Successful Day 1B for WPT Global Qualifiers at WPT World Championship

The overall prize pool soared past the $15 Million guarantee during Day 1B of the WPT World Championship $10,400 at Wynn Las Vegas. When the day came to a close, a pair of WPT Global qualifiers were among the top-10 stacks.

Nick Yunis, who won a tournament seat in a $550 WPT Global online qualifier - is the No. 4 stack coming out of Day 1B, as he bags 772,000 in the largest guarantee prize pool in live event poker tournament history. Yunis has more than $2 million in career earning, he cashed three different times last month in the WPT Rock 

Scott Wellenbach - winner of the 2020 GPI Charitable Initiative Award for giving 100-percent of all his tournament winnings to charities - is the No. 6 stack at 662,000. Wellenbach also won his way to Las Vegas via a $550 WPT Global qualifier. In 2019 alone, Wellenbach donated more than $1.3 million to charities from his poker tournament successes.

14 Day 2 WPT Global Qualifiers

There's a total of 14 players advancing from Day 1B on to Thursday's Day 2 who all won their World Championship entry from a $550 WPT Global qualifier.

Along with Yunis and Wellenbach, the WPT Global contingent includes:

• Robert McMurren - 351,000
• Evan Gach - 239,000
• Daniel Cameron - 237,000
• Elliott Smith - 225,000
• Nicholas Lee - 197,000
• Jonas Mackoff - 171,000
• Chris Dowling - 149,000
• Nakia Pesicka - 148,000
• Marcus Bell - 137,000
• Lyle Feeney - 133,000
• Jason Smith - 98,000
• Felipe Balaban - 96,000

Ambassador Seat Winners Advance

A large group of players received entries to the WPT World Championships via seats awarded from WPT Global Ambassadors. At least 18 players from that group advanced out of Day 1B, moving on to Thursday’s Day 2.

Leading the way from that group of Day 2 Qualifiers is Devin Sweet, a tournament coordinator at numerous events across the country. Here’s a look at the 18 we identified and their chip counts.

• Devin Sweet - 324,000
• Kevin Lee - 256,000
• Justin Golding - 254,000
• Steven Moores - 221,000
• Eric Liu - 206,000
• Andrea Morsillo - 198,000
• Daniel Lee - 189,000
• Derek Hellenga - 183,000
• Colette Murphy - 163,000
• Mark Winchell - 158,000
• Jonathan Gottlieb - 151,000
• Shih-Kai Lin - 139,000
• Thomas Elder - 137,000
• Sarah Stefan - 116,000
• Tim Ulmer - 108,000
• Marc Macdonnell - 101,000
• Adam Bobrovich - 90,000
• Stephane Barrabes - 59,000

Made day 2  
163k bagged away.. long day over 11 hours of play.... loved every minute of it... day off tomorrow which will be spent buying clothes as our luggage still hasn't arrived, Dream still alive..#WPTWorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/PTfiaWt1NP

— Colette Murphy (@M50Maniac) December 14, 2022

The tournament prize pool exceeded $20 million overnight and was up to $24 million when cards went in the air to begin Day 1C, the final starting flight. Registration closes at the start of Level 7 in Day 1C, with Day 2 starting Thursday at 11 a.m.