Late spring and the first half(ish) of the summer is always the domain of the World Series of Poker. Though the Series is the center of the poker world while it is on and gives the Rio in Las Vegas serious gravity, people sometimes forget there are other casinos with poker rooms in the city. And while the WSOP is the place to be, the Wynn decided in recent years to host its own tournaments during the World Series of Poker to try to draw some of the thousands upon thousands of people that flock to Vegas for their shot a bracelet.
But this summer, there is no live World Series of Poker, as it has been moved back to the fall. Thus, on Tuesday, Wynn Las Vegas announced that it is making itself available to at least partially fill the summer void with its new “Wynn Millions” tournament. Running June 25 through July 2, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Wynn Millions will have a $10 million guaranteed prize pool.
“In its inaugural year, we expect the Wynn Millions to attract professional and seasoned amateur players from around the world,” said Ryan Beauregard, executive director of poker operations at Wynn Las Vegas, in Tuesday’s press release. “We’re hopeful that the super-sized guarantee of $10 million emphasizes our goal of making the Wynn Millions a staple event for years to come, adding to our already world class tournament schedule.”
The tournament is formatted similarly to the WSOP Main Event. It has three Day 1 flights, followed by three Day 2s in which the survivors of the first two starting flights play on the same day, but in different flights, while those who made it out of Day 1C play on Day 2C all by their lonesome. Three more tournament days later and it is all over.
While the Wynn Millions is just a single event, it is part of the Wynn Summer Classic, which will run May 27 to July 13. So, in essence, the Wynn really is filling the void left by the WSOP, as those dates are just about exactly the ones the WSOP would span in a normal year. It’s much smaller than the WSOP, however, consisting of more than 30 events and over $16 million in guarantees.
It is also more affordable than the typical World Series of Poker, with many (most?) buy-ins in the $400-$600 range. Aside from the Wynn Millions, there are four events with guarantees of at least $1 million. All of the events with guarantees are of the No-Limit Hold’em variety. One, with a $1.5 million guarantee, sounds interesting: Mystery Bounty.
Remember, for those of you still wanting World Series of Poker action this summer, the WSOP Online 2021 is being held on both WSOP.com and GGPoker. The domestic portion on WSOP.com for players in Nevada and New Jersey runs July 1 through August 1, while the international portion on GGPoker runs August 1 through September 12.