Okay, we’ll be the first to admit, the title’s a slight bit misleading, but it sure got your attention, right?
The World Series of Poker has issued the schedule of events for this summer’s 43rd annual tournament series and a number of changes have been made. First and foremost, there will still be a delayed final table of players in the Main Event but action will resume and a champion will be crowned at the end of October, instead of November. The reason for this change is that the U.S. presidential election will be taking place in the first week of November, so WSOP organizers wanted to avoid a conflict. Thus, no November Nine in 2012…
More Bracelet Events, More Space, More Poker Tables
A record number of events are scheduled, with 61 gold bracelets to be awarded over 50 days of poker tournament play. Furthermore, tournament officials have decided to expand the World Series into a third room at the Rio, the Brasilia Room, which can accommodate an additional 92 poker tables. The Brasilia Room will thus join the Amazon Room and Pavilion Room in providing a grand total of 470 tables and an astounding 114,000 feet of gaming space during poker’s richest tournament series.
The increased capacity also means there’s less of a need to stretch out events over multiple days. Thus, the Main Event will only feature three starting days instead of four and players will play down to the final table on Day 7 instead of Day 8. A day off before the start of Day 3 has also been removed from the schedule.
Other Changes
One of the most unique events scheduled this year is the Big One for One Drop, which will feature a $1 million buy in. Other events have seen their buy-ins shrink; a nod to the sagging worldwide economy which has clearly also affected the poker economy. To that end, the WSOP schedule features only seven $10,000 buy-in events, as opposed to 10 last year.
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