Yesterday, I commented that the 2022 World Series of Poker has seemed to run fairly smoothly at its new digs at Paris and Bally’s Las Vegas so far. Perhaps I spoke to soon. On Monday afternoon, the WSOP sent out a “911” message on social media, urging anyone planning to play in the $10,000 Main Event to play on either Day 1B (yesterday) or Day 1C (today) because Day 1D is expected to be insane. And now the WSOP has changed the Main Event schedule altogether, altering the Day 2 flights.
The “warning” tweet and Facebook post yesterday was pretty straightforward. Please register for Day 1B or 1C, the WSOP said, as “Day 1D is expected to be massive” and will likely require tables to be ten-handed rather than nine-handed. The wait list for alternate seating will also probably be lengthy.*
*If a tournament is at capacity, if there are literally no physical seats available, an alternate list will be created. Players on that list get into the tournament when someone is eliminated, freeing up their seat. It’s not an uncommon thing in big events like the WSOP Main Event, but you really don’t want to be waiting for hours, missing out on the action.
Then, with a large turnout on Day 1B – 880 entries, bringing the two-flight total to 1,780 – WSOP organizers decided to switch some things up for Day 2. Day 1C is expected to be much larger than the last two, with Day 1D always being by far the largest. As such, the WSOP is worried that Day 2 could be a mess.
Thus, here is what is going to happen. The original schedule called for the survivors from Days 1A and 1B to compete in Days 2A and 2B on Thursday, with Days 2C and 2D running on Friday. Now, because of the expectation of near chaos for Day 1D and the subsequent anticipated size of Day 1D, Days 2A, 2B, AND 2C will all be on Thursday. Day 2D will have Friday all to itself.
While the WSOP is encouraging people to avoid Day 1D, poker pro and partypoker ambassador Patrick Leonard (who has won a bracelet this year) considers Day 1D an opportunity. He figures that with warning of the enormous crowd and probably ten-handed play, the “regulars” and pros who were planning on playing Day 1D are switching to Day 1C and casual players either don’t care or feel locked into Day 1D. Thus, he surmises, Day 1D will be soft.
Unfortunately, anyone who waited until Day 1C or 1D was not there on Monday to witness arguably the stupidest bite of a sandwich anyone has ever taken. Just watch and enjoy your Tuesday:
Image credit: PokerGO.com
