Strip Poker: Wynn Classic Has a Successful Start

In this "Strip Poker" series, Card Player covers the Las Vegas poker scene — on The Strip and around the city.

The second-annual 2008 Wynn Classic kicked off last week, and the first three events averaged prize pools of $241,000.

The series opened with a $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament that had two scheduled day ones in order to accommodate a large field. There were 621 entrants, generating a prize pool of more than $301,000. Tommy Tran took first place for just over $102,000.

The next event was a $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. The nearly $201,000 prize pool was built by the 207 players who entered. The first-place prize went to Mike Coglianese who took home $74,000.

Continuing to up the ante, the next event was a $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. Todd Peterson defeated the field of 154 players to win the first-place prize of more than $87,000. The prize pool for this tournament was $224,000.

“The turnout has been wonderful. We are beating last year’s numbers as far as these first few events, and the players really like the new structure,” said Director of Poker Operations Deborah Giardina. “As far as the main event goes, last year we had 198 entrants, and we certainly expect to exceed that this year.”

For the schedule of events and complete tournament results, click here.

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