Phil Ivey Confirms Participation in Big One for One Drop – Who Will Throw the Hat into the Ring Next?
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Last Updated: January 25, 2024
The WPT World Championship has been one of the most talked about upcoming poker festivals, and the return of Big One for One Drop to the scene is one of the highlights of the whole event.
The whole thing just became even more exciting, with none other than Phil Ivey being confirmed as the very first entry into the $1,000,000 entry tournament that’s expected to bring together some of the best tournament poker players in the world.
Widely considered the greatest poker player of all time, Phil Ivey was expected to play in the event, especially due to his affiliation with the World Poker Tour, but has now confirmed his participation with an exciting trailer, where he can be seen carrying a suitcase of money to the Wynn Casino cage.
I’m in. You?
$1,000,000 @WPT The Big One for @onedrop at #WPTWorldChampionship @WynnLasVegas pic.twitter.com/s4AaLOlkBg
— Phil Ivey (@philivey) September 14, 2023
Big One for One Drop Will Make Its WPT Debut
For the first time in the history of the World Poker Tour, they will join up with Guy Laliberte’s “One Drop Foundation” and run the million-dollar tournament that has previously been played as part of the WSOP.
The Big One for One Drop is making its return following a five-year hiatus, with the last edition played in 2018, but WPT has recently hosted a couple of tournaments in collaboration with the Foundation, which were also played at the Wynn.
Now, Wynn, WPT, and One Drop Foundation will work together to bring together the best poker players and a number of wealthy businessmen with a passion for poker and create a true spectacle for the viewers.
While no guaranteed prize pool has been set for the event, it is realistic to expect between 20 and 50 runners in this one.
The two most recent Big Ones only saw 28 and 27 players sign up to play, respectively, but the recent boom in high-stakes poker and live poker in general, combined with the hype surrounding the WPT World Championship, could be enough to bring in a slightly higher number of players.
Back in 2012, Antonio Esfandiari became the first-ever Big One for One Drop champion, winning over $18 million after beating a field of 48 runners, while Dan Coleman, Elton Tsang, and Justin Bonomo inherited the title from him in the later years.
Phil Ivey will be gunning to add the title to his impressive resume this time around after finishing just three places outside of the money in 2018, a result he will surely be hoping to improve upon.
Big Guns Expected at the Big One for One Drop
Big One for One Drop will be the biggest buy-in tournament we have seen in a while. Although high stakes poker tournaments have become more normalized over the last few years, most of them are not quite as high as this.
Currently, Phil Ivey is the only player to have confirmed his participation, but we can expect the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Justin Bonomo, Bryn Kenney, Fedor Holz, Isaac Hexton, Mikita Badziukovsky, and Dan Smith to follow suit.
Events like this have had the propensity of bringing in big cash game players as well, and we can expect the likes of Tom Dwan and Andrew Robl to be among the possible attendees as well.
The event also tends to bring in a number of successful businessmen, with Guy Laliberte leading the charge and inviting such players in to help boost the cause and make the event more appealing to everyone involved.
The likes of Bill Klein, Tony G, Cary Katz, Paul Phua, and Rick Salomon are only a few of the names we can expect to see on the list come December.
It remains to be seen if the high stakes cash game players from games like Hustler Casino Live will put their money where their mouths are and if the likes of Wesley, Charles, or Nik Airball muster up the cool million to play in the Big One.
Another name that would be exciting to see on that list is Doug Polk, who historically came first in the $100k High Roller for One Drop in 2017, winning $3.6 million on the occasion.
Finally, the presence or absence of the self-proclaimed “best tournament player of all time,” Phil Hellmuth, could speak volumes about his willingness to play and compete with the very best in the business.
In truth, the following weeks will be extremely exciting as we will see more players confirm their participation and find out exactly who has the guts to pony up a million and play for it all on the big stage.
WPT World Championship Looking to Break Records
Ever since it was first announced, it was clear that the WPT World Championship was looking to break some records, with the massive $40,000,000 guarantee for the Main Event being just the first step.
The festival will surely be looking to break records across the board and would need to get more than 48 players to sign up for the Big One for One Drop to break the attendance record for that one.
This number could very well be attainable, with a growing number of Asian and other international businessmen recently joining some of the highest stakes games around and happy to play for nearly any stakes.
$40 MILLION GUARANTEED | DECEMBER 12 – 21
🏆@WPT World Championship @WynnLasVegas🏆
The 2022 'Poker Event of the Year' is BACK and BIGGER THAN EVER @WynnPoker!
More Info & Booking: https://t.co/IK27bbcvVZ
⏬ FULL SCHEDULE AND PRESS RELEASE ⏬ pic.twitter.com/6A309Wh9Zq
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) August 31, 2023
With the expansion of the high-stakes poker scene and such players happy to show up and play on TV, it would not be a shock to see some of these names fill out the empty chairs, making the event a massive success.
Of course, the organizers will still have a lot of work to do before that is made possible, but with 6% of all proceeds of the tournament going towards charity, every buy-in will count in quite a major way, both on and off the felt.
Stay tuned for more updates on Big One for One Drop and WPT World Championship over the coming weeks, as well as plenty of live reports from the festival come December.
