The 2010 Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic got underway this week and, due to low turnouts for the first three events, several changes have already been made to the schedule. Bellagio Tournament Director Jack McClelland decided to alter some of the games and buy-ins to increase entrants for the esteemed series, which will be competing against the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop at Mohegan Sun this week.
When the Five Star World Poker Classic schedule was released in December, players responded with harsh disapproval over the 18 $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Rebuy preliminary events that smothered the series. Several high-stakes players passed around a petition to change the arrangement of tournaments, but McClelland stuck to his guns and went forward with the new lineup of events.
On Thursday, after the first three tournaments bombed, McClelland went back to the drawing board. “I was expecting somewhere between 100 and 150 players, but with the small number of players, we decided to make the change,” McClelland told CardPlayer Magazine. “I don’t normally like changing something in the middle of the stream, but it seemed like it was necessary here.”
The new schedule includes a reduction in the number of rebuy events and a decrease in some of the tournament buy-ins. The revised preliminary lineup consists of a reduced number of $1,000 No Limit Hold’em events with rebuys, five $1,000 No Limit Hold’em events, four $500 No Limit Hold’em events, and two $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha events with rebuys. A $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event has also been added on April 16th, two days before the $25,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship kicks off.
Super satellites for the WPT Championship have also been changed from a $1,000 buy-in with rebuys to a $2,500 buy-in. They will run on April 15th and 16th and twice on April 17th and April 18th.
For those who would like to take part in the new-look Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic, here’s a glance at the remaining events:
Event #5: Saturday, April 3rd – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em
Event #6: Sunday, April 4th – $500 No Limit Hold’em
Event #7: Monday, April 5th – $500 No Limit Hold’em
Event #8: Tuesday, April 6th – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em
Event #9: Wednesday, April 7th – $500 No Limit Hold’em
Event #10: Thursday, April 8th – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em
Event #11: Friday, April 9th – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with rebuys
Event #12: Saturday, April 10th – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em
Event #13: Sunday, April 11th – $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys
Event #14: Monday, April 12th – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em
Event #15: Tuesday, April 13th – $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys
Event #16: Wednesday, April 14th – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with rebuys
Event #17: Thursday, April 15th – $500 No Limit Hold’em
Event #18: Friday, April 16th – $5,000 No Limit Hold’em
Event #19: Sunday, April 18th – $25,000 WPT Championship
Event #20: Thursday, April 22nd – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with rebuys
