The World Series of Poker released the full schedule last Thursday for the 54th edition of the event in Las Vegas, and while the $10,000 buy-in Main Event is rightfully capturing attention, that’s just one of 95 bracelets being handed out this year in a variety of disciplines at a wide range of price points.
This is the second year that the WSOP tables — 608 in all this summer — will be stationed at Paris Las Vegas and the Horseshoe Las Vegas (which was still known as Bally’s during the Series last year) on the Strip.
Here’s a rundown of some of the non-Main Event tournaments that stand out from the crowd among the other 94.
The first-timers
Nine events on the schedule have never appeared before at these particular buy-in amounts:
$25,000 High Roller Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em (starts May 30)
$300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold’em (June 7)
$1,500 Badugi (June 7)
$10,000 Secret Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (June 14)
$1,500 Big O Five-Card PLO Hi-Lo (June 17)
$25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. (July 10)
$600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold’em (July 11)
$1,500 Short Deck No-Limit Hold’em (July 12)
$2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo/Stud Hi-Lo (July 13)
Curious what the “secret bounty” tourney is all about? Like the $1,000 buy-in Mystery Millions event that was introduced in 2022 and returns this year, this is a tournament in which all eliminations starting on Day 2 come with a randomly determined bonus to the player who does the eliminating.
But the new event getting the most buzz out of the gate is the Gladiators of Poker, featuring the lowest buy-in ever at the World Series, $300 — which, word of warning, comes with an 18% rake for the house, the highest at the WSOP. This affordable tournament with four starting flights promises a $3 million prize pool guarantee — meaning they’ll need at least 12,196 entries for parent company Caesars to take the full rake and avoid overlay.
Both ends of the buy-in spectrum
Gladiators of Poker is the cheapest event on the schedule, but it’s not the only one aimed at the recreational player who can’t (or doesn’t want to) risk thousands of dollars. Other events with three-digit buy-ins:
$500 Casino Employees’ No-Limit Hold’em, which traditionally opens the World Series (May 30)
$600 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack (June 4)
$600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack (June 5)
$800 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack (June 11)
$600 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack (June 13)
$800 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack (June 18)
$500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em (June 20)
$500 Salute to Warriors No-Limit Hold’em (June 25)
$600 Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold’em (June 28)
$400 Colossus No-Limit Hold’em (June 30)
$777 Lucky 7s No-Limit Hold’em (July 7)
$600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold’em (July 11)
There are also numerous sub-$1K online poker bracelet events sprinkled throughout the seven weeks.
For those on the opposite end financially and/or in terms of risk tolerance, the 2023 WSOP features no lack of events with the words “high roller” in the title. A list of tournaments with buy-ins above the “championship” standard of $10K:
$25,000 High Roller Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em (May 30)
$25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em (June 2)
$25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (June 6)
$50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (June 9)
$100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (June 12)
$250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (June 16)
$50,000 Poker Players Championship (June 18)
$25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha (June 25)
$50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha (June 30)
$25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. (July 10)
$50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (July 12)
Other notable tournaments
Between $1,000 and $10,000, several other events may catch the eye of poker players, including:
$1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold’em (May 31), returning for its second year, with random bounty amounts being awarded for all eliminations on Day 2 and beyond, including one guaranteed $1 million bounty.
The Tournament of Champions (May 31), a $1 million freeroll for those who qualified by winning other WSOP events in the previous 12 months, which moves up on the schedule this year to opening week.
$3,000 Nine-Game Mix (June 14), an atypical assembly of poker variants that features both the no-limit and limit versions of deuce-to-seven lowball.
$1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (June 21), a one-day event in which every elimination is worth a $500 bounty.
$1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em (June 22), featuring two-person teams that can, as the name indicates, tag in and out of their seat.
$2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event (July 1), with a volatile mix of seven no-limit or pot-limit games.
$1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (July 13), in which every participating Hall of Famer has a bounty on their head.
Photo: Christopher Victorio/WireImage/Getty Images
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