WSOP to host $1m tournament

Look around poker nowadays and there’s plenty of one-upmanship. You’ve got your nosebleed players, your seven-figure bankrolls, your Super High-Roller events. Well, now the WSOP has joined the party and this week unveiled the Big One, a $1m buy-in event for the world’s richest players.

Announced by millionaire and one-time high-stakes fish Guy Laliberte, he of Cirque Du Soleil fame, the Big One already has 15 players signed up in principle, and a portion of the potentially record breaking prizepool will be donated to ONE DROP, a charity organisation devoted to the provision on of clean water around the world.

Instead of players being charged a rake, the WSOP has agreed to donate 11.1% of each player’s buy-in to ONE DROP.

“We are proud to align the planet’s premiere poker event with the foundation created by one of our generations most creative entrepreneurs, Guy Laliberte, to help make the world a healthier place,” said Gary Loveman, Caesars Entertainment’s CEO.

Daniel Negreanu, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius and Gus Hansen have all voiced their interest in the three day event, taking place on July 1, 2012. There’s a 48 player cap and the prizepool will be flattened so that 20% of the field gets paid instead of the usual 10%.

If you hear of any freeroll satellites, don’t forget to tell us!