Wynn Millions Returns With $15 Million Guaranteed

The Wynn Las Vegas is the place to be if you love playing live poker tournaments. Thousands of players from around the United States are descending on Wynn’s poker room for the latest edition of the Wynn Millions.

The 2022 edition of Wynn Millions features 16 events from February 21 through March 20. Those tournaments have buy-ins ranging from $400 up to $10,000. The guaranteed prize pools? They weigh in at an impressive $15,000,000 combined.

Everything kicks off on February 21 with a $400 buy-in $40,000 guaranteed No-Limit Hold’em event. Last year’s equivalent paid its champion, George Jannsen, more than $25,000 thanks to a 302-strong crowd creating a $104,190 prize pool.

Mystery Bounty Returns For Wynn Millions

February 24 is the date of the first of three flights in the $1,600 Mystery Bounty event. This is a hugely popular tournament, not least because it comes with a $1,500,000 guaranteed prize pool. Not only is there $1.5 million in the prize pool, players are randomly assigned bounties worth between $500 and $250,000.

Pete Chen won this event when Wynn last ran it. Chen walked away with $289,193 after a three-handed deal. Ezequiel Waigel of Argentina and American Kevin Klunder were part of the same deal. They returned him $263,627 and $261,440 richer than a few days previous.

In addition to his tournament payout, Chen also scooped $20,000 worth of mystery bounties. Ten others won bounties ranging from $50,000 to $250,000. Katie Lindsay, wife of Chris Moorman, banked $50,000. Seasoned grinder Keven Stammen netted a cool $100,000. However, Donald Nimneh, a 43-year-old truck driver from Omaha, got his hands on $250,000.

Two More Events With Huge Prize Pools

Two other events, in addition to the Mystery Bounty, have huge guarantees. A $3,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament shuffles up and deals on March 11. It comes with the promise of paying out at least $2 million! The increase in guarantee comes after 530 players bought into this event last year and smashed the $1 million guarantee by more than $710,000. Chance Kornuth emerged victoriously last year. He defeated Avi Cohen heads-up to secure a $353,891 top prize.

The same tournament at the Wynn Millions should attract some of the biggest names in the business.

These massive tournaments are are all well and good but are nothing compared to the Wynn Millions Main Event. It comes with a $10,000 buy-in and a staggering $10 million guaranteed prize pool. Some 1,328 players bought into the previous Wynn Millions and created a $12,483,200 prize pool. The top 134 finishers shared the pot, with the final 17 players banking at least $111,671.

Andrew Moreno was the last player standing; he scooped $1,460,106. The original top prize exceeded $2 million but Moreno dealt with Clayton Maguire ($1,443,757) and Toby Lewis ($1,235,204).

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Andrew Moreno	United States	$1,460,106*
2	Clayton Maguire	United States	$1,443,757*
3	Toby Lewis	United Kingdom	$1,235,204*
4	Salim Admon	United States	$619,160
5	Julien Milliard-Feral	France	$456,629
6	Philip Shing	United States	$360,140
7	Jaime Alvarez	United States	$289,361
8	Joe Kuether	United States	$240,302
9	Lion Lee	United States	$202,765

Wynn Sells Boston Casino For $1.7 Billion

The Wynn Millions takes place shortly after Wynn Resorts agreed to sell the land and buildings associated with its Encore Boston Harbor resort. Realty Income Co., a San Diego-based real estate investment trust, is paying $1.7 billion.

Wynn keeps the 13 acres of adjacent land although has the option to rent to Realty for $20 million a year. In addition, Wynn continues managing the Boston property while paying $100 million annual rent.

It is only two years since Wynn opened the Encore for $2.6 billion. It got off to a slow start and the global pandemic made matters worse. The sale frees up some equity for Wynn to use elsewhere in its business.

Brad Johnson

You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.

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