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The world’s biggest poker festival, World Series of Poker (WSOP) will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in less than three months and the global brand has pulled all the stops to make this series memorable and inclusive to all poker players.
The WSOP had previously mentioned in a press release dated January 23 that the 50th anniversary series will be seeing an increase in the starting stacks of several events. Additionally, the Big Blind Ante format will also be included in events that have the ante. WSOP has recently come out with all the details regarding the changes in structure players can expect at the upcoming series.
Previous Updates For the 2019 WSOP
Running from May 29 and July 17 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the series recently disclosed the complete event schedule which comprises of a total of 89 bracelet events including nine online bracelet events.
ESPN and Poker Central also announced that they will be reprising their roles as video coverage providers, while also releasing a preliminary live telecast schedule for the WSOP 2019 series which includes the start-to-finish daily coverage of the WSOP Main Event.
Latest Update – Bigger Starting Stacks and Implementation of Big Blind Ante
Continuing from its press release dated January 23, the international poker giant released the full buy-in and starting chip chart for the 2019 series, which is as follows:
Price Point | 2018 Stack | 2019 Stack |
---|---|---|
$400 | N/A | 40,000 |
$500 | 5,000 | 50,000 |
$600 | N/A | 30,000 |
$800 | N/A | 40,000 |
$888 | 8,000 | 40,000 |
$1,000 | 5,000 | 20,000 |
$1,500 NL/PLO | 7,500 | 25,000 |
$1,500 Limit | 7,500 | 10,000 |
$2,500 | 12,500 | 15,000 |
$2,620 | 26,200 | 26,200 |
$3,000 | 15,000 | 20,000 |
$5,000 | 25,000 | 30,000 |
$10,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 |
$25,000 | 125,000 | 150,000 |
$50,000 | 250,000 | 300,000 |
$100,000 | 500,000 | 600,000 |
WSOP VP of Corporate Communications Seth Palansky discussed the positive impact that the increased starting stacks will have on the players and the series as a whole. “We are confident players will find the structures the best value they have ever seen at the WSOP. Jack Effel and his team wanted to make sure that these weren’t smoke and mirror changes like a lot of places do. Jack made sure that all the changes resulted in deeper play at all stages of the tournament. This gives everyone more comfort in Day 1 of the tournament as well as room to play as the tournament progresses at key later stages.”
This change in format has received appreciation from even the most stringent critics of the WSOP such as Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler who called the structures “excellent” overall, applauding them for “more chips and more play throughout.”
“Limit mixed players get last years’ structures or better but have more starting chips, which makes late reg a much better value,” Kessler further stated.
Other Changes to Look Forward to at WSOP 2019
Apart from the increased starting stacks and implementation of the Big Blind Ante format, the WSOP has also brought in several other minor changes. The brand has increased the number of smaller no-limit events, making the WSOP more accessible to lower-limit and recreational players. This will most certainly make the smaller no-limit events far more competitive as Kessler rightly pointed out.
Moreover, these smaller events should also attract plenty of pros who appreciate the value for the price point.
The number of fast-structured events have also been increased keep in the mind the players who may not want to participate in four-day long events.
“The Super Turbo Bounty events were real popular and we do have a segment of players who have shorter time to play poker, thus those folks will find several offerings that allow them to compete for a bracelet,” Palansky explained. “The whole Deepstack bracelet series is another example of this too. These still offer tremendous value — better than anything else in the marketplace — but with the pace to complete in 2/3 days.”
Lastly, this 50th anniversary series is sure to offer something for everyone with bracelet events ranging from buy-ins of $400 all the way up to $100,000.
“Like everything at the WSOP, we offer something for everyone, and we are sure there are several events that everyone can find and enjoy and get a great experience competing in. There is no doubt that anyone who comes to Las Vegas this summer will find the best value for their buck and the biggest prize pools up for grabs at the 50th Annual World Series of Poker at the Rio,” Palansky summed up.