The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, one of the World Poker Tour’s most popular and well-attended stops each year, kicked off its 2022 incarnation on March 24. The numbers reported from the first $400 buy-in event are very auspicious, as 3,687 entries helped generate a prize pool of $1,216,710.
The festival will be played until April 12 and will consist of 50 events. The marquee event, the WPT Championship, will start on Friday, April 8 and will have two starting flights, with a guaranteed prize pool of $3 million.
The Venue – Hollywood Florida’s Guitar Hotel
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is located in Hollywood, Florida. The original Guitar Hotel opened on October 24, 2019 and has 638 luxury guestrooms and suites. This engineering masterpiece reaches 450 feet into the sky, outfitted with floor-to-ceiling glass panes.
The spacious Poker Room is open 24 hours a day and has more than 40 gaming tables that are used for cash games, daily tournaments and festivals.
2022 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Schedule
As previously noted, the festival will have 50 events with buy-ins ranging from $150 to $50,000 for the Super High Roller. While the WPT Showdown Championship will have a $3,500 buy-in with that aforementioned $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, the dozens of other events on schedule are sure to attract hordes of eager poker players looking to win big.
Low buy-in events:
- Event #7 Big Stack NLH / Buy-In: $200 / GTD: $150,000 / March 28
- Event #14 Quad Stack Double Green Chip Bounty / Buy-In: $200 / GTD: $30,000 / March 30
- Event #25 Big Stack NLH / Buy-In: $150 / GTD: $30,000 / April 4
- Event #32 Quad Stack Double Green Chip Bounty / Buy-In: $200 / GTD: $30,000 / April 6
- Event #35 Big Stack NLH / Buy-In: $150 / GTD: $20,000 / April 7
- Event #37 Ladies NLH / Buy-In: $250 / GTD: $10,000 / April 9
- Event #45 Big Stack NLHE / Buy-In: $150 / GTD: $30,000 / April 11
- Event #50 Quad Stack Double Green Chip Bounty / Buy-In: $200 / GTD: $30,000 / April 12
Medium buy-in events:
- Event #8 Deep Stack Black Chip Bounty / Buy-In: $400 / GTD: $50,000 / March 28
- Event #10 Big Stack 6-Max NLH / Buy-In: $400 / GTD: $50,000 / March 29
- Event #12 Deep Stack 8-Max NLH Freezeout / Buy-In: $400 / GTD: $30,000 / March 30
- Event #15 Deep Stack NLH / Buy-In: $600 / GTD: $1,000,000 / March 31
- Event #20 Deep Stack 8-Max Purple Chip Bounty / Buy-In: $1,100 / GTD: $100,000 / April 3
- Event #22 Deep Stack Seniors 50+ NLH / Buy-In: $400 / GTD: $50,000 / April 4
- Event #26 Omaha 8 Championship Freezeout / Buy-In: $1,100 / April 5
- Event #30 Deep Stack NLH / Buy-In: $1,100 / GTD: $100,000 / April 6
- Event #33 H.O.R.S.E. Championship Freezeout / Buy-In: $1,100 / April 7
- Event #40 Deep Stack Purple Chip Bounty / Buy-In: $1,700 / GTD: $100,000 / April 10
- Event #42 Deep Stack Seniors 50+ Freezeout / Buy-In: $1,100 / April 11
- Event #46 Turbo NLH Championship Freezeout / Buy-In: $1,100 / April 11
- Event #47 Deep Stack 5-Card PLO Freezeout / Buy-In: $1,100 / April 12
High buy-in events:
- Event #31 Super High Roller / Buy-In: $50,000 / April 6
- Event #34 Deep Stack NLH / Buy-In: $2,200 / GTD: $200,000 / April 7
- Event #36 WPT Showdown Championship / Buy-In: $3,500 / GTD: $3,000,000 / April 8
- Event #44 High Roller NLH / Buy-In: $25,500 / GTD: $1,000,000 / April 11
- Event #49 Deep Stack 8-Max NLH / Buy-In $5,000 / GTD: $500,000 / April 12
You can view the complete schedule in this link.
WPT Showdown Championship structure:
- Buy-In: $3,500
- Initial stack: 50,000 chips (250 big blinds)
- Re-entry: first 8 levels of each starting flight
- Blind levels: 60 minutes | 90 minutes from Day 4
- First blind level: 100-200 with 200 big blind ante
WPT Showdown Championship schedule:
- Day 1A: Friday, April 8 – 11 AM (10 levels)
- Day 1B: Saturday, April 9 – 11 AM (10 levels)
- Day 2: Sunday, April 10 – 12 PM (10 levels)
- Day 3: Monday, April 11 – 12 PM (play down to 16 players)
- Day 4: Tuesday, April 12 – 12 PM (play down to 6 players)
- Final Table: May 25 at the PokerGo Studio in Las Vegas
The Defending Champion — Brek Schutten
Last year’s edition of this WPT Championship event featured 2,482 entries and became the largest tournament in the history of the World Poker Tour. The huge prize pool was $7,942,400, which was shared among the top 311 players.
The winner of the record-setting tournament was 32-year-old Brek Schutten, who earned his first WPT cash and a massive prize of $1.2 million. He was working as a nurse during the pandemic and saw what the virus was capable of.
What did Schutten do with his winnings? Pay for his four children’s education and donate to schools. He also made some investments and saved some for retirement. Finally, he bought a nice gift for his wife.
![Brek Schutten](https://cdn.cardplayerlifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/schutten-champ.jpg)
Photo credit: Joe Giron
Can the record be broken again this year? Who will emerge victorious? We will know in a few days.