51 days of poker fun

Poker players can get out their calendars, as the 2024 World Series of Poker schedule has been released. Running May 28 through July 17, the 55th edition of the WSOP features 99 live bracelet events and will again be hosted by both Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe Las Vegas on the Strip.

If you’re a poker player, there is simply no experience on earth like the World Series of Poker.”

“Records are made to be broken, so our motto this year is bigger and better,” said Ty Stewart, Senior VP and Executive Director of the WSOP, in Friday’s announcement. “With our best schedule ever and more than 100 additional poker tables, we look forward to welcoming legends, first-timers and everyone in between. If you’re a poker player, there is simply no experience on earth like the World Series of Poker.”

The WSOP Main Event, won last year by Daniel Weinman, will begin on July 3 with the first of four starting flights. Survivors from the first three flights will play on Day 2ABC on July 7, while those who make it through Day 1D will play on Day 2D on July 8. The Main Event will then continue for a week until taking a break on July 15 before the two-day final table, July 16-17.

New events promise wild action

As is always the case, there are several new events this year. One of the craziest promises to be Event #41: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em / Pot-Limit Omaha Double Board Bomb Pot. In a bomb pot, everyone contributes a set amount to the pot before the hand, sort of like an ante. The pre-flop betting round is then skipped and the action proceeds immediately to the flop. And as it sounds, in a double board game, two sets of community cards are dealt; players can win one or both. Needless to say, there will be a lot of action in this tournament.

former Main Event champions will get to play for free, but there is a price for that privilege

The very first event of the 2024 WSOP will not be the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em tournament like it usually is, but rather a new $5,000 Champions Reunion No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout. All former Main Event champions will get to play for free, but there is a price for that privilege: they will be targeted. Anyone who eliminates a former Main Event champ from the tourney will receive a free entry into the 2024 WSOP Main Event.

Other new events include a $5,000 Seniors High Roller, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament starting the same day as Main Event Flight 1D, and the $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship No-Limit Hold’em event, which begins July 11. All told, there are nine new events this year.

2023 WSOP shattered records

Leading up to the 2023 WSOP, organizers were extremely confident that records would be broken, including the long-standing Main Event field record of 8,773, set in 2006. Their confidence was justified, as the 2023 Main Event destroyed the previous record, coming in at 10,043 entrants; Weinman’s prize of $12.1 million was also the largest in Main Event history.

$402,808,892 in total prize pools, obliterating the previous record

In all, the 2023 World Series of Poker broke a dozen records. There was $402,808,892 in total prize pools, obliterating the previous record of $347,941,800 set in 2022. 32,282 places were paid across the festival, also a record.

And from the 214,641 total entries in 2023 came a record number of events with prize pools coming in at over $1 million, breaking down as follows: $1 million (77), $2 million (50), $5 million (19), and $10 million (six). Additionally, 36 players won more than $1 million in a single prize, the most ever at the WSOP.