Big-Time Paydays Await Players In The $5M ClubWPT Gold Freeroll

A record-setting $5,000,000 freeroll that promises $1 million to the winner. In and of itself the ClubWPT Gold Invitational Freeroll is destined to be a history-making event.

But even more, when you drill down beyond the first-place prize and into the complete payout structure you’ll notice all the ways that players who win themselves a Golden Passport have the opportunity to profit. And that’s what also makes the ClubWPT Gold event one of the most unique events of the year.

From free seats to the $10,400 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, to hundreds of thousands of dollars up for grabs in mystery bounties – including a dedicated set of big-time mystery bounties reserved for the final table – the various ways in which players can cash in makes it so that the opportunity that’s earned by winning a Golden Passport becomes so much more than the $2,500 in equity it’s initially valued at.

The million-dollar first-place prize is the freeroll headliner, but when all is said and done, with so many ways to win the eventual winner may just walk away with more than a million.

More Money, More Payouts

The first profit point is to simply be one of the final 503 runners. There will be a maximum of 2000 Golden Passports given away, and if people don’t show up they will not be replaced. That means that at a minimum the paydays start with  more than 25% of the field left. That’s double that of the standard WPT tournament.

Make it past the first bubble and be guaranteed to lock up the min-cash of $1,000. As far as pay jumps go, they are modest for the first couple hundred bustouts, jumping up to $1,700 until the next big bubble (296), however simply making the money puts you in a spot to possibly pick up something even more than a free four-figure pay day.

“There are a number of things that are unusual about this payout structure that have different impacts,” said Dara O’ Kearney, pro player, coach, and author of Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy. “An unusually large percentage of the field is being paid and once we figure the 1 in 5 chance of a $10K seat, the min cash is significant. This means the early to bubble stages of the tournament should play more like a satellite than a regular tournament.”

100 WPT World Championship Seats

As O’ Kearney mentioned, once the money has been reached a new prize kicks in – 100 free seats to the $10,400 WPT World Championship. As players bust after the initial money bubble they will not only collect their cash but also lineup and draw an envelope for a 1-in-5 chance at winning their way into the WPT’s premier year-end event.

It’s a second chance at a life-changing seven-figure score. By the time the freeroll makes the money, the WPT World Championship will have just gotten underway with the first of three starting flights kicking off on December 14. So players who win a seat can hop right in, or sleep on it and play the next starting flight.

Mystery Bounty Bubble

The $10K seat draw is a second way to win for everyone who busts after the money (with the exception of the final table) but only the top 296 players will get to the next stage: mystery bounties. $720,000 of the $5 million is set aside and every bustout leads to a bounty for the player who knocked another player out. There are two top prizes of $100,000, two $50K envelopes, four $25K, and four $10K. There’s some $5,000 and $2,500 with the bulk of the draws before the final table (250/288) giving players an extra $1,000 or $500.

“Once the bubble busts, the effects of the top-heavy payout structure and mystery bounties should encourage players to gamble more aggressively,” O’Kearney said.

This also means that a player doesn’t have to make the final table to enjoy a big-time score. Prior to the final table, the cash ladder goes from $1,000 (503rd place) to $15,000 (10th place) with the shot at a $10K seat into the World Championship (where the final table is likely to have million-dollar prizes) and, for those in the bounty phase, potentially multiple shots at a piece of another $720K in prizes. Multiple players will likely make more money in the bounty phase than players who make the final table.

A Million-Dollar Finale

That being said, the opportunity at the final table is enormous. Of course, for players brave/crazy enough not to chop – there’s the shot at the $1,000,000 first-place prize. While the final nine will not get a shot at a free seat into the WPT World Championship, they are guaranteed at least a $20,000 payday from the prize pool.

Like any tournament, to the winner go the spoils with more than $1.6 million of the money allocated in payouts for the final table. Six-figure paydays for the runner-up and third place and bankroll boosting five-figure for fourth through ninth.

But that’s not all. The final table has its own set of bounties. An extra $354,000 worth of prizes with someone pulling a top bounty of $200,000. A prize greater than third place. The money that the final table bounties have to offer may set up a wild dynamic at the final table where the risk of ruin is outweighed by the opportunity to pull an extra $25K, $50K or the $200K envelope. One more unique twist at the final table – there’s a zero-dollar bounty. Someone is going to pull an envelope and get hit with a “whammy.”

“The big bounties on the final table means that as that approaches, players should prioritize accumulation over survival if they’re short, and chip stack preservation over further accumulation if they are big,” O Kearney said. “The top-heavy payout structure and bounties should encourage people to play much looser and gamble more than on a ‘normal’ final table.”

To be eligible to win a Golden Passport, visit and register for a free account at ClubWPTGold.com.