Brock Wilson Wins WPT Alpha8 Event at Wynn Las Vegas – is the Brand Back for Good?

Last week, the first in a ‘Trifecta’ of World Poker Tour Alpha 8 events played out at the Wynn in Las Vegas. Timed to coincide with the middle period of the WSOP schedule, the series was well attended, with 78 entries topped by the American player Brock Wilson, who took home the $571,400 top prize. Was the return of the Alpha8 brand a success and what can we expect to happen next?

David Coleman Goes Close

The numbers are certainly strong for a $25,000-entry event set slap bang in the middle of the 2024 WSOP. With 78 entries, 10 places got paid, a good chunk more than 10%, and as such its pretty easy to see why the Alpha8 brand has reemerged and been attached to the trio of high roller events set in Las Vegas this summer.

There is a captive audience of players who can a) afford the buy-in and b) are already in Las Vegas. It followed that several of them would be able to attend the event which took place on June 25^th and 26^th and so it proved. Of the 78 players, two won the min-cash amount of $57,100, as Danish professional Johan Schultz-Pedersen and American Brian Kim both took home that amount by finishing in 10^th and ninth place respectively. Down to eight, there was another cash for the hugely consistent Atanas Malinov. The Bulgarian, who won the FPS Main Event in France earlier this year for over $323,000, added another $64,800 to his career earnings, which now stand at over $1.1 million.

Two Americans left next, with Daniel Sepiol failing to add a WPT title to his incredibly impressive stack of 11 cashes at this year’s WSOP so far, including his first bracelet win in the Shootout event for $305,000. Then it was the turn of PokerStake player David Coleman to depart, as he left in seventh place for $97,200. Coleman, who already has a WSOP bracelet and has reached two WSOP final tables in the past few weeks alone, once again signposted his awesome consistency.

Wilson Wins the Title

“This trophy is the coolest one that I’ve seen… but it’s gonna be tough to carry!”

With five players left, the Estonian Ilya Nikiforov cashed for $128,000, before Austrian Pokercode co-creator Matthias Eibinger took home $176,000 in fourth place. That sent play three-handed, and it was the regular GGPoker GG MILLION$ player Artur Martirosian who fell short of the heads-up battle in third, cashing for $253,900.

Heads-up, Wilson used his lead brilliantly and in the final hand, Seth Gottlieb lost the all-American duel when his bluff was called by Wilson who had just second pair in the pivotal hand. That gave Wilson the trophy and top prize of $571,400, with Gottlieb having to be satisfied with a runner-up score of $380,900.

As Wilson told the World Poker Tour, the fulfilment of his ambitions in this event were very important to him.

“I play a lot of these WPTs, and this is by far my biggest accomplishment to date,” he said. “It feels really good to just outright win it, and this trophy is the coolest one that I’ve seen. But it’s gonna be tough to carry!”

Part of one of poker’s ‘power couples’ with girlfriend and fellow PokerStake player Cherish Andrews, Wilson credited his reaction to a particular hand he played against the Russian Martirosian as pivotal.

“I made a big fold versus Artur Martirosian on the bubble which was dead wrong,” he admitted. “I thought I might go from like 1 of 12 in the chip counts to stone bubbling, and fortunately, I kind of kept my composure. Realistically, from there I just got easy spots. I didn’t get another spot to make a mistake, and it all went my way.”

Wilson’s passion for poker means that he is likely to pursue the top eight places leaderboard in the series, all of which guarantee each qualifier a seat in the 2024 WPT World Championship this December. The buy-in is $10,000 and in many observers’ eyes is second only to the WSOP Main Event on many professionals’ schedules.

Will the Alpha8 Brand Be Back Permanently?

The Alpha8 brand is a part of WPT history. This reporter was in London a decade ago when the latest $100,000-entry tournament saw players such as Sam Trickett, Antonio Esfandiari and Viktor Blom was among the players battling for millions. The buy-in is now $25,000 but far from this diluting the brand, WPT CEO Adam Pliska is clearly of the mind it has enhanced its access to players.

“Last year, WPT witnessed a grand resurgence of the Alpha8 brand, which all began with a successful summer event at Wynn Las Vegas,” he said. “We are taking it a step further this time around by hosting three Alpha8 high rollers at this amazing venue.”

Ryan Beauregard, the Executive Director of Poker Operations at Wynn Las Vegas was equally positive about the partnership and its impact on Alpha8.

“We are honored to include the WPT Alpha8 Trifecta as a part of our Wynn Summer Classic,” he said. “The Alpha8 moniker has an impressive history of past champions, and I look forward to treating each and every player to the full Wynn player experience. This race is meant to be a fun challenge amongst the high stakes players, and both Wynn and WPT are excited to provide more than $80,000 in seats as added value.”

The second (July 3^rd & 4^th) and third (July 10^th & 11^th) WPT Alpha8 Trifecta events take place during the WSOP Main Event, so could provide a stronger indication as to the success of the Trifecta series as a whole. For now, however, it’s enjoyable just to see Alpha8 back as a brand, a concept and an impossibly heavy trophy.

Brock Wilson won’t mind placing the trophy carefully on the bottom shelf of his cabinet at all. With the $571,400 first-place prize, he can afford to construct a purpose-built cabinet to display it in.