51st WSOP to get underway May 26
The World Series of Poker has announced the key dates for the 2020 WSOP in Las Vegas. Festivities for the 51st running of the annual poker series will begin on Tuesday, May 26 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. The 2020 WSOP will continue for nearly two months, through Wednesday, July 15.
“We can’t wait to open our doors for the 2020 World Series of Poker,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart in a press release. “Summer can’t come fast enough, and we look forward to welcoming poker players from all over the globe back to the Rio in Las Vegas to award gold bracelets and hundreds of millions of dollars.”
BIG 50 event highlight of opening weekend
The complete schedule has not been finalized, but the featured event of the WSOP’s opening weekend has been revealed as the $500 buy-in BIG 50 No-Limit Hold’em tournament.
The event will have starting flights each day from Thursday, May 28 through Sunday, May 31.
Each day drew more entries than most WSOP Main Events, with Day 1D topping out at 9,121 entries. In total, there were 28,371 entries in the BIG 50 and the prize pool amounted to $13,509,435, crushing the guarantee.
the prize pool amounted to $13,509,435, crushing the guarantee
The event that will kickoff opening weekend will almost certainly be the $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em tournament, as it has been the opener for years.
Seniors event
The WSOP has also confirmed the $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship, to be held on Thursday, June 18. This is a “closed” event, as only players age 50 and older are eligible to play.
This year’s Seniors event boasted 5,916 entries and a $5,324,400 prize pool.
Other closed events included the aforementioned Casino Employees tournament, the $1,000 Super Seniors event for poker players aged 60 and over, the $1,500 Bracelet Winners Only event, and the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em event. The WSOP has not schedule these events yet.
The Ladies event technically has a $10,000 buy-in, but women get a $9,000 discount. It is structured this way because men have previously entered the tournament as a joke.
It is against Nevada regulations to discriminate on the basis of gender, so men have to be allowed to play. The rules do permit different buy-ins, though, so in 2013, the buy-in for men was increased to $10,000. That year was the first in a while in which no men entered the Ladies event.
2020 WSOP Main Event
The $10,000 Main Event Championship is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, July 1.
The nine-handed final table will be reached on July 10. After an off day, the final table will begin and will span three days. ESPN and ESPN2 will broadcast the final table action on a 30-minute delay.
The 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event was the second largest of all-time, with a field of 8,569 players. Only the 2006 Main Event, at the height of the poker boom, was larger, with 8,773 players. Hossein Ensan won the Main Event this year for $10,000,000.