The World Poker Tour (WPT) ushers in its 20th anniversary this year and has been celebrating all year long and thing will culminate at Wynn Las Vegas with its $10,400 buy-in, $15 million GTD WPT World Championship. It will be held from December 12-20, with 22 other events also on the Wynn WPT World Championship schedule.
A tournament of this size with a $15 million dollar guarantee will attract its fair share of high-profile poker players, and will also be a televised event. Its field will also be filled with satellite winners and qualifiers as the Wynn, WPT, and ClubWPT have all been running special promotions awarding passports and entries into the championship tournament.
ClubWPT awarded its final qualifier a passport into the championship on October 30th. The winner of each satellite won a $12,000 Passport to the WPT World Championship. The passport included the tournament buy-in, as well as a hotel and travel stipend.
However, you can still win an entry into the tournament by playing one of the Wynn’s live $1,100 buy-in satellites, which run up to December, with a mega-satellite on December 11th, which will award at least 50 entries into the tournament. You can also play on WPT Global which will also be awarding seats up to the end of November.
Click here to see a list of qualifier and satellite opportunities!
A Bucket List Item for Tigar
PokerNews recently caught up with Ronald “Tigar” Penepent, who won his passport at ClubWPT’s July 17th qualifier. Tigar lives in the Ocoee Region just north of Chattanooga, TN with his wife of almost 40 years, Patti.
“I was born and raised in Batavia, NY, a small city in Western New York near Buffalo. My friends and family know me as Tigar, a nickname given to me by my parents,” Penepent told PokerNews. His nickname was born after one of his aunts gave him a stuffed animal when he was young and helped differentiate him and his father, as they both have the same first name.
Tigar and Patti have four dogs and six cats that they rescued/adopted: “Animal rescue is a passion of ours.”
He’s also been a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan in addition to being a recreational poker player: “I currently work as a Service Advisor for Cleveland Ford, in Cleveland TN.”
His love of poker began at a young age while playing with his family and friends, but primarily from his father. “It was always a dream of mine to win a big tournament and often shared this goal with my Dad. Sadly, my Dad passed away in 2020 from cancer. Winning an entry into this tournament is truly a bucket list item for me.”
Penepent has been a member of ClubWPT since almost its inception. “I learned about it from TV, it was the perfect way to relax when I wasn’t working. I grew to love it, playing online,” he recalled.
Penepent has been to Vegas many times before but has yet to attend a live WPT event, and the passport to the WPT World Championship is his biggest win to date. “This is definitely my proudest poker accomplishment!”
The two professional poker players he’d love to meet at the WPT are Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth. His wife Patti is hoping to meet Lynn Gilmartin, the anchor of the World Poker Tour, admiring her class, and her raising awareness to “protect and care for the Koalas and other Wildlife.”
Tigar is bringing his own “Team Tigar” to Vegas, to support him in the tournament.
“During my time in Las Vegas I will be joined by 10 family members, they will be there to support me and have fun as we always do. They will be traveling from NY, VA, SC, OH & AL.”
Learn More About the Subscription-Based ClubWPT here!
ClubWPT Qualifiers Thus Far for WPT Wynn
| Date Qualifier | Player | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/14/2022 | Drew Rautenberg | Medfield | MA |
| 5/28/2022 | Bruce Ramoth | Selawik | AK |
| 5/29/2022 | Quran Cruse | West Hartford | CT |
| 6/5/2022 | William Hays | Jackson | TN |
| 6/12/2022 | Anthony Greene | Penfield | NY |
| 6/19/2022 | Michael Ensey II | Gun Barrel | TX |
| 7/3/2022 | Jason Kilby | Wakeman | OH |
| 7/10/2022 | Philip Aleman | Staten Island | NY |
| 7/10/2022 | Kurt Carlson | Golden | CO |
| 7/17/2022 | Ronald “Tigar” Penepent | Cleveland | TN |
| 7/24/2022 | Sepideh Moghaddam | Bellaire | TX |
| 8/7/2022 | Joseph Giannone | Citrus Heights | CA |
| 8/14/2022 | Dan Lincoln | West Bridgewater | MA |
| 8/28/2022 | William Haines | Superior | CO |
| 8/28/2022 | Albert Cohen | Mount Dora | FL |
| 9/4/2022 | Richard Jaros | North Anson | ME |
| 9/11/2022 | Mike Robinson | Lone Star | TX |
| 9/18/2022 | Timothy Robins | Lincoln | NE |
| 9/25/2022 | Stacey Breslin | Lakemoor | IL |
| 10/2/2022 | Jerry Tucker | Florence | KY |
| 10/9/2022 | Charles Ralston | Hot Springs | AR |
| 10/16/2022 | Joseph DiTommaso | Concord | NH |
| 10/23/2022 | Bob Bacon | Overgaard | AZ |
| 10/30/2022 | Richard Hill | Paso Robles | CA |
| 10/31/2022 | Mark Symons | Byron Center | MI |
| 11/6/2022 | Steve Hohn | Fort Worth | TX |
Did You Know the World Poker Tour is Online?
The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world’s largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 50 countries and territories around the world.
WPT Global offers a large deposit match bonus: 100% on deposits up to $1,200 (using any payment method). New players depositing a minimum of $20 automatically receive this match bonus which is unlocked in $5 increments (credited straight to the cashier) for every $20 of rake contribution.
Both tournaments and cash games count towards bonus unlocking; new players have 90 days from the date of first deposit to unlock and claim their full bonus amount.
Listen to more about the WPT World Championship on the new PokerNews Podcast!
*Images courtesy of Ronald “Tigar” Penepent.
Editor
Christina is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer who discovered poker at the age of twelve. She’s been a contributor to PokerNews since 2022.