Happy holidays, poker fans: the 2018 World Series of Poker schedule for next summer’s entire event program is live. Released on Tuesday, next year’s Series features 78 bracelet events, including the return of the uber-rich purse that pays out to the $1 Million buy-in Big One for One Drop.
The 49th edition of the summer poker extravaganza will take place at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for the 14th consecutive year, beginning May 29 and running until the conclusion of the Big One for One Drop on July 17.
Many of the most popular events will be back, including the $565 Colossus (June 2nd), $1,500 Millionaire Maker (June 9th), $888 Crazy Eights (June 30th), $50,000 Poker Players Championship (June 15th), and the $2,620 Marathon (June 11th). But it won’t just be the same old, same old, as many new tournaments will be introduced in 2018.
New WSOP Events for 2018
- May 30 $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty NL Hold’em
- June 1 $100,000 HIGH ROLLER No-Limit Hold’em
- June 3 $365 PLO GIANT
- June 16 $1,000 Double Stack No-Limit Hold’em
- June 23 $565 WSOP.com Online PLO 6-Handed
- June 25 $1,500 BOUNTY No-Limit Hold’em
- July 12 $1,500 THE CLOSER No-Limit Hold’em
- July 13 $50,000 HIGH ROLLER No-Limit Hold’em
Biggest of Them All Returning
For the first time since 2014, the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop returns to the World Series of Poker. The most expensive tournament to enter in North American poker history, this pressure-packed three-day event begins June 15, a day after the conclusion of the Main Event, and is not for the bankroll-challenged among us.
This will be the third edition of the Big One, which saw Antonio Esfandiari win in 2012 and Dan Colman take it down in 2014. Besides a hefty wad of cash, bring your A-est A game to this one.
The Magician’s $18,346,673 score remains the biggest win in tournament poker history. He defeated 48 players, including his heads-up opponent Sam Trickett, on his way to a historic victory. Colman followed that up two years later with a memorable win of his own, banking $15,306,668, and then infamously going sour-faced and refusing to do interviews after his eight-figure payday.
Who Will Be Next World Champion?
The 2018 WSOP Main Event will begin a week earlier than usual, with the three Day One starting flights running on July 2,3, and 4. A new world champion will be crowned on July 14.
Scott Blumstein is the reigning winner. The New Jersey native and 888poker ambassador won $8.15 million for outlasting a massive field of 7,221 players earlier in 2017.
ESPN and PokerGO will again partner to broadcast the Main Event. The television and streaming schedules haven’t yet been released. PokerGO is also contracted to livestream additional bracelet events. The subscription-based poker app replaced WSOP.com as the livestream home for World Series events for the first time in 2017.
