After a tricky two years for live poker, this year’s World Series of Poker looks like being a sensational event – and the mother of all reunions for players across the globe. Amazingly it is now only nine weeks until the start of the world’s biggest poker festival so it’s definitely time to start planning your trip.
The biggest change for this year’s WSOP is its much-heralded move to the Las Vegas Strip. After 17 years at the Rio, the 53rd edition of the Series will be held at Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe (rebranded from Bally’s). The move will give this year’s WSOP the largest capacity in the event’s history, with bigger tournament fields than ever before spread across more than 200,000 square feet and 600 poker tables. The Master of Ceremonies at this year’s WSOP will be A-list actor and lifelong poker player Vince Vaughn. He’ll be ushering in a thrilling seven-week festival featuring a total of 88 live events.
This year’s Main Event will run July 3-16 with four starting flights and two Day 2s. Players will start with 60,000 in chips and two-hour levels. Across the whole schedule, most Day 1s will take place at Paris Casino’s convention centre while the TV feature table will be at Horseshoe. Horseshoe and Paris convention centres are connected by a hallway but players won’t have to move between the two venues when tables break.
New events on the schedule
Looking ahead to this year’s Series, one of the tournaments on the schedule that’s getting people super excited is the new Million Dollar Bounty. This will include a mystery bounty for up to $1 million that players can peel for as they knock out opponents. The $1,000 buy-in tournament was originally scheduled for the Covid-cancelled 2020 WSOP; it will now kick off on July 2 with four starting flights including a Flight D turbo. The bounties don’t start until Day 2 with the top bounty guaranteed at $1 million.
Early on in the series, the WSOP is also hosting another event that’s attracting a lot of interest. The $500 buy-in Housewarming NLHE tourney aims to welcome players to the new host site and comes with a juicy $5 million guarantee.
The final event of the Series – starting July 18 – is a revamped Tournament of Champions, a million-dollar freeroll open to any of the 88 bracelet winners and gold ring winners from the 2021-22 WSOP Circuit season – a chance for regional grinders to go up against international superstars.
Brits abroad
Brits have traditionally thrived at the WSOP and last year was no exception. Former business student Jack Oliver from St Albans finished third in the €10,000 Main Event for €3 million while Jareth East from Redhill was eighth for $1.1 million. Overall, more than 30 British players cashed in last year’s Main Event including Stephen Chidwick, Toby Lewis and Chris Moorman. The €10,000 buy-in event was won by Vienna-based German pro Koray Aldemir who now has a total of more than $20 million in live tournament earnings to his name.
One to watch this year is Birmingham born Brandon Sheils. Sheils cashed in 12 different WSOP tournaments last year and, on home ground, wrapped up 2021 by finishing tenth at the GUKPT Grand Final in London. He’s edging closer to joining the likes of WSOP bracelet winners Benny Glaser, Praz Bansi, Barny Boatman, John Kabbaj, Matt Perrins, JP Kelly and Jake Cody.
Now is the time to start planning for this year’s WSOP. Whatever your needs MainEventTravel.com has you covered with a one-stop travel service for Vegas, including hotels, flights, and Dollar Delivery $ervice.
In line with local, state and CDC guidelines, the WSOP no longer requires mandatory Covid vaccinations and masks this year.
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