On Tour With Team LearnWPT: 2025 WPT® Choctaw-Durant
If you’re a fan of nonstop poker action in an award winning hotel casino where you can split time between fine dining, line dancing, and some time at the pool, then you need to get to Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant, OK right now. Join Team LearnWPT as we head back On Tour for the televised $3,800 World Poker Tour® Choctaw Championship Event featuring 50K in starting chips plus a massive $2 Million Guaranteed prize pool.
The 2024 WPT Choctaw Championship Event drew some of the best rounders on the planet and the prize pool swelled to over $2.1 Million. After a long final table battle, world-class player James Mackey captured the $361,600 first prize and his 2nd WPT Main Tour Title in the same event!
This year the Choctaw Festival returns featuring a huge new slate of exciting tournaments, epic schedule of satellites, and huge guarantees leading up to the highly anticipated WPT Main Tour Championship Event.
Do you have dreams of making the televised final table and sharing the stage with Vince, Lynn, and Tony but don’t quite have the bankroll? Good news - there are plenty of chances to parlay a small buy-in into a life changing score, and you’ll definitely want to take advantage of the Championship Event satellites starting as low as $130!
Get Championship Ready With LearnWPT
Team LearnWPT is here to give the tools and strategy you need to win your seat to the $3,800 WPT Choctaw Championship. Check out the strategies in this blog and you’ll be ready to jump in the action.
➧ Get In on the Action
➧ Satellite Keys and Basics
➧ Test Your Satellite Skills
➧ Understanding ICM at the Final Table
➧ Play Solved GTO Final Table Hands
➧ Launch Your Poker Game and Save 50%
Get an edge on your competition with poker strategies from proven winners and prepare to dominate the felt!
#TheCupAwaits 🏆
Get In on the Action at Choctaw ...
The 2025 Choctaw Casino & Resort Durant festival begins April 16th with the $250 buy-in $100K GTD "Kick-Off" and features some can't miss events including the $300K GTD $500 buy-in “Gargantuan“ on the 24th and the $600 buy-in $150K GTD “Choctaw Classic” on the 19th.
In addition to the satellites to the $3,800 WPT Choctaw Championship even starting as low as $130, you can also potentially parlay a low buy-in of $250 into a WPT package through super satellites that awards winners a seat to the $10,400 WPT World Championship in Vegas. There are also plenty of lower buy-in events scheduled nightly so you don’t have to stretch your bankroll to get to experience the fun and excitement of playing in a World Poker Tour event!
📅 Festival Dates:
Start: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
End: Monday, May 5, 2025
Click here for the full Festival schedule
Day 1 of the Televised Championship Event begins Thursday, May 1st with three starting flights and allows for unlimited re-entry until the start of level 9 on Day 1A-Day 1C - Click here for the structure.
📅 WPT Championship Event Schedule:
➧ Day 1A: Thursday, May 1, 2025 starting at 11 am CDT
➧ Day 1B: Friday, May 2, 2025 starting at 11 am CDT
➧ Day 1C: Saturday, May 3, 2025 starting at 11 am CDT
➧ Day 2: Sunday, May 4, 2025 starting at 11am CDT
➧ Day 3: Monday, May 5, 2025 starting at 11am CDT
➧ Final Table: Friday, May 30, 2025*
The $3,800 Championship event offers 50K in starting chips and the player's favorite WPT structure providing plenty of chances to chip up and build a final table stack.
*The final table of 6 will be played and filmed for television by the World Poker Tour at the HyperX Las Vegas at Luxor on May 30, 2025.
Should You Play a 🛰️ Satellite Differently?
Satellite poker tournaments are a great way to parlay a larger buy-in event at a lower price so you don’t need to have big bucks to be in contention for a game-changing score.
Strategies for Satellites can be very different from a normal Tournament, and yes, you’ll need to make some adjustments that may seem strange compared to standard tournament strategy.
Approaching satellite play with the same strategy used in a regular poker tournament will often result in busting out when you would otherwise have a seat to the target tournament locked up.
Watch this Strategy Episode from LearnWPT Instructor Nick Binger as he discusses the key adjustments you need to make when playing Satellite Poker Tournaments.
Need Help Closing The Deal?
In this LearnWPT Strategy Episode get invaluable perspective from a Pro as Nick Binger reviews several key hands from a Satellite to highlight the unique adjustments during the endgame.
These strategy concepts could help you avoid busting on the bubble and secure your seat to the WPT Choctaw Championship!
The Keys 🗝️ to Satellite Play
- Everyone gets paid the same prize
- Make sure you know the rules of the Satellite you are playing and how to secure your seat
- Satellites can be played a number of ways, from traditional freezeout, to milestone, to shootout format
- No incentive to build a large stack once you are likely to win a seat
- As the probability of winning a seat goes up, your ranges in all spots tighten up
- There are times in a satellite poker tournament when players should never continue against an all-in
- Satellites are the only form of poker where it can be correct to fold pocket Aces preflop
- Pay very close attention to stack sizes and level changes!
- Often in the satellite endgame 10BBs may be a big stack that is guaranteed to win a seat
Test Your Satellite Skills!
You are playing a Super Satellite to the $2 Million guaranteed WPT Choctaw Championship with blinds at 50/100 and a 100 big blind ante. You are in the Small Blind with Q♠Q♥ and 4,600 chips (46BBs). An Early Position player limps, a visibly frustrated player in the MP2 seat makes it 300, and the Button flat calls.
Action is on you, what do you do here?
Click here to get a detailed analysis of this hand from Team LearnWPT and learn more strategy behind the correct plays.
How Should You Adjust at a Final Table?
Strategy adjustments for various tournament stages must consider the impact of ICM (Independent Chip Model) and the specific factors in play at your table. When there are different stack sizes and a huge gap in pay between 1st and 9th place, making the most profitable decisions can seem daunting.
When you are the chip leader at a Final Table it’s also crucial to understand how dramatic ICM will affect your opponent’s strategy, and when you can use ruthless aggression to punish your foes on the way to victory. In both cases, the key to making better decisions with ICM in play starts with adjusting first-in hand ranges.
Watch this LearnWPT.com Strategy Episode as Nick breaks down ranges and adjustments across stack sizes and describes how you should be approaching these spots at your next Final Table.
Playing Medium Pairs at A Final Table
Medium strength pocket pairs are a common source of frustration at the poker table for many players. Often with this hand category we are faced with difficult decisions to continue on many board textures, and can be challenged to make the right play when facing aggressive action.
At a Final Table when pay jumps are a big factor, it’s even more crucial to understand the correct strategy with medium pairs in order to avoid massive ICM blunders.
Here’s a breakdown from LearnWPT Instructor Johan Schultz-Pedersen featuring pocket 8s at a Final Table to illustrate just how much ICM should affect your decisions in these spots.
Are You GTO Final Table Ready?
Picture yourself as one of 6 remaining players at the Final Table of the $3,800 WPT Choctaw Championship event. How do you play your 30 Big Blind stack against a call from a tough chip leader with two short stacks in play and the Mike Sexton Champions Cup on the line?
Payouts: 1st = 20%, 2nd = 14%, 3rd = 9%, 4th = 6.7%, 5th = 5%, 6th = 4%
Play FREE solved hands from the WPT GTO Trainer to see firsthand how preflop ranges affect your decisions at the Final Table.
Here are some tips when practicing with the WPT GTO Trainer:
- Your goal is to select the action for each individual hand that is as close to 0.00 EV as possible
- EV Loss of 0.00 is the same action a GTO Player would take
- 0.00 EV Loss means you broke even against a GTO Player
- EV Loss Color Coding Hint:
- Green = Near GTO Play
- Orange = Take Caution
- Red = Probable Leak in Your Game
Members can practice more hands from this scenario anytime by playing the 30BB Button Open Vs 70BB Big Blind Call WPT GTO Trainer Final Table pack! Not a Member? Join for just $5 your first month to play more WPT GTO Trainer scenarios like this.
At the Final Table Remember To...
- Play to avoid busting out to the chip leader
- You will check and call more often than bet or raise
- You still need some bluffs in your range to prevent the chip leader from exploiting you
- Almost never lead out from the Big Blind after calling preflop
- Don’t be afraid to fold marginal hands against big bets that could set up an all-in situation on a future street
- When facing an aggressive chip leader, you should often trap by check-calling with your big made hands
Launch Your Poker Game and SAVE 50%
Get your poker game ready for success with The LearnWPT Launch No-Limit Hold'em Tournament Course and get 50% off with promotion code VEGAS50 at checkout. This course is the PERFECT way to level up your tournament skills with the WPT Champions and WSOP Bracelet winners on Team LearnWPT.
Why are we so confident that Launch will help your game?
In 2024 not only did we see epic success from 2 Instructors who taught the LearnWPT Launch Course, we also saw 2 students grab a WSOP Bracelet and 2 WSOP Circuit Rings (in 1 week!) after attending.
In short - We’ve got the results to prove it!
With LearnWPT Launch you’ll get a highly structured upgrade to your tournament poker strategy from proven winners who are also expert teachers. The four sessions include more than 10 hours of lecture and in-depth hand examples to help align your game fast.
➧ Early Stage Play with Johan Schultz-Pedersen
➧ Responding to Aggression with Eric Lynch
➧ Turn and River Play with Michael Gagliano
➧ ICM and Bubble Play with Tony Dunst
In addition to the in-depth lecture sessions LearnWPT Launch includes 30 strategy videos from our expansive library to supplement your training, downloadable range charts, poker hand quizzes after each section, and 20 WPT GTO Trainer packs for you to play, train, and drill hands based on the strategies you are learning. You’ll also have direct access to a private strategy Discord channel to ask questions to your coaches.
➧ Lifetime Access to the Course Videos and Tools
➧ No hidden fees, LearnWPT.com Membership not required
Start the course NOW to prepare for the WSOP, WPT Championship, or any tournament that you are planning on playing!
Have FUN, Good Luck, and Good Playing!
Will we see you on the felt during the WPT Choctaw Festival? If you see Team LearnWPT stop and say Hi 👋!
Check the LearnWPT calendar to follow Team LearnWPT On Tour as we travel the globe to play WPT Events.
Let us know if you are in the action during the WPT Choctaw Championship Event or side events on the Festival schedule!
Follow and tag us on social media to share your pic with members of Team LearnWPT, show off your chip stack, or celebrate a deep run.
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We love to hear how LearnWPT Students are doing and we can’t wait to share your success at the poker table!
Good luck and good playing,
-Team LearnWPT
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