In September, the World Poker Tour announced the biggest freeroll in poker history—a $5 million invitation freeroll. The freeroll culminated on December 15 with Chase Bricker‘s victory over a massive field of 1,457 entries. Bricker took home a WPT trophy and a career-best $1 million prize. Besides the first-place prize, Bricker also won $20,000 in mystery bounties.
The 2024 ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitational saw 1,457 players enter the tournament by winning Golden Passports via satellite tournaments on WPT’s newly launched sweepstakes-based poker platform, ClubWPT Gold, or through social media contests held by ClubWPT Gold team pros.
The three-day poker tournament began on December 13 and saw 1,457 players competing for the coveted $1 million first prize and the trophy. As the field narrowed, 503 players left with a minimum payout of $1,000 from the $5 million guaranteed prize pool. The final table was set on Day 2, and the finalists returned on Day 3 for the live-streamed final table.
2024 ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitational Freeroll Quick Recap
Daniyal Gheba began the final table as the chip leader, while Chris Bricker was among the mid-stacks. Gheba scored the first knockout of the final table by eliminating Jacob Stufflebean in 9th place. Stufflebean’s pocket aces were outdone by the ten pairs of Gheba. Stufflebean collected $20,000 for his remarkable 9th-place finish.
For the elimination, Gheba got a chance to pull out a mystery bounty and scored big by picking up the largest mystery bounty of $200,000. Gheba struck again, knocking out Eric Zheng in 8th place. Zheng banked $25k for his finish.
Josh Guindon followed the railbirds in 7th place for $30,000. In a three-way action, Gheba re-raised, putting the short-stacks Jason Christopher and Guindon in an all-in position, both of them called.
Christopher showed pocket queens, while Guindon revealed king-queen and Gheba rolled out his ace-eight. The dry board favored the queens of Christopher and gave him a double up, while Guindon hit the rail. Christopher also got the chance to pull out a Mystery Bounty, but he received $000,000. It might be the biggest-ever poker prank.
After over an hour of intense poker action, Bricker gained the momentum. He eliminated Tyler Hancock and Patrick Eskandar back to back in 6th and 5th place respectively for $40k, $50k paydays. Bricker collected two $25k bounty for the eliminations. Victor Avallone ended up in 4th place, after running into the pocket aces of Gheba with his pocket sixes. Avallone banked $75k for his impressive fourth-place finish.
Gheba, who dominated the final table with his top-notch poker play, became short-stacked during the three-handed play. He had just 10 BBs and went all-in with seven-three against the pocket kings of Bricker, and was out in 3rd place for a $125k payday.
The heads-up lasted for one hand. Jason Christopher went all in with ace-ten and Bricker called, revealing his ace-queen. The board ran out Kd-5d-2d-Jc-3d and Bricker’s hand prevailed, securing him the coveted title and the whopping $1 million top prize. Christopher finished as the runner-up, receiving $250,000 for his remarkable finish in the tournament.
2024 ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitation Freeroll Final Table Payouts
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Image Credit: World PokerTour
