The 50th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) will run from May 28 through July 16, 2019. For the fifth year in a row, 888poker is proud to sponsor the WSOP Main Event, and what a year to do it as for the first time ever officials have instituted changes for poker’s “Big One” (more on those below).
Remember, for those outside the United States, 888poker is the only way to qualify online for the 2019 WSOP.
How to Qualify
To start your journey to the 2019 WSOP, just log on to the 888poker client, click on the “Tournaments” tab, and then go to “Live Events.” It’s there you will find qualifiers starting for as little as 1₵. Other step qualifiers include low price points like 10₵, $1, and $5!
Qualifiers will run daily now through June 16.
You can also participate in $16.50 buy-in daily qualifiers and $109 buy-in Sunday Qualifiers. These events will ultimately help you ladder your way up to compete for a $1,050 “WSOP 2019 Main Event Package – Qualifiers” to be held every Sunday at 20:30 GMT, starting January 20.
- $1,050 “WSOP 2019 Main Event Package – Qualifier”
Runs every Sunday at 20:30 GMT, winners to receive $12,600 WSOP package
- $16.50 “WSOP 2019 Main Event Package - Sub-Satellite”
Runs daily at 20:01 GMT, leading to $109 Satellite - $109 “WSOP 2019 Main Event Package – Satellite”
Runs every Sunday at 17:12 GMT, 5 seats GTD to the $1,050 qualifier
Players who win their way into the 2019 WSOP Main Event will be awarded a prize package valued at $12,600.
Those packages include the following:
- 6 nights (July 4-10, 2019) at the luxurious Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas
- $10,000 WSOP Main Event buy-in
- $1,000 for travel and expenses (paid directly to your 888poker account)
- Invite to a welcome party at the Vdara Hotel.
Players will also be provided with transportation from the Vdara Hotel to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and be given an 888poker LIVE kit.
Terms and conditions apply.
Additionally, winners of our 888poker LIVE Main Events will receive a full WSOP package as part of their prize.
50th Anniversary of the WSOP Main Event
The 2019 WSOP Main Event will, once again, offer three different noon starting flights kicking off with Day 1A on Wednesday, July 3. Day 1B will take place on Thursday, July 4 with Day 1C on Friday, July 5.
Those that survive with chips in Flight A or B will return to play Day 2AB together on Saturday, July 6 at 12 noon. Players who survive with chips from Flight C, will have the Saturday off and return to play Day 2C on Sunday, July 7 at 12 noon. All fields combine on Monday, July 8 to start Day 3 play; the day the event is expected to reach the money.
This year’s WSOP Main Event, which is a freezeout, will also see an increased starting stack of 60,000 chips and, for the first time ever, utilise the Big Blind Ante format.
Another new offering is the opportunity for players to buy into the Main Event as late as the start of play on Day 2 (either July 6 or July 7 at noon).
Other 2019 WSOP Highlights
The 2019 WSOP is expected to award more than $200 million, and that’s thanks to some great events like The Big 50, which will run from May 30-June 2. The $500 buy-in tournament will feature four starting flights, 50,000 in starting chips, 50-minute levels, and a $5 million GTD prize pool - including a smooth $1 million to the winner.
“We’re excited to commence our golden event,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “We expect our opening weekend Big 50 event to be one of the largest in our history, and certainly one of the best value tournaments ever offered. This is part of our concerted plans to make the 2019 WSOP a better value all-around.”
There’s also the $888 Crazy Eights NLH on June 28. That tournament offers two starting flights, unlimited re-entries, a 40,000-starting stack, and a guaranteed $888,888 to the winner. Other highly-anticipated tournaments include the $1,500 Millionaire Maker (June 7), $1,000 Seniors (June 13), Double Stack NLH (June 14), and the $1,500 Monster Stack (June 21).
A new exciting addition to the schedule is the two-day $1,000 buy-in “Mini Main Event” on July 1. Taking place just two days before the start of the signature Main Event, the Mini Main Event will also start with 60,000 in tournament chips and mimic the regular Main Event structure, albeit with 30-minute levels.
The WSOP has also revealed plans for its first-ever “Short Deck” NLH event, priced at $10,000 and set for Sunday, June 2. Short Deck is a variant of No-Limit Hold’em where all the 2-5 cards are removed from the deck, leaving a 36-card deck comprised of sixes through Aces.
“We are proud to be the only tournament series offering such a wide variety of poker variants,” said WSOP Vice President Jack Effel.
A Look Back at the 2018 WSOP
Last year’s WSOP was a record-breaking affair as 123,865 entrants partook in tournaments over the summer. That created a 49-year high of $266,889,193 in prize money. The average WSOP gold bracelet event in 2018 had a $3,421,656 prize pool with $655,337 going to the winner.
The 2018 WSOP featured huge field sizes once again in signature events. The Main Event (7,874), Millionaire Maker (7,361), monster Stack (6,260), Crazy Eights (8,598), Seniors Championship (5,918) and Colossus (13,070) combining to attract a staggering 49,081 entries.
As for 888poker qualifiers, dozens of played the 2018 WSOP Main Event including Denmark’s Martin Sejer who finished as the last qualifier standing taking 149th out of 7,874 players for a career-high $57,010. A fantastic return on investment after qualifying for just $109!
“I had a lot of followers being supportive,” Sejer said of his time in the tournament. “It was a great experience overall.”
It was also at last year’s WSOP Main Event that the second annual 888poker 8-Team Competition played out and ultimately concluded on Day 5. Team Brazil’s Pedro Correa was the last qualifier standing after finishing 356th in the Main Event for $33,305.
But it was Team UK that won the competition after 888poker Ambassador qualifier Billy Chattaway both cashed. The latter finished in 652nd place for $21,750 while the former finished 273rd for $42,980.
