The fourth World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Tour stop of 2022 is officially underway at the luxorious Venetian in Las Vegas with the start of the $5,000 buy-in WPT Venetian Main Event. The no-limit Hold'em tournament, which is competing with the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event taking place just a few clicks south, features a $4 million guarantee and is expected to attract a massive field over three starting flights.
Day 1a got underway at 11 a.m. and many of the biggest names in poker were there early to compete in the first starting flight, including German poker prodigy Fedor Holz, high stakes regular Bill Klein and 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen.
“It’s a nice $5k," Holz told PokerNews on break. “It’s (going to be) a big field. It’s $4 million guaranteed so it’s nice when you run deep in it.”
Some other big names who were in the field, which quickly grew to over 130 players, include Scott Ball, Maria Konnikova, Anton Wigg, Michael Gathy, Jake Schwartz, Sylvain Loosli, Philip Shing, Kevin Rabichow and Jake Daniels.
Multiple WPT Champs in Contention
A handful of WPT champions were in the field to take their shot at another title, including Brian Altman, Brek Schutten, Dylan Linde, Ema Zajmovic, Ole Schemion, Darren Elias, Mark Davis and defending champion Chad Eveslage.
Eveslage, who last July prevailed through a field of 1,199 entries to win $910,370, is on another heater this summer, having won his maiden WSOP bracelet in June in Event #8: $25,000 High Roller for a career-best $1.4 million. Kitty Kuo and Mike Liang, who final-tabled last year's event, were also spotted in the Day 1a field.
2021 WPT Venetian Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chad Eveslage | United States | $910,370 |
| 2 | Mike Liang | United States | $606,890 |
| 3 | Kyna England | United States | $448,755 |
| 4 | Tim McDermott | United States | $335,200 |
| 5 | Daniela Rodriguez | Colombia | $252,945 |
| 6 | Kitty Kuo | Taiwan | $192,855 |
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It has also been a good summer for Davis, an Alabama native who just weeks ago bested Elias in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown to win just over $1 million and deny the WPT "GOAT" his record-extending fifth title.
Altman, a LearnWPT instructor who is after his fourth WPT title, was eliminated early in the day but quickly bought back into the Day 1a flight, according to WPT live reporting updates. Altman also won his first bracelet earlier this summer when he took down the online $400 No-Limit Hold'em Ultra Deepstack event.
Plenty of Action to Come
Most of the action is still to come in the WPT Venetian Main Event, which is taking place during the annual DeepStack Championship Poker Series running at Venetian May 2-July 31.
Day 1b will commence on July 13 at 11:10 a.m and, like Day 1a, will play for 11 one-hour levels. Day 1c will take place on July 14 and will follow the same schedule.
The surviving players from the three starting flights will return for Day 2 on July 15. Day 3 will take place the next day before Day 4 commences on July 17, where a winner will be crowned and will take home the lion's share of the $4 million guaranteed prize pool.
PokerNews will be on-site during the entirety of the WPT Venetian Main Event to follow the action, so stay tuned for more coverage.
WPT Venetian Schedule
| Date | Time | Session |
|---|---|---|
| July 12 | 11:10 a.m. | Day 1a |
| July 13 | 11:10 a.m. | Day 1b |
| July 14 | 11:10 a.m. | Day 1c |
| July 15 | 12 p.m. | Day 2 |
| July 16 | 12 p.m. | Day 3 |
| July 17 | 12 p.m. | Day 4 |
