If you’re thinking that the World Series of Poker is the only game in Las Vegas, you’d be highly mistaken. The World Poker Tour has been running its “One Drop” series of events at the Wynn Las Vegas and their “Everyone for OneDrop” event has proven to be highly successful. They are through Day Two of that tournament and, with 71 players remaining, WPT Champions’ Club members Bin Weng and Scott Baumstein are within a big blind of each other atop the leaderboard.
Massive Field for “Everyone for OneDrop”
Running a major tournament alongside the WSOP used to be anathematic, but that isn’t the case anymore. In the “Everyone for OneDrop,” three Day Ones were held, with the players eligible to use a “One and One” entry method – one initial entry with the availability of a solo re-entry. Setting a $10 million guaranteed prize pool might have been audacious, but it would also prove to be the thing that drew a massive field for the event.
Once the calculators in the cage quit smoking, they found that 1676 entries had been received over the three-Day Ones. In fact, Day 1C, with its 971 entries, was able to bypass the combined totals of Days 1A (265 entries) and Day 1B (440). This set the official prize pool at $16.257,200, with the final 210 players taking home the minimum cash of $17,200 and putting $2,561,480 up top for the eventual champion to take home.
71 players will come back to the tables on Thursday to continue their work and the battle at the top is a feverish one. Bin Weng, who earlier this year made two WPT final tables and captured one of the titles, is poised to make another deep run here with his 3.28 million in chips. Keeping him honest, however, is WPT DeepStacks Champion Scott Baumstein, who is only a big blind behind Weng with his 3.265 million in chips. Here is how the Top Ten will line up for action as Day 3 prepares to take the felt Thursday.
1. Bin Weng, 3.28 million
2. Scott Baumstein, 3.265 million
3. Niko Koop, 2.83 million
4. Tom Cannuli, 2.625 million
5. Mehdi Chaoui, 2.32 million
6. Paul Varano, 1.735 million
7. Felipe Ketzer, 1.72 million
8. Marc Foggin, 1.645 million
9. Stephen Song, 1.625 million
10. Joe Tehan, 1.57 million
Tournaments Benefitting the OneDrop Foundation
There is another purpose to the tournaments that the WPT are holding, other than being a place for players to perhaps rescue their summer in Las Vegas. The OneDrop Foundation, which worked with the WSOP for many years for its philanthropic goals, switched to the WPT in 2023. In fact, the “Everyone for OneDrop” isn’t the only game that the WPT will hold to raise funds.
In the “Everyone for OneDrop,” $200 from each entry in the tournament was earmarked for the OneDrop Foundation, which aims to ensure water quality worldwide. That means that, for the 1676 entries that were received in the event, a donation of $335,200 was made to the organization. There are a couple of additional events, including one coming later this year, which should generate even more funds for the charitable cause.
Starting on Friday, the WPT brings back an old friend for a return engagement. The WPT Alpha8 (remember that?) for OneDrop will hit the felt, a $111,111 buy-in tournament that will allow for one entry and one reentry per player until the start of Day Two on Saturday. This tournament will give $7000 per entry to the OneDrop Foundation and, with all the players in town, could be a massive tournament.
The real show could come in December during the WPT World Championship, however. The $1 million buy-in “Big One for OneDrop” will make its triumphant return to the tournament arena. The tournament has not been held since 2018 and it traditionally brings out the biggest names (and biggest pockets) in the poker world for action while also raising money for a worthy cause.
For now, however, the players just have a $10,000 event to finish off! Action resumes at noon and will look to get down to the six-handed WPT final table for action on Friday. That final table, as well as the Alpha8 for OneDrop final table, will be live-streamed on Twitch.