The World Series of Poker has released its schedule for the 47th edition of the most prestigious tournament in world poker, advising that it will kick off on Tuesday May 31 2016 at its traditional home – the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The organisers claim that this year’s event features an ambitious and diverse schedule, along with a new prize money distribution format which will see up to 50 percent more players cashing in WSOP events than in previous years.
This year eight new events have been added to the schedule, which can be accessed here: http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/?groupid=1232
Key changes have been made in response to player feedback, and include:
* Places Paid: The majority of bracelet (and Deepstack) events will now payout 15 percent of the field, up 50 percent from what was WSOP standard. The minimum payout is expected to be one-and-a-half times the buy-in;
* In the money earlier: With payouts increasing, many events are expected to reach the money on Day 1;
* Start times: Moved up one hour; most (not all) events are on a new time schedule, with the first event of the day scheduled for 11 a.m. and the late events now to begin at 3 p.m. Deepstacks will be at 2 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.;
* Five times starting chips: All $10,000 buy-in events, including the Main Event, will now feature 50,000 in starting chips, up 66 percent from last year. This means all WSOP events now start with at least five times buy-in amount;
* Structure Tweaks: With some of the above changes, structures have also been modified slightly in an effort to aid events meeting scheduled duration. Players are encouraged to review structure sheets in advance. (One example: Instead of a 100-200 level followed by 100-200-25, there will now be just a 100-200-25 level);
* Playing into the money on Day 1 of Colossus: Each of the six starting flights of Colossus II will reach the money and begin processing payouts immediately within the flight versus a traditional hard bubble on Day 2 of a consolidated field. This will cut any congestion in payouts process significantly and also allow players who cash in a flight or surrendering their stack at the end of the flight, a chance to re-enter another flight and perhaps cash again within the same event;
* Registering for only one flight at a time: In order to better manage, multi-flight, multi-entry events (Colossus, Millionaire Maker, Crazy Eights & Little One for One Drop), players may only register for one flight at a time in advance. If they are eliminated in that flight, they may go to the cage to register for another flight if they choose;
* The number of official WSOP gold bracelet events is up one to 69.
Special events at this year’s spectacular include:
* One Drop Charity – After four years, with more than $17 million donated to charitable causes via the WSOP, all events will continue to offer an opportunity to donate. The “1 percent for One Drop” returns, where players cashing in any event, may donate 1 percent of their winnings. Events #67 and #69 have specific charitable components to help raise funds for WSOP’s charitable partner;
* Daily Deepstack No-Limit Hold’em Tournaments – The Rio will host four different daily No-Limit Hold’em tournaments this year from May 31 to July 18. The first one, at 2 p.m. daily, is a $235 buy-in. At 5 p.m., players can play the $185 buy-in tournament. Then at 7 p.m., a $135 buy-in tournament and at 9 p.m., a new $365 tournament will be offered with a turbo format. These are one-day structured tournaments, and non-bracelet events in No-Limit Hold’em. These events will take place in the Pavilion Ballroom and start one hour earlier this year, and pay 50% more entrants, with 15% of the field now cashing;
* Satellites every day – A complete array of satellites, from single-table to mega, will be offered from May 31 – July 10. Qualify for $5K and $10K bracelet events in mega satellites with buy-ins of $575 or $1,100 at 8 p.m. Qualify for $1,500 bracelet events daily at 9 a.m. in the $185 buy-in Mega Satellite, played in a turbo format as No-Limit Hold’em running throughout the duration of the series.