After a false alarm earlier this month, the 2014 WSOP schedule was finally released this morning and, as expected, it includes some exciting additions from past years. The headline news is that the rumoured $10m guaranteed first prize for the winner of the WSOP Main Event is now a reality. This year’s tournament, which starts on July 5th and will run to November 11 (including the November Nine break), will crown at least $10m to the eventual champion. It will be the largest payout since Jamie Gold’s $12m win in 2006 when the Main Event field reached a record-breaking 8,773 field.
Most poker commentators and players are in favour of the move, believing that it will lead to more mainstream coverage of the WSOP – after all, it’s an easier sell to say that the world champion took home $10m than the $8.3m that Ryan Riess took home in November 2013. However, there have been some dissenters who say that by guaranteeing such a large amount of the prizepool to the winner that the rest of the payouts, particularly those on the final table, will take a significant hit to skew it unfairly in favour of the winner. Let us know what you think of the change on Twitter @PokerPlayerUK.
The other major headline is the expected return of the $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop. The inaugural event in 2012, won by Antonio Esfandiari for $18m, created unprecedented interest in the poker world. After a sell-out field of 48 players last time out, this time the cap has been increased to 56 players and, incredibly, is expected to sell out. Will we see a $20m first place prize? Probably. And who will win it? That’s anybody’s guess but, so long as Howard Lederer doesn’t make a last-minute entry and go all the way, the winner is likely to take a major step towards poker immortality.
Making a welcome return in 2014 is the reintroduction of $10k ‘Championship’ events in almost all formats. These include the NLHE Main Event obviously, Limit Hold’em, PLO, NLHE Heads-up, Seven-card Stud, Razz and more. Finally, the $1,111 Little One for One Drop and prestigious $50k PokerPlayers Championship will also be making an expected appearance this summer too.
For the full WSOP schedule with all the buy-ins and dates just click here.
The WSOP is making all the right moves so far and this genuinely looks to be the most exciting festival in many years. PokerPlayer.co.uk will have all the coverage you can handle this summer. If you can’t wait until then, the good news is that WSOP satellites are bound to start running all over the internet and in casinos very soon. Book your place in Vegas – we’ll see you there!
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