In three days, the greatest spectacle that the poker world has will open its doors. The 44th Annual World Series of Poker, held at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, will open up action on Wednesday with its traditional opening tournament, the $500 Casino Employees Event. Later that day (5PM Pacific Time), the first “official” bracelet event in Las Vegas will kick off, the $5000 Eight Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament, that should draw a strong field battling it out for one of the biggest honors in poker – the WSOP bracelet.
Unlike past years, the reason we say “the first “official” bracelet event in Las Vegas” is that there have already been some WSOP bracelets handed out. For the first time ever, the inaugural WSOP Asia/Pacific issued five bracelets to their champions and, in addition to those, the WSOP National Championship has completed its action in New Orleans (Jonathan Hilton won that tournament and the WSOP bracelet that went with the championship on Friday night). But the question now is what to watch for with the start of the WSOP this Wednesday.
What will Daniel Negreanu do at this year’s WSOP?
For the first half of 2013, Daniel Negreanu has been on a streak that is unrivaled in his career. At the WSOP APAC, Negreanu would make the final table of the $2000 Mixed Event and then come back a few days later to take down the first ever WSOP APAC Main Event (scoring over $1.1 million between the two finishes). If that wasn’t enough, Negreanu came back earlier this month to make a deep run at the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final (eventually dropping out in fourth place) and, just last week, barely missed the final table of the World Poker Tour’s World Championship event in finishing in seventh place.
Negreanu has already stated that he is more committed than ever to taking more bracelets in Las Vegas. He has listed his schedule on his blog at Full Contact Poker, stating he will play in 19 events, which should keep him fresh and able to fight strongly through the summer grind. As he is also the current WSOP Player of the Year leader (from his WSOP APAC efforts), he has more impetus to try to keep his name on top of that list.
Just how big will the “Millionaire Maker” be?
With its $1500 buy in, there should be hordes of people stepping up for this unique event that is running for the first time. No matter how many players enter the tournament, the first place prize will be $1 million (along with the precious WSOP bracelet) and will probably go higher depending on the numbers. As is one of the current fads in the tournament world, the “Millionaire Maker” will feature a re-entry option, meaning that players that bust during the first flight on June 1 (starts at 11AM) will be able to enter the second flight that begins at 5PM that same day.
1000 entries will put the prize pool at $1.350 million (10% of the prize pool is taken for entry fees and tournament staff) and, if the “Millionaire Maker” is like past $1500 tournaments, it should draw in well over 3000 players. With the re-entry option, it is possible this tournament could generate a pretty healthy prize pool (a 5000 entry field will generate a $6.75 million pool); it remains to be seen how WSOP officials, other than guaranteeing the million dollar payout to first, will handle the payout structure of this tournament.
How big will the One Drop High Roller tournament be?
After gathering together 48 professional poker players and businessmen for last year’s “Big One For One Drop” (and its $1 million entry fee), anything less than that for this year’s “One Drop High Rollers” (and its $111,111 fee), will be a huge disappointment.
The 2012 One Drop brought more attention to the poker world that any other event during the 2012 WSOP (even arguably the Championship Event) and, if less than 48 people show up for the High Rollers (trends at these types of tournaments have been around the 20-35 player numbers), it would be a bit of an embarrassment for the poker world this time around.
Can “The Grinder” make it three Poker Player Championships?
Michael Mizrachi is the only man in the history of the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship (and its predecessor, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E tournament) to ever put his name two times on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. This tournament just seems to bring out the best in “The Grinder” as he is able to show off the variety of skills he has in battling against some of the best the game has to offer.
To this point, 2013 has been a bit quiet for Mizrachi. Although he won a WSOP Circuit event in South Africa in February, he hasn’t had a tournament cash since then. Maybe the return of the Poker Players’ Championship on June 30 – and the defense of his title – might spark Mizrachi’s competitive fires.
These are just a few of the big headlines to look at over the next six weeks with the WSOP. Whether it is a repeat of 2012’s tournament schedule – when such big names as Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari and online pro and defending World Champion Greg Merson dominated the headlines – or it becomes one of emergence of new stars on the tournament poker stage (such as the unprecedented feat of two women, Gaelle Baumann and Elisabeth Hille, nearly making the Championship Event final table), it promises to be what it always has been: the most exciting time of the year for the world of poker!
