Here we are. Today, May 31st, is the first day of the 47th Annual World Series of Poker. With 69 events spanning a month and a half (not counting the break for the November Nine), the WSOP should prove once again to be one hell of an experience for all involved.
There are no official events at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas today – that all starts tomorrow with the $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em Event. Tuesday is the day players start getting warmed up. The Pavilion Room green section is open for cash games of all sorts of stakes and will be running non-stop around the clock. Single-table satellites also begin today, allowing players to start trying to qualify for some of the WSOP events on the cheap.
Also kicking off on Tuesday are the popular Daily Deepstacks tournaments. These are one-day multi-table events, similar to the regular WSOP events, just on a much smaller scale. The buy-ins are more affordable than the WSOP tournaments, so even fans who just wanted to railbird some of the WSOP action can take a shot at minor WSOP glory. They aren’t bracelet events, just standard poker tournaments, but they can certainly be fun to and one can say they played AT the World Series of Poker, even if they didn’t technically play IN the World Series of Poker.
Here is the lineup for the Daily Deepstacks tourneys:
$135 No-Limit Hold’em – 7:00pm daily – 30 minute levels, 5,000 chip starting stack
$185 No-Limit Hold’em – 5:00pm daily – 30 minute levels, 10,000 chip starting stack
$235 No-Limit Hold’em – 2:00pm daily – 30 minute levels, 15,000 chip starting stack
Note: the $235 Daily Deepstack will not be held on June 3rd and June 4th, likely because the Colossus II will be in full swing and the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship starts on June 4th. WSOP organizers probably need all the room they can get.
Mega Satellites begin tomorrow, June 1st and will run all the way through July 7th, just a couple days before the WSOP Main Event. These turbo, No-Limit Hold’em satellites cost $185 to enter and will award a $1,500 tournament entry plus $100 for every ten players who register. As they are turbo tournaments, the levels increase every 10 minutes. Starting stacks are 5,000 chips.
As for the rest of the WSOP schedule, it starts in earnest on Thursday with the first two flights of the Colossus II. There are six starting flights in all, two each on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The prize pool is guaranteed to be at least $7 million with at least $1 million going to the winner. This is a re-entry tournament, so players who bust out in one starting flight may buy-in to any subsequent flight. In order to reduce the rush to the cashier later in the tournament, the money will be reached during every starting flight. Thus, it is entirely possible for players to cash more than once by making the money in one flight, busting out before the end of it, then entering another flight and cashing in that.
