As Martin Jacobson continues to bask in the glow of his World Series of Poker Main Event victory, likely with some pricier presents under his Christmas tree, the preliminary schedule for the 2015 World Series of Poker has been announced. It is just an outline of the schedule right now, but it gives aspiring competitors the opportunity to start planning their vacation days and travel arrangements well in advance.
The festivities will kick off at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Wednesday, May 27th. The opening event has not been announced, but if precedent holds, it may very well be the $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em Event. Things really start in full force two days later, though, with a brand new event called “The Colossus.” The event will have two starting days, May 29th and May 30th, and will feature a gigantic $5 million guaranteed prize pool. But here is the kicker: the buy-in is only $565. So that’s a buy-in that is less than one-seventeenth the cost of the $10,000 Main Event with a guaranteed prize pool that was half that of this year’s Main Event. Not too shabby. There will actually be two starting flights on each starting day and players can re-enter any subsequent flights if they bust out.
“Load up the entire gang – the home game, the spouse, whomever you know that enjoys the game,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart in a press release. “The Colossus is going to feature a historic prize pool at this buy-in level and it can only happen at the World Series of Poker.”
Speaking of the Main Event, it will run for a week and a half, from July 5th through July 14th. The starting flights will be July 5th, July 6th, and July 7th. The prize pool is once again guaranteed to be at least $10 million.
Other schedule highlights include:
Millionaire Maker – June 5th and June 6th starting flights – the $1,500 buy-in event will guarantee $1 million to the winner. Players will start with extremely deep stacks of 150 big blinds.
Monster Stack – June 12th and June 13th starting flights – also $1,500, the Monster Stack event starts players with 15,000 chips, double that of the Million Maker. Both tournaments fielded nearly 8,000 players each last year.
Seniors Championship – June 19th – 2015 will see a Super Seniors Event added for players 65-years old and older.
Ladies Championship – June 25th – once again, the buy-in is technically $10,000, but women are given a 90 percent discount.
One Drop High Roller – June 28th – the Big One for One Drop is taking 2015 off, but the One Drop High Roller is back with a $111,111 buy-in.
Little One for One Drop – June 30th – $1,000 buy-in with an optional $111 add-on which will go to the One Drop Charity. Those who purchase the add-on will receive a double starting chip stack.