Travis Egbert came into 2024 with just shy of $263,000 in total recorded tournament earnings to his name. The Northern California resident has broken through in a major way this year, though, cashing for nearly $1.3 million, with four titles won and eight final-table finishes recorded along the way.
Egbert fittingly capped his impressive run with his largest victory yet. On Dec. 19, he emerged victorious from a field of 111 entries in the 2024 World Poker Tour World Championship Alpha8 $25,800 no-limit hold’em high roller, earning a career-best score of $684,684 for the win at Wynn Las Vegas.
This triumph also came with 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for Egbert. His total now sits at 3,290, which is good for 86th place in the overall standings presented by Global Poker.
This was Egbert’s first recorded cash in a high roller with a buy-in of $25,000 or larger. It was also his first outright win outside of Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento. He has won three World Series of Poker Circuit rings at the venue in 2024, including taking down the $1,700 buy-in main event at the stop held there in October for $214,565.
The event ended up with a $2,775,000 total prize pool, which was paid out amongst the top 13 finishers. Plenty of big names ran deep, including 2019 WSOP Europe main event winner Alexandros Kolonias (13th), six-time bracelet winner Brian Rast (10th), two-time bracelet winner Shannon Shorr (9th), bracelet winner Igor Kurganov (8th), and high stakes regular Sean Winter (7th).
Two-time bracelet winner Sam Soverel knocked out 2024 WPT Trifecta high roller winner Brock Wilson (5th – $190,781), only to soon join him on the rail (4th – $253,219). Soverel’s run ended when his A-K lost a preflop race against the pocket nines of Naj Ajez.
Egbert won a big pot with sixes full of sevens to take a sizable lead during three-handed play. He then took down another hefty one with trip nines, leaving Noel Rodriguez short-stacked in the process. Rodriguez got his last chips in with A-8 leading the J-9 suited of Ajez, who flopped a jack and held from there to eliminate Rodriguez in third place ($354,488).
The final two struck a deal to redistribute the chips, locking up $600,000 each while leaving $84,684 and the trophy to play for. Not long after that, Egbert picked up A
A
on the button and min-raised to 250,000. Ajez called and the flop came down Q
J
6. Ajez check-raised Egbert’s 200,000 continuation bet to 750,000. Egbert called and the 5 appeared on the turn. Ajez bet 1,275,000 and Egbert called again with his overpair. The A completed the board and Ajex checked. Egbert moved all-in with the covering stack and Ejez went into the tank. He eventually called all-in for 7,075,000 and Egbert revealed his rivered set. Ajez mucked his cards and was eliminated in second place ($600,000).
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Travis Egbert | $684,684 | 840 |
| 2 | Najeem Ajez | $600,000 | 700 |
| 3 | Noel Rodriguez | $345,488 | 560 |
| 4 | Sam Soverel | $253,219 | 420 |
| 5 | Brock Wilson | $190,781 | 350 |
| 6 | Jun Obara | $145,688 | 280 |
| 7 | Sean Winter | $115,856 | 210 |
| 8 | Igor Kurganov | $94,350 | 140 |
| 9 | Shannon Shorr | $79,088 | 70 |
Photo credit: WPT.