2018 WSOP to Feature Eight Big Blind Ante Events

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Friday, April 6th, 2018 | Written by Charles Washington

This week, WSOP executives announced some interesting news related to its upcoming tournament series, with this summer’s Las Vegas festivities scheduled to include eight events using a big blind ante format, and its European counterpart due to return to the King’s Casino Rozvadov in the Czech republic from October 11th to November 2nd.

49th WSOP in Las Vegas

The 2018 WSOP is due to take place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas from May 29th to July 17th, with a total of 78 gold bracelets featured at the series, four of which would be online bracelet tournaments. The organization also announced that its registration process was now open, but perhaps the most prominent piece of news mentioned was that eight of its events would be using a big blind-only ante format.

Big Blind Only

The game of poker is forever evolving, and trying to find new ways to speed up the action and create a more exciting experience for players. One trend that has increasingly caught on at card rooms and the tournament circuit is a big blind ante format in which instead of waiting for every player to ante up each hand, one player pays the ante for everyone at the table, with the responsibility to pay the ante designated to a different player each round.

This method is seen as far superior than just relying on each individual player to remember to ante each round, as this often leads to players being unclear whether they have anted or not, and subsequent delays as the dealer attempts to grab antes, or settle disputes. Commenting upon expectations using the new format, WSOP Vice President of Corporate Communications Seth Palansky, stated:

“After testing out the Big Blind Ante format on the WSOP Circuit and monitoring venues that have put it into use, the WSOP has announced plans to add some Big Blind Ante tournaments to the 2018 playing schedule. This range of buy-ins and events will allow WSOP staff to monitor implementation and help decide whether to expand the use of the Big Blind Ante in the future.”

The following WSOP tournaments will be featuring the big blind ante format:

Event #5: $100,000 NLHE High Roller
Event #13: $1,500 NLHE
Event #20: $5,000 NLHE
Event #45: $1,000 NLHE w/30-minute levels
Event #54: $3,000 NLHE
Event #74: $10,000 Six-Handed NLHE
Event #77: $50,000 NLHE High Roller
Event #78: $1 million NLHE Big One for One Drop

Pros and Cons

The big blind ante format enjoys much support amongst the professional poker playing fraternity, with those already having expressed their satisfaction with the adaptation including Matt Glantz and Daniel Negreanu, who tweeted that the “players will all get used to it quickly and much prefer it.”

Allen Kessler, on the other hand, is not so convinced that the format will be beneficial in its present form, and has suggested that the big blind ante requirement should be lowered when a table is reduced to five players or less. Ahead of the 2015 WSOP, recommendations made by Kessler were taken seriously and even led to the blind structures being changed for some events. This time around, however, the WSOP has chosen to ignore his suggestions, stating that they intend to run the series as originally suggested.

WSOP Europe Schedule

Meanwhile, the WSOP also announced that its European counterpart would be returning for a second year at the King’s Casino Rozvadov, with its 10 bracelet schedule taking place from October 11th to November 2nd. Furthermore, following years of moving from country to country, it would appear that the WSOP is now planning to make the casino in the Czech Republic a permanent venue for the series, stating that it was committing to holding the WSOP Europe annually there each October.

Highlighting Allen Kessler’s reputation for a being a habitual complainer, the casino’s owner Leon Tsoukernik even made an ironic reference to Kessler when expressing his delight over the development, stating:

“By all measures, our inaugural WSOP Europe was a great success – even Allen Kessler was pleased. Now that King’s Casino is firmly established as Europe’s most popular poker venue, we have doubled down and have made a bigger commitment to bring WSOP Europe to Rozvadov annually.”

Last year, the WSOP Europe featured 11 bracelet events with a combined guaranteed prize pool of more than €25 million, with 7,689 players having taken part in the tournament series. Spanish pro Marti Roca subsequently won its Main Event for €1,115,207 ($1,301,815), having made his way past a field of 529 players.