Tag: WSOP

Each time you feel like online poker has reached its apotheosis, the operators burn the old textbooks in a conflagration of colour, and a new ‘record’ emerges like a Phoenix.

GGPoker is the latest to hunch around the firepit after it released further details on the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) online schedule, a move prompted by a leaked version ending up on Pokerfuse.

54-bracelets are up for grabs between Jul 19 to Sep 6, allowing poker fans the opportunity to win a bracelet from the comfort of home from outside of the USA for the first time.

The schedule is virtually indistinguishable from what you would expect from the typical muddle of live events, and that’s because of GGPoker’s inability to construct a plan with more alternatives than Limit Hold’em, No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha. That said, there are a few old favourites on the roster (see below).

The ‘prestige of a WSOP bracelet has gone down the toilet’ brigade will be eating up and vomiting on the news that the BIG 50 will create a new record allowing punters to win a bracelet for as low as $50. The maximum that someone is going to be in for is $25,000.

Players who finish in the money (ITM) will have their real names broadcast to the world, including 100% of people who make a final table. That action will come to you live via GGPoker.tv and Poker Central.

The Main Event

The biggest story is the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event and its record $25m guarantee, beating the $21,780,000 amassed by the 2018 partypoker MILLIONS field. There will be multiple Day 1’s with Day 2 beginning Aug 30. Each flight is a freezeout.

There are also leaderboard prizes, but the details are sparse for now. There will be a leaderboard specifically for events that tie in with GGPoker’s Asian facing audience (Pure Gold Dragon), and there are leaderboards called ‘Pure Gold Mouse’ and ‘Pure Gold Cards.’

There are also three ‘People’s Choice’ bracelet events.

  • Most Popular
  • Pros Vote
  • Spin The Wheel

Here are the highlights.

Highlights

Event #1: $100, $2m GTD ‘The Opener’
Event #2: $1,111 ‘Every 1 for Covid Relief’ – $111 charitable entry
Event #10: $400, $3m GTD ‘COLOSSUS’
Event #17: $1,500 ‘MILLIONAIRE MAKER’
Event #25: $10,000 ‘HU NLHE Championship’
Event #31: $500, $5m GTD ‘Mini Main Event’
Event #38: $25,000, $10m GTD ‘NLH Poker Players Championship’
Event #39: $50, $1m GTD ‘BIG 50’
Event #52: $10,000, $5m GTD ‘WSOP Super MILLION$’

High Roller Highlights ($10k+)

Event #12: $10,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold’em Championship
Event #25: $10,000 ‘HU NLHE Championship’
Event #38: $25,000, $10m GTD ‘NLH Poker Players Championship’
Event #52: $10,000, $5m GTD ‘WSOP Super MILLION$’

Follow the blue line for more details on the playing and streaming schedules.

https://www.contents.ggnetwork-contents.com/wsop-2020-online

When it comes to the World Series of Poker (WSOP), Daniel Negreanu is the Lord of the Manor, forcing everyone else into servitude. 

Since his first in the money finish (ITM) in 1998 (winning a $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em title) Negreanu has gone on to win five more bracelets (including events in Australia, France and Las Vegas). He has also finished ITM on 133 occasions and is the only player to win the WSOP Player of the Year accolade twice.

So when ‘Kid Poker’ offers bracelet bets, you had better have a profound moment of serenity before getting involved. 

A couple of days ago, Negreanu shook up the poker world like a 12-bore shotgun sticking its barrel into a bouquet of pheasants, offering two big money bracelet bets. 

The first is a 2.5 to 1 bet that Negreanu will win a 2020 bracelet. On June 8, the WSOP revealed plans to schedule 31 bracelet events on WSOP.com, and a further 54 with their online partner GGPoker (of whom Negreanu represents). 

Here is the tweet.

Negreanu plans to compete in every WSOP.com event from his pad in Las Vegas, before jetting off to Mexico to compete in the GGPoker events. 

There is a $1m ceiling on that bet, and during a phone call with Negreanu, this morning, he told me that there are very few takers on that bet, as it stands. 

Should the WSOP reschedule the WSOP live event in the Fall or Winter, and surprise us all with an impromptu World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) or World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific (WSOP-APAC), those both count towards the bet. 

The Wizard Bet

In the other bet, Negreanu is willing to take on anyone in a “versus Negreanu” style bracelet race. 

Here is the tweet.

There is a $100k ceiling per player, and at the time of writing Negreanu confirms that both Ali Imsirovic and Connor Drinan have taken up that offer. 

Both Imsirovic and Drinan are online beasts, so Negreanu has his hands full. Imsirovic is a reg in the high stakes tournaments on GGPoker, and Drinan became a record-breaker after winning five titles during the 2020 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). Negreanu also confirmed to me that ‘many others’ are interested in backing both Imsirovic and Drinan in the bet against Negreanu. 

Another player who has expressed an interest in taking on Negreanu is Laurynas Levinskas. Negreanu confirmed that he’s received a lot of interest in GGPoker or WSOP.com only action, and will consider changing the rules of the agreement to meet demand, but hasn’t made a decision, yet. The other logjam in this one is the unavailability of a GGPoker schedule, so people know what games are on the menu. 

One plus for his opposition – Negreanu won’t arrive in Mexico to play in the GGPoker bracelet events until August 1, and the series starts on July 19. 

Why do this?

“It’s just fun really,” said Negreanu. “I’m a gambler at heart, and this is just an extension of that really. Figured since I’m going to do the full grind I might as well have some action on it!”

And is there anyone out there that has Negreanu quaking in his boots?

“Absolutely not. I really don’t care who comes at me for a bet!”

And to think, they said that online poker was dead!

An ecosystem riddled with decay.

It doesn’t look like that, today.

With the world unable to commune around the live poker table, poker lovers and professionals alike have been driven to online poker rooms in their droves – online poker rooms like GGPoker.

GGPoker’s life began in the East, but more recently, it has steadily moved its all-seeing eye towards life in the West. The race to become the ‘second-largest online poker room in the world’ has become congested and absorbing.

In a bid to get there nose ahead (PokerScout currently ranks them as the fourth busiest entity in the world). GGPoker has partnered with the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to create an 18-gold ring WSOP Super Circuit Online Series, and they’ve decided to use the new alliance to set a new online record.

While the 18 golden rings comprise the main course, these games sit amid a mammoth schedule that sees 595 tournaments running between May 3 and 31 with GGPoker guaranteeing $100m in prize money, beating the previous record by $15m.

That’s a statement.

The High Roller Scene

One area where GGPoker has applied intense focus has been at the high roller level.

When they first began marketing in the West, they hired Bryn Kenney as their sole brand ambassador, and you imagine he has helped them to move up the grooves in this area.

Since Kenney joined, there has been a steady increase of buy-ins between $1,000 and $5,000, and an unprecedented level of $25,000 buy-in events, making GGPoker a must-have client on the laptop of high stakes players.

You won’t find a WSOPC gold ring on the bucket list of too many high rollers, but that might change because on May 17 there will be a $10m GTD, $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold ’em tournament with a gold ring for the winner.

Outside of that monster guarantee, there is the $5m GTD $1,000 No-Limit Hold ’em Main Event, and a nice touch, with a $1,111 COVID Charity event with $111 donated to the Nevada COVID-19 Task Force. There is also a $1m GTD, $10,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) Championship, also taking place on May 17.

Here is the full schedule of gold ring events:

May 3

Event #1: $1,111, $1m GTD COVID Charity Event
Event #2: $50, $500k GTD Kick-Off

May 5

Event #3: $210, $500k GTD, Deepstack Bounty Hunters

May 10

Event #4: $200, $500k GTD Monster Stack
Event #5: $500, $2m GTD BIG $500

May 12

Event #6: $210, $500k GTD Deepstack Bounty Hunters

May 17

Event #7: $200, $500k GTD Monster Stack
Event #8: $25,500, $10m GTD High Roller Championship
Event #9: $100, $1m GTD. Mini Main Event
Event #10: $10,000, $1m GTD PLO High Roller Championship

May 19

Event #11: $210, $500k GTD Deepstack Bounty Hunters

May 24

Event #12: $200, $500k GTD Monster Stack
Event #13: $400, $2m GTD COLOSSUS

May 26

Event #14: $210, $500k GTD Deepstack Bounty Hunters

May 31

Event #15: $200, $500k GTD Monster Stack
Event #16: $1,000, $1m GTD PLO Main Event
Event #17: $1,000, $5m GTD Main Event
Event #18: $500, $500k GTD The Closer

The Future is Bright

Since the demise of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars has had a lock on the high stakes action. It’s not a niche that has ever interested 888Poker, but it is one that’s attracted the attention of partypoker. The partnership with Poker Central saw $36m dished out during a highly competitive Poker Masters Online, and the Super High Roller Bowl Online takes place at the end of the month.

With GGPoker entering the space with a vast array of $25,000 buy-in events complemented by a decent flow of buy-ins between $1,000 and $5,000, high stakes poker players have never had as much food on their buffet.

Nah, online poker isn’t dead.

It’s very much alive.

“Sports don’t build character; they reveal it.”

Whether the quote came from John Wooden or Heywood Hayle Broun is bye the bye, it’s a quote that cuts right to the core of humanity because ever since Homosapien’s held Mammoth bone hurling contests, sports has been an essential ingredient in a fulfilling life.

Yeah, some people don’t care much for sports, but far more see it as a religion, so when the organisers of some of the most emotionally charged events in the world amputate them from the schedule, you know that there’s a reason we’re all folding that one sheet to wipe our arse.

Ever since COVID-19 stopped being a Chinese problem, and became an everyone except the two cosmonauts and one astronaut living on the MIR Space Station problem, sporting events worldwide had been falling like Amazonian trees, with one exception. 

The World Series of Poker (WSOP).

The Mystery Ends

It’s the most hotly anticipated event in the poker calendar, and as the weekend ended, officials still kept their powder dry on the future of the 2020 fixture. 

The mystery ended on Monday afternoon.

PokerNews and other media outlets began reporting that Caesars Entertainment Corp., had postponed the 2020 series, with a Fall renewal the latest earmark. 

Here is the word from the chief.

“We are committed to running the World Series of Poker this year but need additional time to proceed on our traditional scale while prioritising guest and staff well-being,” said Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the World Series of Poker. “In the interim, official WSOP competitions are expected to be played online this summer, and we will soon announce details of an expanded series of tournaments to be played on WSOP.com and through partnership with international operators, which will allow players to chase WSOP glory from their homes.”

The WSOP Moves Online

The WSOP planned to handout more than 100 bracelets this summer, and while their goldsmith will be kept busy, he or she won’t be that busy. It’s not startling to learn that the 14 online bracelet events go head on WSOP.com for players residing in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, but it is interesting to note that WSOP plan to bed down with global online partners.

While the reporting doesn’t directly stipulate that the poker community will have the opportunity to win a WSOP bracelet playing online at one of WSOP.com’s competitors, you can now start to believe it’s more probable than possible. 

Who will be WSOP.com‘s partners?

Two immediate choices stand out.

888Poker is a longtime sponsor of the WSOP, and the only viable way to win a bracelet via the online satellite route outside of the USA – so maturing that marriage makes sense. 

The WSOP also entered into a relationship with GGPoker recently with a WSOP Circuit event going ahead on the burgeoning platform in May with 18 gold rings up for grabs – so that also seems like a logical choice. 

Outside of those two, partypoker has a relationship with WSOP.com and given the teams’ drive to do the right thing for the game; you could see those two agreeing on an interim arrangement to provide value for the community. 

PokerStars remains the outside bet.

It Had to Happen

With the number of COVID-19 cases approaching 2.5m, worldwide, with close to 165,000 deaths, and close to 760,000 cases and over 47,000 deaths in the USA alone – this decision had to happen.

The Olympics.

The European Championships.

Wimbledon.

None of the titans of the world of sport has stood up to this beast.

None of them. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom.

If you look on Eric Idle’s ‘bright side of life,’ at least when live poker does return to our itineraries we can bank on a spick and span set of chips and tables. It won’t last though. It’s not in our nature to be so thorough. If it were, we wouldn’t be hiding in our homes, praying for a vaccine. 

The ‘bright side of life,’ is that poker players are returning to the online game in their droves, and that must feel like eating James’ giant peach for those plying their trade in the online realm. 

Online poker is supposed to be dead, and yet, because of Mother Nature’s dart throw into the bullseye, live tour operators are forced to connect to their online competitors to make things happen. If these alliances remain, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t if online poker keeps putting on a show, and the community keeps showing up, then poker will come out the other end a lot stronger than before it went in. 

Football is the most popular sport in the world, feeding the souls of billions of people worldwide. That didn’t stop Europe’s governing body UEFA from cancelling all international fixtures scheduled for June, including the Euro 2020 play-offs. 

At club level, UEFA also postponed the Champions League and Europa League with the possibility of restarting in July or August. The English Premier League (EPL) used the word ‘optimistic’ in suggesting a June kickstart. 

So why hasn’t the World Series of Poker (WSOP) cancelled an event due to start on Tuesday, May 26?

The WSOP at the Heart of the Pandemic

On Saturday, April 4, the United States counted 277,965 cases of COVID-19, making it the epicentre of the current pandemic by quite some margin. 

The state of Nevada, the home of the WSOP, has confirmed 1,742 cases of COVID-19 and 46 deaths, leaving it slap, bang in the middle of the state-by-state doom charts. 

But the WSOP is not merely for Nevadans; it’s a global phenomenon; poker’s Christmas Day. It’s the most significant period in the poker calendar, bar none, and it would be a disaster if it were not to go ahead. 

Still, we have to add a dose of realism. 

Given the reaction to other sporting bodies around the world, and the increasing spread and death toll. It’s highly unlikely that the WSOP will go ahead given the health and safety nightmare that a live poker tournament provides its organisers. This morning, I went to Sprouts to buy some food, and if a store full of people refuse to partake in social distancing protocols, what chance do you have when hundreds of thousands of people turn up to toss dirty chips and cards around tables full of people rubbing elbows.

When weighing up the pros and cons, I don’t think the WSOP is doing anything wrong by waiting until the last minute. There are so many people for whom the WSOP is a significant income source, and for them, every day that passes without the shutters coming down provides hope. 

If the series goes ahead, the choice to attend rests with the individual. Many will choose to skip it over safety fears. Most would have already made tother plans irrespective of the nod from the WSOP.

What Are The Alternatives

The most obvious decision is to hold it at a later date. It’s not going to be easy to find a suitable location for eight weeks, but with some thinking outside of the box? Who would have thought a live poker tournament would have happened in Wembley Stadium?

Outside of shifting dates, the only other alternative outside of cancelling it is to host it online at WSOP.com. The 2020 series planned to hand out a record 101 bracelets, and you can’t replicate that online. WSOP.com doesn’t offer the full variety of games, and payment processing rules are too stringent with $500 daily and $1,000 weekly caps. 

The other issue is liquidity with WSOP.com only able to serve people living within the borders of Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, throwing up the question of ‘fairness.’ For many professionals, winning a gold bracelet is a bucket list goal, and I’m not sure how well it would go down, within the community if the WSOP offered the people in those states the chance to win a myriad of bracelets within the $400 to $1,500 price range.

If the officials do cancel the 2020 WSOP, what will happen to the 14 scheduled online bracelets already in situ? If they do go ahead, then the WSOP will surely add to them although you could also see them cancelled with the rest of the series. 

WSOP Suffering; WSOP.com Thriving

Whatever the WSOP do, there is an appetite for online games within the three states served by the WSOP.

The new 18 gold ring WSOP.comOnline Super Circuit, that ran between March 14 – 31, guaranteed $1.24m in prize money, and pulled in more than 3-times that amount with an average prize pool of $219,186. The $525 Main Event attracted 1,134 entrants (763-unique), and Champie Douglas won the $130,410 first prize. Matt Stout will join him at the season-ending Global Casino Championships after winning the Casino Championship title, cashing six times, making three final tables and winning two rings (if that event goes ahead).

The WSOP reacted immediately to that fantastic turnout by creating another event. The WSOP.com Spring Online Championships runs April 1 through May 3, and guarantees more than $4m in GTD prize money throughout more than 100 games with buy-ins ranging between $10 to $1,000.

Highlights include the Sunday Special Edition: $215 or $320 buy-in, $100k GTD NLHE events, the $525 buy-in, $300k GTD NLHE Main Event, a $1000 buy-in, $40k GTD NLHE High Roller, and a $500 buy-in, $40k GTD Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) High Roller.

Whether the WSOP does go the way of the UEFA Champions League remains a mystery, but unlike football, poker players will still get their fix, even in a place as restricted as the US – it’s just never going to be the same. 

As the high rollers breeze into Sochi, Russia for a spot of snowboarding and high stakes gambling, the rest of the poker community is not faring as well.

Casino Malta by Olympic Casino has cancelled ‘The Siege of Malta.’ The festival would have taken place April 15 – 20, with a €450 buy-in, €500k GTD Main Event now left swinging in the breeze. The Malta Poker Championships due to take place in May live from the Portomaso Casino in St Julians is also dead in the water.

October’s Battle of Malta remains unaffected.

The continued spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is the culprit, and it’s not only poker tournaments in Malta that are affected. The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju became the first to cancel an event because of the spread of COVID-19. And the World Poker Tour (WPT) cancelled events in Vietnam and Taiwan.

The King’s Casino in Rozvadov removed some events from their calendar along with a formal ban issued against Italians from playing at the casino or staying at the hotel. Czech health authorities declared that two out of five people diagnosed with COVID-19 in the Czech Republic had previously visited Italy.

King’s have targeted the Italians because as from March 5, the land of the boot has the second-highest fatality rate (107), and third-highest casualty rate (3,089). Triton cancelled their Jeju event because South Korea has the fourth-highest fatality rate (35), and second-highest casualty rate (5,766).

World Series of Poker

The world of sport and gaming will suffer as a result of the outbreak. Dark clouds hover over the Tokyo Olympics and Euro 2020, the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing have been cancelled, the Winter X-Games in China has been postponed, and the 2020 League of Legends LPL Spring tournament has also gone the same way.

What then, The World Series of Poker (WSOP)?

According to a quote from Seth Palansky that popped up in a PokerNews article, the WSOP is still on course to hand out 61 bracelets in the summer, while still ‘monitoring the situation’, and leaning on ‘experts in this field for guidance.’

Even if the event goes ahead, with people due to fly in from all over the globe, and the ever-pressing fear of ‘large gatherings’ of people, then attendance figures could drop for the first time in years.

Coronavirus in the USA

Congress recently approved $8.3 billion in emergency aid to fight the Coronavirus after 159 people in the US became afflicted with 11 deaths (almost exclusively in the Seattle area). At the time of writing, California has received its first death, with a cruise ship quarantined off the Californian coast.

Coronavirus Casualty and fatality Rate as Per March 5

95,315 cases.

3,282 fatalities.

Fatalities

China – 3,014
Italy – 107
Iran – 92
Korea – 35
USA – 11

Confirmed Cases

China – 80,524
Korea – 5,766
Italy – 3,089
Iran – 2,922
Japan – 317
France – 285
Germany – 262
Spain – 200
USA – 159

Ironically, subscriptions to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History went through the roof, as people fearing a third World War began creating contingency plans, when all along, we should have been fearing a pandemic.

Sorry, Dan, it’s time for us to stop listening to tales of blood and guts, and instead find more information on what to do when our throat runs dry, and violent gurgulations of the stomach starts waking up the cat.

The bell is ringing.

We haven’t even finished Round 1, and Coronavirus is giving the poker industry and the world at large a right good kick-in.

Live coverage of a poker tournament once consisted of a camera frozen on the final table, with the only way of distinguishing the damned from the dominant was the commentary. Fortunately, things have changed, and amongst the front-runners in the evolution of live poker content is the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

51st Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) takes place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, May 26 – July 15, and if you can’t be there in person, then Ty Stewart, Seth Palansky and co. has your back.

The Corvidae continuing to drop amazing poker content down our chimney tops are the WSOP, Poker Central and ESPN. The triumvirate has been working together for so long now you can’t tell the difference between the ravens, crows and rooks.

And that’s sweet news for poker fans because it means the end product is as polished as the bottom of a team belonging to the Subbuteo World Champion.

Poker punters should polish their most precious teacups in expectation for live coverage to begin July 1 – 14. Get a towel ready to clean up the puddle because that includes live coverage of every single day of the most iconic tournament in the world: the WSOP Main Event.

The plan is for Poker Central to telecast at least 40-hours of live WSOP coverage via its direct to consumer OTT service, PokerGO. Additionally, PokerGo subscribers will also receive 90-hours of additional footage.

Interlaced perfectly with Poker Central’s coverage is the Daddy of sports television products, ESPN. Their schedule is below these crucial quotes, and it’s like a word rhyming with ‘navy’ that begins with ‘G’.

“For the past four years, our partnership with ESPN has been centered on creating the ultimate fan experience by providing wire-to-wire coverage of the World Series of Poker Main Event,” said JR McCabe, chief business officer of Poker Central. “We look forward to another year of bringing poker’s premier event to fans all across the globe.”

“ESPN’s yearly World Series of Poker coverage has proven to be an annual favorite with our poker fans,” said Rob Temple, senior vice president of programming and acquisitions, ESPN. “Through our partnership with Poker Central, we look forward to another season of extensive broadcast coverage of the most popular poker event on earth.”

ESPN Broadcast Plan of Attack

Jul 1 – 20:00 – 01:00 WSOP Day 1A (ESPN2)
Jul 2 – 21:00 – 23:00 WSOP Day 1B (ESPN)
Jul 2 – 23:00 – 01:00 WSOP Day 1B (ESPN2)
Jul 3 – 20:00 – 01:30 WSOP Day 1C (ESPN2)
Jul 4 – 19:30 – 22:00 WSOP Day 2AB (ESPN)
Jul 5 – 22:00 – 01:00 WSOP Day 2C (ESPN2)
Jul 6 – 22:00 – 02:00 WSOP Day 3 (ESPN2)
Jul 7 – 19:00 – 23:00 WSOP Day 4 (ESPN2)
Jul 8 – 22:00 – 02:00 WSOP Day 5 (ESPN2)
Jul 9 – 20:00 – 00:00 WSOP Day 6 (ESPN2)
Jul 10 – 22:00 – 00:00 WSOP Day 7 (Play to Final Table ESPN2)
Jul 12 – 22:00 – TBD WSOP Day 8 (9 to 6 ESPN2)
Jul 13 – 22:00 – TBD WSOP Day 9 (6 to 3 ESPN2)
Jul 14 – 21:00 – TBD WSOP Day 10 (to a winner ESPN)

A full PokerGO streaming announcement is pending.

The library of the 51st World Series of Poker (WSOP) nears completion after the organisers included the spines of the online bracelet events.

14-online bracelet events bookended between a $400 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) taking place on May 31, and the $500 NLHE Summer Saver penned in for Jul 12, makes the presence of WSOP.com more prevalent than ever.

WSOP officials have been brushing re-entry events from the front step since Dec 2019, and that habit continues with the announcement that three of the 14 games will be freezeout, and ten of them single re-entry. Only the $777 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) scheduled for June 7 is a multiple re-entry event with a 3x re-entry stipulation.

The impervious $1,500 price point makes the leap from the live realm for the first time. The $1,500 NLHE (single re-entry) event takes place on Jun 30. The other standout debutant pricepoint is the $10,000 NLHE Super High Roller on July 2, and it’s a freezeout.

How do You Get Involved?

If you find the atmos in the Rio a tad noxious, then you can compete in these online bracelets from a spoke location as long as it’s within the borders of Nevada and New Jersey. You don’t have to be a resident of those two great states. Park a van, set up a tent, sleep in a bus stop – the WSOP doesn’t care as long as you don’t cross the border.

You don’t have to wait for the WSOP to begin to get set up. The press release that arrived on my mahogany desktop said you could create an account, deposit and with withdraw from anywhere in the world. If you would rather wait until the big day, then the WSOP has your back with deposits and withdrawals available at the WSOP cage, and WSOP.com assistants present, warts and all, in the Lambada Room throughout the series.

Here is a link to further details on the money side of things.

Desktop, Mobile Tablets and Multi-Tabling

Sculleries are no longer a thing, but multi-tabling online and live bracelet events at the WSOP is. If you have the money and the bandwidth, then go for it. 99.9% of online bracelet events are available across the desktop, mobile and tablet options. The unig blentyn in this room of twins is the $777 PLO, which is only playable via desktop. If I knew why I wouldn’t be writing this, I would be a coder or something else special-like.

“We believe the 2020 offering of online gold bracelet events features our best schedule yet,” said WSOP.com’s Director of Online Poker Danielle Barille. “This year we offer a consistent schedule of Sunday events every week of the WSOP, plus a special selection of eight events from June 28 to July 5 to coincide with the biggest week of the live WSOP when most players are in town to play.”

Here is the online bracelet schedule in full.

The Schedule

May 31 – $400 NLHE (single re-entry)
Jun 7 – $777 PLO 7-Handed (3x re-entry)
Jun 9 – $800 NLHE Knockout DeepStack (freezeout)
Jun 14 – $500 NLHE Turbo DeepStack (single re-entry)
Jun 21 – $500 NLHE (freezeout)
Jun 28 – $1000 NLHE Championship (single re-entry)
Jun 29 – $500 NLHE (single re-entry)
Jun 30 – $1,500 NLHE (single re-entry)
Jul 1 – $3,200 NLHE High Roller (single re-entry)
Jul 2 – $10,000 NLHE Super High Roller (freezeout)
Jul 3 – $400 NLHE (single re-entry)
Jul 4 – $500 NLHE Turbo DeepStack (single re-entry)
Jul 5 – $600 NLHE (single re-entry)
Jul 12 – $500 NLHE Summer Saver (single re-entry)

All events start at 18:30 (ET), with the lone exception the $10,000 Super High Roller, beginning at 15:00 (ET).

The History of WSOP Bracelet Events

Anthony ‘casedismissed’ Spinella won the first online bracelet when in 2015 he beat a field of 905-entrants to win the $197,743 first prize in the $1,000 NLHE Championship event. In 2016, the attendance blossomed as Clayton ’SLARDUCK’ Maguire topped a 1,247-entrant field to win the $210,279 in the $1,000 NLHE Championship.

WSOP.com expanded its bracelet events in 2017 with three. Tom “FLOATZ’ Cannuli beat 424-entrants to win the $3,333 NLHE High Roller for $323k. Joseph “ul_gg” Mitchell conquered a 2,509 entrant field in the $333 NLHE event for $122,314. And Nipun “Javatinii” Java won the 1,312 entrant $1,000 NLHE Championship for $237,688.

PLO bracelets became a thing in 2018 when there were four events in total. William Reymond beat 2,972 entrants in the $365 NLHE for $154,996. Matthew Mendez beat 1,223 entrants in the $565 PLO 6-Handed for $135,078. Chance Kornuth won the $3,200 High Roller beating 480-entrants to win $341,599. And Ryan Tosoc beat 1,635 entrants to win the $238,779 first prize in the $1,000 NLHE Championship.

The WSOP applied more varnish last year with nine online bracelet events, and here is the roll of honour:

  1. Yong Keun Kwon beat 2,825 entrants in the $400 NLHE for $165,263.
  2. Josh Pollock beat 1,216 entrants in the $600 PLO 6-Handed for $139,470.
  3. Upeshka De Silva beat 1,224 entrants in the $600 NLHE Knockout Bounty for $98,263.
  4. Daniel Lupo beat 1,767 entrants in the $500 NLHE Turbo DeepStack for $145,274.
  5. Jason Gooch beat 1,333 entrants in the $1,000 NLHE Double Stack for $241,493.
  6. Nicholas Baris beat 1,750 entrants in the $1,000 Championship for $303,739.
  7. Brandon Adams beat 593 entrants in the $3,200 NLHE High Roller for $41,561.
  8. Shawn Buchanan beat 1,560 entrants in the $800 NLHE 6-Max for $223,119.
  9. Taylor Paur beat 1,859 entrants in the $500 NLHE Summer Saver or $149,241.

The full schedule (live and online) is available here.

world-series-of-poker-born

The rest of the world is blissfully unaware that a group of people travel around the globe playing a game of cards for a living, but there it is, roaming around this big planet of ours.

The companies that make the magic huddle together in herds, knitting a seamless roster of events so the best in the business never have time to kick off those shoes and make a bowl of chicken soup. However, there is one company that doesn’t need to gel with anyone because they are to poker players what Christmas morning is for the kids.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been the king of poker since 1970. Incredibly, each year they grow more teeth. They don’t need to huddle with anyone. They are the biggest, the brightest, and in 2020 they become one of the ballsiest.

In 2019, the WSOP continued to set records with 187,298 entrants receiving $293,183,345 in prize money. It’s something that the WSOP has been doing for years, but not this year.

WSOP officials have taken the bold step of incorporating more freezeouts events into their vast schedule, therefore reducing the likelihood that they will top that entrant record.

It’s far from a slippery slope, as the WSOP wouldn’t be making this move if they didn’t feel it offered their players more value, but it does go against the soul of the rest of the industry who still believes that the players want re-entry tournaments.

The 51st annual WSOP runs between May 26 to July 15, and the organisers have been releasing pieces of the jigsaw since before Christmas. The latest segment to fall into the laps of the poker press is a significant one with 25 gold bracelet events pitched at the $1,500 price point.

These events rest across 18 different game types and will start with a minimum 25k starting stack.

“We have found the $1,500 price point to be the sweet spot in poker, perfectly balancing affordability, field size and prize pool to offer great value for participating players,” said W.S.O.P. Vice President Jack Effel. “As we continue to cater our offerings to find something for everyone, the $1,500 buy-ins remain a core staple of the WSOP.”

The WSOP is revealing 19 of those 25 events for the first time, and nine of them utilise the freezeout format, with the other ten offering a single re-entry format up until the end of the registration period.

Leaderboard

The WSOP also announced plans to launch a dedicated leaderboard for a portion of these $1,500 events. Details are as sparse as pieces of meat in Daniel Negreanu’s homemade stew, but we will bring you further information as we receive it.

The introduction of a dedicated $1,500 leaderboard means the 51st annual WSOP will have an unprecedented three opportunities to be a king. Alongside the $1,500 leaderboard is a high roller leaderboard, and the WSOP Player of the Year (PoY).

With the WSOP promising additional prizes for both the $1,500 and high roller leaderboards, one assumes there will also be prizes for the winner of the WSOP PoY, and that falls in line with criticism from the poker community after Robert Campbell received the insides of a balloon for winning the 2019 award.

Here are those $1,500 buy-in events.

The $1,500 buy-in Events

May 28 – Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better*
May 30 – Dealers Choice 6-Handed
Jun 2 – Seven Card Stud*
Jun 3 – N.L.H.E. 6-Handed
Jun 4 – N.L.H.E.*
Jun 4 – H.O.R.S.E.*
Jun 5/6 – N.L.H.E. Millionaire Maker
Jun 5 – Mixed P.L.O. Hi-Lo 8; Omaha Hi-Lo 8; Big O
Jun 9 – N.L.H.E. Super-Turbo Bounties*
Jun 10 – No-LImit 2-7 Lowball Draw
Jun 11 – Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better*
Jun 12/13 – NLHE MONSTER STACK*
Jun 12 – Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw
Jun 14 – Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed
Jun 16 – Razz*
Jun 17 – N.L.H.E. Shootout*
Jun 23 – Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
Jun 27 – Limit Hold’em*
Jun 28 – N.L.H.E. Mystery Bounty*
Jul 7 – N.L.H.E. Bounty*
Jul 8 – Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty
Jul 9 – N.L.H.E. Fifty-Stack
Jul 9 – Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha
Jul 10/11 – NLHE CLOSER
Jul 12 – Eight-Game Mix 6-Handed

*Indicates Freezeout

During his most recent win at the Australian Poker Open (APO), Stephen Chidwick had this to say about the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

“The World Series of Poker is too long of a grind. It’s easy to get burned out unless you take real breaks. This kind of series {APO} is perfect. I play really hard for ten days and then have more extended stretches before my next event.

Jack Effel and co., are making it easier for you, Stevie.

For the first time in WSOP history, the 51st annual series will have a unique High Roller Series running in parallel. Prophetic poker playing tweeters called it in the wake of the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year (PoY) fiasco, and the finer details are becoming blotted in e-ink.

The latest WSOP press release to fall underneath my hairy nostrils shows nine high roller events with buy-ins pitched between $25,000 and $250,000 – almost double the 2019 quotient.

The 51st annual WSOP runs May 26 through July 15, and the high rollers need to arrive right at the front-end of this thing with a $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) and a $25,000 NLHE Heads-Up scheduled for May 29 & 30. There is one more $25,000 event planned throughout the series. The $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) event takes place on Jun 17th.

Four events are carrying a $50,000 buy-in, two of them are NLHE, the third is the Poker Player’s Championship (PPC), and these are joined for the first time by a $50,000 PLO event on July 7.

Without companions are the $100,000 NLHE on Jul 11, and the most significant buy-in of the series, the $250,000 NLHE Super High Roller pencilled in for Jun 27.

All events are eight-handed, except the PPC and the Heads-Up. The latter also carries a 64-player cap.

Last Year

There was nothing precarious about last years high roller numbers at the WSOP.

Ben Heath kicked things off by conquering a 110-entrant field in a $50,000 NLHE event. The UK-pro earned $1,484,085 after beating Andrew Lichtenberger, heads-up, for the title.

The British Bulldog spirit also shone to the fore in the $25,000 PLO. Stephen Chidwick collected his first bracelet after beating 278-entrants, including James Chen, heads-up, to claim the $1,618,417 first prize.

Onto the $50,000 buy-in events, and Philip Hui defeated Josh Arieh, heads-up, to claim the $1,099,311 first prize in the PPC. Danny Tang vanquished 123-entrants, including Sam Soverel, heads-up, to win the $1,608,406 first prize in the NLHE format.

Finally, Keith Tilston topped a 99-entrant field, including Daniel Negreanu, heads-up, to win the $2,792,406 first prize in the $100,000 NLHE event.

Here is the high roller schedule in full.

The WSOP is keeping their powder dry on the leaderboard details, for now.

High Roller Series Schedule

May 29 – $25,000 NLHE
May 31 – $25,000 NLHE Heads-Up
Jun 5 – $50,000 NLHE
Jun 17 – $25,000 PLO
Jun 22 – $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship
Jun 27 – $250,000 NLHE
Jul 7 – $50,000 PLO
Jul 9 – $50,000 NLHE
Jul 11 – $100,000 NLHE

The remaining bits and pieces of the 51st annual WSOP schedule will be handed to the press in February, with the bulk of the events coming in the online format.