What you wish to know about the World Series of Poker?

World Series of Poker (WSOP) is owned by Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE), Inc., a subsidiary of Caesars Entertainment which is the largest online, mobile and social gaming company focused on casino entertainment.

The World Series of Poker is a series of 74 events, each with different buy-ins and poker formats. Events are mainly held at the Rio Casino, Las Vegas, although there are a few held online. It is a festival of poker, with everyone’s tastes taken into account. Each event follows tournament format, with every player starting with the same number of chips. The winner is the person left standing at the end. Those winning any WSOP event will not only receive a prize but will also get a coveted WSOP bracelet as well.

As a Caesars Entertainment Property, WSOP.com brings the excitement of the World Series of Poker online, to eligible visitors and residents of Nevada where you can enjoy Texas Holdem, Omaha, 7 card stud, and other great varieties of America’s pastime, from the comfort and convenience of your home, or wherever your laptop may take you, within the borders of the Silver State.

As a division of Caesars Entertainment, WSOP is uniquely positioned to offer players the best online/offline poker experience. Whether it’s an online sit n go, cash game, or satellite to a live event, there’s always something to satisfy players of all types at WSOP.

World Series of Poker Cost

If you want to enter the Main Event, you’ll have to part with $10,000. Other tournaments have considerably lower buy-ins, with the lowest being $400. If you want to find the biggest buy-in, head to the Big One for One Drop event, which will cost you $1,000,000 to enter. Remember that some events also have rebuys, so you can get back into the action if you lose – for a price, of course.

The buy-in for the Main Event of the World Series of Poker is $10,000. There’s no chance of spending more than this, as rebuys are not allowed at this tournament. So, if you’re eliminated, you’ll have to wait until next year to re-enter.

Other tournaments have lower buy-ins, and there’s also always a chance of winning a buy-in, thanks to the many satellites for WSOP tournaments. Many players enter more than one event, so the overall outlay can be rather large.

Anyone can enter the World Series of Poker, providing they are at least 21 years old and can afford the buy-in. The final table could be made up of total novices or big-name poker pros and anything could happen! The cheapest way for an amateur to gain entry is to win one of the many WSOP satellite tournaments. The main tournament is held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, which is just off the Las Vegas Strip. Some WSOP events are held online though, meaning it is possible to win an event from the comfort of your own home.

Winners of WSOP

The 2018 Main Event of the World Series of Poker was won by American John Cynn. For winning the tournament and beating 7,874 players, he scooped a prize of $8,800,000. He also won around $800,000 in other events during the 2018 WSOP. He eventually won the Main Event by hitting triple kings against Tony Miles, who only had a pair of eights.

Some of the names of richest poker player in the world include Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel and Antonio Esfandiari.

The prize for each tournament changes depending on how many people enter the event. When it comes to the Main Event, 2018’s winner took home an impressive $8,800,000. This isn’t the largest Main Event prize, though, as in 2006 Jamie Gold scooped a massive $12,000,000 when he won the tournament.

Best poker player WSOP

Players from the 70s and 80s, such as Johnny Moss and Stu Ungar, are the best poker players of all time. Modern poker player Phil Hellmuth has the largest collection of WSOP bracelets, as he has won a massive 15 tournaments. Then in terms of overall winnings, Justin Bonomo has won more than any other player, thanks mainly to his win in the 2018 WSOP $1 Million Big One for One Drop game.

Phil Hellmuth holds the record for the most WSOP bracelets, as he amazingly has 15 of them. The Poker Brat, as he’s known, won the Main Event once, back in 1989. His most recent bracelet win was in the 2018 $5,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey all tie for second place, with 10 WSOP bracelets each.

Two players who have won the most WSOP main events are Johnny Moss and Stu Ungar. Both have won the event three times. Johnny Moss won the first two WSOP events ever held, however these were different, as he was voted the winner by peers. Since then, the winner has been decided by who wins the tournament.

The highest-earing player in all tournaments is Justin Bonomo, who has won a massive $43 million is his tournament career. He is followed by Daniel Negreanu and Erik Seidel. This doesn’t take into account money won playing in cash games behind closed doors, though.

Poker Satellites

Satellites are a great way to gain entry into an expensive tournament. Imagine you wanted to enter the Main Event but couldn’t afford $10,000. You could instead spend $100 on a satellite tournament, with the winner of the satellite getting entry into the Main Event. Most satellite tournaments take place online and it’s even possible to gain entry into big tournaments with a stake of just a couple of dollars.

To win a seat at the WSOP, you’ll have to enter a satellite tournament. These are held at various different online poker sites. If you can win the satellite, you will gain entry into the specified WSOP event. The only other way to get a seat is to save your money and purchase a seat, which is what the majority of players do.

Poker Tables and Bracelets

The poker players at the WSOP final table get paid to wear sponsor patches which really depends on how well-known they are. Most professional poker players will have some kind of endorsement, and the largest of these can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The number of  tables  in the WSOP is dictated by the number of players taking part in the tournament. The beginning of the Main Event is generally staggered over the first three days though, as it would be exceptionally difficult to get nearly 8,000 people playing poker at the same time. Nine people are usually sat at one table in the Main Event, although people are moved regularly from table to table, in order to balance the tables properly.

Every single person winning a WSOP event gets a bracelet, meaning that many bracelets are handed out every year. The winner of the Main Event also gets a bracelet, as well as an absolutely massive cash prize. Many bracelets are handed out, but there’s only one Main Event winner every year.

WSOP bracelets that are won are made by different jewelers. The 2018 Main Event bracelet was created by Jostens and contained nearly 1,000 diamonds, as well as 194 rubies. Other companies who have created bracelets in the past include Corum and Frederick Goldman, Inc. WSOP bracelets certainly aren’t cheap. They’re generally made from gold and encrusted with precious stones. It is unknown how much these bracelets cost to make; however, Main Event champion Peter Eastgate sold his bracelet for $147,500 on eBay in 2010 and donated the money to UNICEF. Many players simply don’t put a monetary value to their bracelet though – to them, they are priceless.

Few more facts about WSOP

You may be surprised to find that the hourly rate for a WSOP dealer is exceptionally low, as they only make $6.85 p/h. They top up their earnings with tips though, plus the dealers get to share the toke (the amount of money removed from a prize pool specifically to give to the dealers). Dealers in the Main Event typically earn around $1,100 in toke payments.

The WSOP Main Event is broadcasted every single day by ESPN. Coverage starts in the evening and then can continue to the early hours of the morning. The majority of the coverage is on ESPN2, however ESPN will broadcast the final table, as well as a few other days.

WSOP winnings are taxed or not depends where you are living, so you should check your local laws. US players can pay up to 50% in tax on their winnings, while those from the UK will not pay any tax at all. This is why many professional poker players live in countries with low or no taxation on winnings.

The money you can win in the World Series of Poker depends on the tournament you play in. The winner of the WSOP Main Event will win millions of dollars. The biggest prize is given to the winner of the Big One for One Drop tournament though, which costs $1 million to enter. Antonio Esfandiari won the biggest prize ever when he won the Big One for One Drop in 2012 and took home a massive $18.35 million.

There is a slow roll in poker. This is when a player with the best possible hand takes ages to call the final bet of the hand. This is seen as extremely bad etiquette and won’t make you any friends around the table. Note that taking time to make a decision when you don’t have the best hands is perfectly acceptable though.

WSOP also offers a social game app to play free poker. To play WSOP as a free and fun social poker game whenever you want you have the choice to download then WSOP social app or play with your web browser or on Amazon Kindle. If you own an iPhone then download from iTunes and if you are an Android player then download from Google play. It’s all free so nothing to pay for it.