the 2023 World Poker Tour World Championship in Las Vegas.

The tournament will take place Dec. 12-21 at Wynn Las Vegas.

The previous record for a guaranteed prize pool for a live poker tournament was $15 million, set last year at the WPT World Championship.

"The WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas is poised to reach new heights and we wanted to match that expectation with a guarantee that no live poker tournament has ever seen before," Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour, said in a release announcing the tournament.

Poker has seen a recent surge in interest after the pandemic. This year's World Series of Poker set multiple records, including 10,043 entries into the Main Event, which had a non-guaranteed prize pool of $93.3 million. A record 77 events in the World Series of poker had million-dollar prize pools.

The WPT World Championship includes a $1 million buy-in tournament. Last year's WPT championship event produced $4.1 million payout for last year's winner,  Eliot Hudon of Canada.