WPT Announces $100K Event at Bellagio
There is no doubt that 2025 is going to be a busy year for high stakes players. With new additions to tournament schedules to accommodate for the high rollers such as the Aussie Millions $250k Super High Roller tournament and the Full Tilt Poker Onyx Cup Series, high buy-in tournaments for this elite group of players is the new trend. Now the latest high roller event is being hosted by the World Poker Tour (WPT).
At the end of May, the WPT will host a $100k buy-in Super High Roller Event, running near the tail end of the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
The $25k WPT Championship has attracted a fairly small crowd mainly due to the high price tag, but the Super High Roller event should see more interest due to its exclusivity. Already Erik Seidel, who has been crushing high roller tournaments this year, has confirmed he will be in attendance. In addition, Justin "Boosted J" Smith, who has featured a lot in televised poker shows in recent times, as well as Dan Shak, have also confirmed they will be playing at the WPT Championship Super High Roller Event. As you would expect, many of the top pros in the world will join the action on the day.
Commenting in a press release about the addition of a high roller event to the WPT schedule, Steve Heller, CEO of the WPT said: "Hosting a hundred thousand dollar buy-in event within the WPT Championship series means the world's elite players have a chance to show their mettle as they battle for one of the year's most coveted titles and one of the highest buy-in titles, all within a single week."
Although the high roller event is not something new to the WPT, the tour has never seen this level of buy-in. In March, the WPT Vienna stop featured a €10,000 High Roller tournament, which was much bigger then the Main Event's €3,500 buy-in. Before that, there was a $25k High Roller event during the L.A. Poker Classic.
There will be 16 events in total at the WPT Championship, running between May 6th to May 20th, which will include the Super High Roller Event and Main Event. Day 1 of the Main Event will take place on May 14th.
Prior to that, the next WPT stop is at the Hollywood Poker Open. Starting on Saturday, the tournament will conclude with a televised final table on April 13th.