The 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) schedule was released Tuesday, unveiling a slate that will run May 29th through July 17th. There will be 78 gold bracelet events, an increase of four from this year.
$10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship, best known as the Main Event, will begin Monday, July 2nd with the first of three starting flights. Like this year, when the tournament gets to Day 3 with a merged field (there will be multiple Day 2 flights, as usual), it will continue to run every day until its conclusion without a break. In previous years, the tournament paused when the nine-handed final table was determined, reconvening in November with the “November Nine.” This year was the first time in a decade that the November Nine format was discarded.
Historically, the Main Event has been the final tournament of the World Series of Poker, though sometimes there are some final, lesser events running simultaneous to the Main Event. In 2018, a dozen tournaments will actually begin after the start of the Main Event, including the Little One for One Drop and the Big One for One Drop.
Like this year, ESPN and PokerGO will provide live coverage, the former broadcasting on television, the latter online. The complete broadcast schedule will be released at a later date; we would expect the live final table (with a 30-minute delay) will be shown in its entirety on the ESPN family of networks as well as the WatchESPN app, but just as things changed last year with the partnership of PokerGO, you never know if there will be a surprise in store for 2018.
There are nine new events in 2018 and five events have been deleted from the schedule (thus creating the net-four difference from 2017). In a press release, the WSOP listed those additions, with removals noted:
1. $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (replaces the $10k Tag Team)
2. $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (new addition)
3. $365 PLO GIANT (replaces a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em)
4. $1,000 DOUBLE STACK No-Limit Hold’em (10,000 starting chips) (replaces a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em)
5. $565 WSOP.com ONLINE Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed (new addition)
6. $1,500 BOUNTY Pot-Limit Omaha (replaces a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em)
7. $1,000 DOUBLE-STACK No-Limit Hold’em (30-minute levels) (replaces a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em)
8. $1,500 THE CLOSER No-Limit Hold’em (15,000 starting chips, 30-minute levels) (new addition)
9. $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (new addition)
The million-dollar buy-in Big One for One Drop is the final event on the WSOP schedule, running July 15th through July 17th. If you want to see a bunch of rich people play poker – or really good poker players who know some rich people – that’s the place to be.
There will be four online bracelet events, played in their entirety on WSOP.com Nevada. There were three last year; the addition is a six-handed Pot-Limit Omaha event.
While the schedule has been released, the WSOP has not published the tournament structures yet. Tournament organizers advise Main Event players to be sure to check the tournament structure each day of the event, as times may be altered to make for a better television/internet broadcast.