2016 WSOP Schedule Released
Caesars Interactive Entertainment released the finalized schedule for the 2016 World Series of Poker (WSOP) yesterday, revealing a slate with 69 events, one more than in 2015. The festivities kick off on Tuesday, May 31st, with cash games, satellites, and smaller buy-in Deep Stack events, but the WSOP proper begins on Wednesday, June 1st, with the traditional lead-off tourney, the $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em Event.
The next day, Thursday, June 2nd, is the first day of the 2016 WSOP with open events, beginning with the return of The Colossus. The tournament will have six starting flights spread over three days, a $7 million guaranteed prize pool, and $1 million guaranteed to the winner. All Day 1 flights will play into the money and as it is a re-entry event, it is entirely possible that players could cash multiple times. If you are having trouble envisioning that scenario, here you go: a player enters Day 1A and makes the money (again, each Day 1 will reach the money) but is eliminated before the end of the night. He re-enters on Day 1B and makes the money again, thus cashing more than once in the same tournament.
Newbie Tourneys
There are eight new tournaments this year:
June 5: Event #4 – $1,000 Top Up Turbo No-Limit Hold’em. (2-day event)
June 9: Event #12 – $565 Pot-Limit Omaha with re-entry (cheapest PLO event in WSOP history)
June 15: Event #23 – $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em
June 23: Event #40 – $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball featuring Limit A-5, 2-7, and Badugi.
June 26: Event #45 – $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha.
June 30: Event #53 – $1,500 Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha-8/Omaha-8/Big O. All three Omahas!
July 1: Event #54 A/B/C/D – $888 Crazy Eights Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold’em – $888,888 guaranteed for 1st. The WSOP says this is the first time an event with a buy-in of less than $1,500 will have short-handed tables. This is…important?
July 7: Event #61 – $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em. 2-4 person teams. Teammates must register together. The buy-in is $1,000 for the entire team. This tournament plays like a standard event for the most part, except that teammates may sub in whenever they would like, as long as each player completes at least one set of blinds.
The quiet before the storm
Nobody Cares About Those. Here’s the Main Event.
Event #68, the penultimate event of the 2016 World Series of Poker, is the legendary $10,000 WSOP Main Event. It will begin on Saturday, July 9th, with the first of three starting flights. The survivors from Days 1A and 1B will play in Day 2A on Tuesday, July 12th, while the survivors from Day 1C will have Day 2C all to themselves on Wednesday, July 13th. The last day of the tournament before the November Nine will be Monday, July 18th. Actually, make that the October/November Nine, as this year, the final table will begin on October 30th because of the U.S. Presidential Election and continue through November 1st.
Like last year, the Main Event will pay to at least 1,000 places or 15 percent of the field, whichever number is greater.
The final event, Event #69, is the $1,000 + $111 Little One for One Drop to benefit the One Drop charity. It appears that the Big One for One Drop, which has alternated years since 2012, is not on this year’s schedule. The WSOP was gauging interest for the million dollar buy-in event from those with the means to pay, but it seems that there were not enough people to commit to playing.
WSOP Miscellany
The WSOP has also detailed some specific changes to the this year’s Series, based on feedback from players:
• Most tournaments will now pay 15 percent of the field, up from the traditional 10 percent. Min-cashes are expected to be one-and-a-half times the tournament buy-in.
• Since more people will get paid, more events will actually hit the money in Day 1
• Most events will start one hour earlier than last year.
• The $10,000 buy-in events will start players with 50,000, two-thirds more than last year.
• The blind structures of some tourneys have been altered.
• As mentioned, the Day 1’s of the Colossus will play into the money. The main purpose of this is to decrease congestion and delays at the cashier on Day 2.
• Players may only register for one flight at a time in events with multiple flights or re-entry opportunities.
In a press release, WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel, in his eleventh year at the helm, said, “By paying 50% more entrants and reaching the money earlier, we anticipate the 2016 WSOP to be the most rewarding yet. Our schedule this year really runs the gamut for all levels of poker enthusiasts, so we hope you will peruse the events and make your plans to join us this summer at the Rio.”
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