2015 WSOP From May 27th To July 14th In Las Vegas

Home » Poker News » 2015 WSOP From May 27th To July 14th In Las Vegas

Wednesday, May 27th, 2015 | Written by Adam Brown

Each year, thousands of gamblers from around the world descend upon Las Vegas to take part in the most anticipated tournament series in poker, the World Series of Poker (WSOP). This annual poker marathon was first launched in 1970, and over the intervening decades has grown in size and status, with the 46th Annual World Series of Poker set to be the biggest and most popular to date. After all, the series which is held from May 27th to July 14 at the Rio All-Suite will feature a huge 68 bracelet events, more than at any other time in the competition’s history, and as WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart explains:

“If you’ve never thought about coming to Las Vegas for the WSOP, this is the year. Now more than ever, the WSOP has something for everyone and with this schedule we believe the value and the opportunity for player success exists in each and every event we are offering in 2015.”

Seven Weeks Of Action

The 2015 WSOP will run for a total of seven weeks, with 11 more tournaments added to this year’s schedule to bring the number of bracelet events to 68. As is traditional, the WSOP will kick-off on May 27th with a $565 buy-in one day tournament known as the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em Event, and proceed all the way through to its last tournament on July 7th, the iconic $10k WSOP Main Event.

Amateur Friendly

In 2003, Chris Moneymaker qualified for the $10k WSOP Main Event via a $39 PokerStars satellite, and eventually overcame a field of 839 players to scoop the huge $2.5 million first prize. In the process, he also created a huge wave of interest amongst poker amateurs, who now believed they could take on the sharks and emulate Moneymaker’s incredible achievement. By 2006, however, the impact of the UIGEA, as well as the clear dominance of card sharps in the game, saw the poker boom come to an abrupt end. This is no more evident than at the WSOP, where professional players, despite representing a small percentage of the fields, consistently dominate and take down its marquee events.

With that in mind, the WSOP has introduced a more amateur-friendly format to this year’s series in order to attract a much-needed mainstream following. This is reflected in the lower buy-ins, flatter payout structure, and brand new tournaments introduced at this year’s series, and as PokerStars most popular sponsored pro, Daniel Negreanu noted:

“Hats off again to the @WSOP staff for always listening to feedback from players and being willing to make changes. Big part of it’s success.. Looking over 2015 @WSOP structures and players are going to be insanely happy with the changes. Especially the lower buy in grinders.”

Eleven New Events

The 2015 WSOP will feature 11 brand new events, none more publicized than the $565 Colossus No-Limit Hold’em. Not only does this event have the lowest buy-in of any WSOP tournament since 1980, but it also offers a $5 million guaranteed prize pool, with analysts expecting it to prove more popular event than the record breaking 2006 Main Event, which attracted 8,773 players. Other events with comparatively small buy-ins include $1k Hyper No-Limit Hold’em, and the $1,500 DraftKings 50/50 No-Limit Hold’em, in which half the tournament field will receive a payout. In addition, for the first time ever players can compete online to win a bracelet event, although the two remaining finalists at the $1,000 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em will have to travel to Las Vegas to complete their heads-up battle. As WSOP.com head Bill Rini, explains:

“[The WSOP] wanted to be able to award the bracelet to the winner at the Rio.. Part of the experience of winning a WSOP bracelet is that photo with the bracelet.”

The following are all 11 new events featured at this year’s WSOP:

Event 5: $565 Colossus No-Limit Hold’em – $5,000,000 guaranteed
Event 6: $1,000 Hyper No-Limit Hold’em
Event 42: $1,500 Extended Play No-Limit Hold’em
Event 43: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold’em
Event 53: $5,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em
Event 55: $1,500 DraftKings 50/50 No-Limit Hold’em
Event 60: $25,000 High Roller 8-handed Pot-Limit Omaha
Event 62: $1,500 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em
Event 64: $1,000 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em
Event 65: $777 Lucky 7’s No-Limit Hold’em
Event 67: $10,000 Dealers Choice

November Nine Paid $1 Million Each

The WSOP Main Event has also introduced a number of changes to make it more appealing to amateur players, including raising the starting chip stacks 66% compared to previous years in order to give amateurs a better shot for their $10k buy-in. Furthermore, the numbers of places getting paid has been increased from around 650 to 1,000, while any player making the final table will be guaranteed a minimum payout of $1 million.