Poker Leaderboard: 2021 WPT Earnings

After major disruptions in 2020 due to the global pandemic and resulting live poker shutdown, the World Poker Tour has returned strong with 14 main tour events coming to a conclusion so far in 2021. The tour’s 18th season wrapped up in April, with season XIX getting straight underway in May.

The WPT has featured both live and online main events this year. Rok Gostisa added his name to the Mike Sexton Champions Cup in late September, defeating a field of 1,177 entries to win the WPT World Online Championships $5,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. Gostisa overcame three-time WSOP bracelet winner David Peters heads-up to secure the title and the top payday of $959,493. This was his second cash in a WPT online main event, having placed 21st in the WPT Montreal Online that was ultimately won by Jack Hardcastle. Gostisa has surged into fourth place on the 2021 WPT earnings leaderboard as a result of his title run.

Brek Schutten is the current leader thanks to the massive $1,261,095 payday he secured as the champion of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown main event, which drew a record-setting field of 2,482 entries back in April. Balakrishna Patur is the only other player to have surpassed the million-dollar mark in WPT earnings this year. Patur took down the long-delayed 2020 WPT L.A. Poker Classic main event for $1,015,000 to secure the second-place spot on this leaderboard.

Brian Altman finished third in the 2020 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open main event, which had been postponed for more than a year, earning $333,012 for his deep run. Just over a month later he took down the 2021 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa main event for another $613,225 and his third WPT main event title. With seven final tables and 30 cashes on the tour overall for a total of $2.8 million, the Boston pro sits in 37th place on the WPT all-time money list.

The tour’s next live stop will be the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open running from Nov. 26 through Dec. 1. ♠