The World Series of Poker continues to trickle out details of the schedule for this year’s WSOP. Last week, the schedule what the WSOP calls its “flagship weekend anchor events” was announced.
The 2017 WSOP will run May 30th through July 17th, meaning that there are six weekends available during the Series. It appears that the WSOP wants to have absolute poker blowouts on those weekends, packing the Rio to the gills with gold bracelet hopefuls.
Starting things off on the opening weekend is a tournament we have talked about in previous articles: the $565 Colossus III. Introduced in 2015 (hence the ‘III’), the Colossus is the lowest-priced open tournament in WSOP history. As such, it has attracted more players than any live poker tournament ever; in its first two years, it attracted almost 44,000 total players. It will feature two starting flights per day for three days – June 2nd through June 4th – with one re-entry permitted per flight. In 2016, the money bubble burst during each starting flight, a payout design intended to reduce the lines at the cashier.
The following weekend will feature the $1,500 Millionaire Maker. There will be two starting days: June 10th and June 11th, also with one re-entry allowed per flight. There will be $1 million guaranteed to the winner, but the guarantee will likely be eclipsed. In 2016, 7,190 entries created a $9.7 million prize pool and two millionaires.
The weekend of June 16th is for the more mature players at the WSOP. June 16th will be the $1,000 Seniors Championship for those 50-years old and up, while June 18th will be the Super Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship for players over 65 years of age. In between, on June 17th, there is just a standard $1,500 tourney, as WSOP organizers are making way slightly for the EDC Music Festival that weekend.
The Seniors events both start in the morning, which is just asking for me to make a joke about an early bird special, but I will refrain.
The Monster Stack, an honest-to-goodness freezeout tournament, will have its two starting flights on June 24th and June 25th. The $1,500 buy-in event gives players 15,000 chips to start.
The first weekend of July is the beginning of the Crazy Eights tournament, which does not actually feature the game “Crazy Eights.” It’s just named that because it has an $888 buy-in and the tables are eight-handed.
And then, on July 8th, the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event kicks off. There are three starting days: July 8th, July 9th, and July 10th. It will go all the way until July 17th, at which point the November Nine will be determined.
The complete 2017 WSOP schedule is expected to be released some time next month.
