Excitement builds for return of in-person WSOP at Rio

Busted poker players won’t person to trudge to their cars nether a blazing sun, and they mightiness beryllium sweating their shot bets arsenic overmuch arsenic their flush draws.

But the World Series of Poker — unrecorded and in-person astatine the Rio — is back.

The WSOP kicks disconnected Thursday and runs done Nov. 23 with 88 bracelet events, including the Main Event, the $10,000 No-limit Hold’em World Championship that made household names retired of Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth and Chris Moneymaker.

With buy-ins ranging from $400 to $250,000, the WSOP attracts poker players of each levels, from low-stakes dreamers to the champion high-stakes players successful the world, each chasing the biggest people of their lives and the trophy bracelets that spell to lawsuit winners.

“All my friends are coming to town,” poker subordinate and broadcaster Jamie Kerstetter said. “We’re getting to person our summertime camp, conscionable a small spot delayed.”

The WSOP usually takes spot successful June and July. It was canceled past twelvemonth and was delayed until the autumn this twelvemonth due to the fact that of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It feels large to beryllium back. After 26 months, it’s been excessively long,” WSOP enforcement manager Ty Stewart said via email. “We emotion this event. Watching the TV cameras rotation in, the banners hung from the rafters, unboxing the golden bracelets — it’s the champion feeling of déjà vu.”

The pandemic inactive volition beryllium felt astatine the WSOP. Players, spectators and vendors must beryllium vaccinated to attend, a request that has roiled a conception of the poker community.

Daniel Negreanu, a six-time WSOP bracelet winner, said the WSOP made the lone determination it could to support the integrity of the tournaments.

With nary vaccine mandate, adjacent asymptomatic radical could person been forced into quarantine (and beryllium disqualified from the event) if they were successful adjacent interaction — astatine a poker table, for illustration — with idiosyncratic who tested positive, perchance costing them hundreds of thousands oregon adjacent millions of dollars.

With a vaccine mandate, asymptomatic players won’t person to quarantine aft a adjacent contact.

“You’re trying to debar a debacle,” Negreanu said. “… It’s truly speech from the full statement astir vaccines. The WSOP is not taking a governmental position.”

Stewart said: “As atrocious arsenic it was seeing mean tweets astir our decision, it would person been worse to footwear immoderate subordinate retired of the event.”

Under the mandate, play astatine the tables volition look adjacent to normal. Masks are optional for players, though they indispensable enactment them connected erstwhile successful the hallways and different communal areas. There are nary plexiglass dividers oregon limits connected the fig of players per table.

The vaccine mandate does not use to unit oregon dealers, based connected wellness protocols from the Rio and Caesars Entertainment, Stewart said. Employees volition person to deterioration masks astatine each times careless of vaccination status, and the WSOP is offering incentives for employees to go vaccinated, helium said.

Participation from planetary players volition beryllium down due to the fact that of question restrictions, but Stewart said helium is hopeful that loosened rules volition let much players to get successful clip for the Main Event, which starts Nov. 4.

Negreanu said he’s looking guardant to avoiding the vigor with the WSOP successful the fall, joking that helium mightiness adjacent person to tally the vigor successful his trailer during tourney breaks alternatively of the aerial conditioning. And helium said he’s funny to spot whether having shot and hockey going connected serves arsenic a distraction during the WSOP arsenic poker players sweat their bets.

Negreanu is besides offering a mode for players to triumph alongside him during the WSOP, selling up to 25 percent of his enactment successful WSOP events each time connected PocketFives.com. Players tin acquisition a portion of Negreanu for arsenic small arsenic $3, with a $600 headdress connected each event, helium said.

Kerstetter volition beryllium playing events, arsenic good arsenic serving arsenic a colour commentator alongside Lon McEachern and Norman Chad for WSOP broadcasts, which are moving from ESPN to CBS Sports Network this year. A full of 26 events besides volition beryllium live-streamed connected the subscription video work PokerGO.

“My favourite portion of the World Series is sweating my friends,” Kerstetter said. “A batch of radical wholly alteration their lives astatine the World Series. It’s fun.”

Contact Jim Barnes astatine jbarnes@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV connected Twitter.