You can finally book your flight and hotel to Las Vegas as the 2019 WSOP schedule, including dates and structures, is officially finalized.
The WSOP staff has been releasing blocks of events publicly over the past couple of months. We now have the full schedule which means it’s time for poker players to plan for summer camp 2019. Find temporary housing in Sin City, get your finances in order, and choose the events you want to play. And, most importantly, don’t forget to pack plenty of sunscreen.
More Bracelet Events
The party begins May 28 when registration opens and also cash games kick off inside the Rio Convention Center. This year’s WSOP features 89 bracelet events, the most in history. In 2018, 78 gold bracelets were up for grabs, a record that lasted all of a year.
The 2019 WSOP will certainly look a bit different than in year’s past. First of all, WSOP.com is hosting nine online bracelet events, six more than a year ago. Another key change, which should favor the pros, is an increase in starting stacks across all events. That includes the Main Event which begins July 3. Participants in poker’s most prestigious event will start with 60,000 chips, 10,000 more than in recent years.
In most lower buy-in tournaments, starting stacks range from 10,000 to 30,000, a major increase from previous years. Most noteworthy, the popular $1,500 Millionaire Maker – Event #19 on July 7. Instead of starting with 7,500 chips which has been customary in this event, players will begin with 25,000. As a result, more high-stakes pros may be enticed to play. The bigger the starting stack, the greater the edge for skilled players.
Each year, the WSOP adds new tournaments to appease both pros and recreational players. This summer, one of those new events is perfect for those who want to play in the Main Event but can’t afford the $10,000 buy-in.
Event #69, $1,000 Mini Main Event begins July 1 and has a similar but condensed structure compared to the world championship event. Each player starts with 60,000 chips and the tournament runs for two days, giving each participant plenty of time to compete in both main event’s.
What to Look For at the 2019 WSOP
It’s never too early to get excited for poker’s most important annual series. As is the case each year, there are some intriguing story lines to follow this summer.
Perhaps, most noteworthy, will Phil Ivey grace us with his presence in Las Vegas? He returned to tournament poker in 2018, a sight for sore eyes for his many fans who missed watching him compete the previous few years. But with Borgata attempting to recoup the $10 million the casino won in a lawsuit against the poker great, Ivey may shy away from the spotlight.
Another poker boom era giant, Chris Ferguson, will again receive attention, and not for positive reasons. Prior to last year’s WSOP, he offered a 42-second pseudo-apology for his connections to the 2011 Black Friday scandal with Full Tilt Poker. But many poker fans were left wondering if he will ever give a detailed explanation of why he took a multi-million-dollar bonus while rank-and-file online poker players were forced to wait years to receive their account balances.
And all eyes will be on “Magic” John Cynn, the defending world champion. Will he prove last year’s Main Event title wasn’t a fluke? We’ll find out the answer to that question in a few months.
