Freerolls don’t usually make headline news, but that all changes when it’s the largest freeroll in the history of poker with $5 million on the line.
Before the dust could settle on Zak VanKeuren’s $1.16m WPT Prime Championship win, another seven-figure cash prize was being awarded in the ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll – and this time it was going straight to Chase Bricker, a businessman from Texas who used to play semi-pro.
About the ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll
This unique event ran across three days from 13th-15th December 2024 to celebrate the launch of ClubWPT Gold, a sweepstakes-based poker platform. Just shy of 1,500 players arrived at Wynn Las Vegas looking to turn their free entry into a life-changing sum, with 503 positions being paid – plus a bunch of bounties and bonuses.
To enter, players required a ‘Golden Passport’ – essentially a very exclusive freeroll ticket. Players could win Golden Passports via:
- Lucky promo codes when signing up to ClubWPTGold
- Social media competitions
- Media outlets
- Raffles
- WPT live events
In addition to the record-breaking $5 million prizepool, extra prizes included:
- 100 x WPT World Championship entry worth $10,400 each
- 8 x final table mystery bounties ranging from $0-$200,000
Put simply, this event was uncontested when it comes to the best freeroll tournaments.
Final Table Payouts
Given the random nature of qualification for this elite event, the experience levels of players was all over the place, leading to a really interesting final nine.
Here are the ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll final table players and their accompanying payouts:
| Place | Player | Prize | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chase Bricker | $1,000,000 | US |
| 2 | Jason Christopher | $250,000 | US |
| 3 | Daniyal Gheba | $125,000 | US |
| 4 | Victor Avallone | $75,000 | US |
| 5 | Patrick Eskandar | $50,000 | US |
| 6 | Tyler Hancock | $40,000 | US |
| 7 | Josh Guindon | $30,000 | US |
| 8 | Eric Zheng | $25,000 | US |
| 9 | Jacob Stufflebean | $20,000 | US |
One Mega Pay Jump
While the percentage of players who finished ITM was very generous – around one in three cashed – the jumps at the final table were wild, especially the $750,000 difference between first and second. Presumably, this was done to create the eye-catching $1m top prize.
What it meant was that these nine survivors went in with fewer concerns about ICM pressure, and more incentive to go for the top prize – especially with the mystery bounties on the line.
In other words, poker the way it should be.
Daniyal Gheba has enjoyed plenty of strong results in live events, including 6th place at the 2024 $5,000 WSOP 8-Handed event for $117,271. He began play with about 11.7 million chips, which gave him more than a 2:1 chip lead over second-placed Jacob Stufflebean, who has a fantastic name but had only managed less than $5k in live tournament winnings going into the event.
That inexperience soon showed. With the blinds at 75k/150k, Stufflebean opened pocket sixes UTG with just over the min raise, and Gheba made it 750k from the high jack holding A♠10♦. Stufflebean came along and the 10♥2♣4♦ gave his opponent top pair top kicker.
Stufflebean checked and Gheba bet 500k into the 1.8m pot. Not wanting to be pushed around, Stufflebean popped it up to 1.2m – then saw the bad news as Gheba moved all in. After tanking for a while, he made the call with a shrug and announced that he was hoping to see ace king. Instead, he was the first player eliminated from the final table.
$200k Mystery Bounty
Not only was Gheba now in pole position having eliminated the second biggest stack, but he also managed to pull the dream envelope from the mystery bounty suitcase, locking in the biggest prize possible – $200k in cash.
The next bounty also belonged to Gheba, after Eric Zheng moved all in with a king-high flush draw. Gheba had set the hand up to isolate him and target the bounty, and ultimately required less than one big blind to call with A♥6♠. Unfortunately for Zheng, the ace-high held, and he was out in eighth while Gheba secured another $25k through the mystery bounty.
Minutes later, Jason Christopher won a crucial three-way all-in when his pocket queens held up against the K♦Q♠ of Josh Guindon and the A♣8♥ of Gheba, who was greedily hunting more bounties. That earned Christopher a triple up and one mystery bounty – but he drew the booby prize of $0. Nobody has a strong enough poker face to hide that pain.
It wasn’t long before we saw another three-way all-in, this time between Bricker with pocket jacks, Victor Avallone with pocket sixes, and Tyler Hancock with A♠6♠. Bricker was a 62% favorite pre-flop and improved on the Q♣K♣J♠ board, upgrading to trips. He had a sweat on the 8♣ turn, which gave Avallone a flush draw, but held on for his first mystery bounty which was $25k.
Bricker Runs Good
Bricker was hitting his game now, and eliminated Patrick Escandar in fifth to claim another mystery bounty, again for $25k. Then, against Gheba, he hit a crucial double up which set him on course for the win. Bricker raised pocket queens and Gheba went all-in from the big blind with K♠J♠.
Gheba picked up yet another mystery bounty (another $10k) when his aces held against Avallone’s sixes, but the blinds were climbing rapidly and he had to prepare to make another move. In the meantime, Bricker’s kings doubled through Christopher’s tens, putting him in control.
With less than nine big blinds remaining, Gheba shoved with 7♦3♦ and got snapped by Bricker who, once again, had picked up pocket kings. That elimination left Bricker with 25.8m (43bbs) and Christropher with 10.6m (18bbs), all of which would go in on the very first hand of heads-up play.
Chase opened with A♥Q♣ for close to four bigs and Christopher almost instantly moved all in with A♠10♣. There was no drama on the runout and that hand bagged Chase first place – plus the final bounty for $110,000 on top of his $1m.
It’s difficult to imagine the feeling of freerolling your way to over a million bucks, and Bricker was clearly blown away by it all.
“Just a completely surreal moment. What an amazing three days. The tournament was incredible,” said Bricker, following his victory. “Playing here at Wynn with my rail, just a first-class experience, something I’ll never forget. Obviously, my biggest score, life-changing money, so I’m living the dream right now.”