It’s a World Series of Poker heavy short stacks, featuring a new WSOP app, rule changes to prevent coaching and cheating, and an announced trip to Cyprus. Yes, that’s the short stacks CardsChat picked up in its latest orbit of poker news.
The WSOP is coming to Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Spa in North Cyprus this October for a Circuit series. It will be the first time the WSOP will head to the Mediterranean Island.
Running from Oct. 9 to 21, the series will be highlighted by a $5,300 Main Event that will carry a $5 million guaranteed prize pool
“This marks the first time that a WSOP event has been held at Merit and the team are very excited at the prospect of hosting such a prestigious series which will include two weekends,” said Songul Bekem, President of Merit Poker. “We have the biggest ballrooms outside of the USA that are capable of hosting a series of such magnitude. Keep your eye out for early bird hotel offers which will be available when the core schedule is released.”
As Bekem mentioned, the full schedule has not been released, but certain events have been promised, including a Mini Main, four PLO events, a Mystery Bounty and High Roller and Super High Roller tournaments.
Online satellites for the Main Event will be held on GGPoker, the online poker giant who now own the WSOP brand.
WSOP+ App Released
Say goodbye to Bravo, and hello to WSOP+.
The WSOP released an app that hopefully will help put an end to the long registration lines at the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas casinos this summer. Called WSOP+, the app will allow players to register for this summer’s events directly through their phones or tablets.
That’s not the only thing the app does. Think of it as a full tournament interface, giving players information that is traditionally available on monitors throughout the rooms, including a blind level clock, average chip stacks, number of player’s left, the largest stack, the average stack, the smallest stack, and even stack sizes of individual user.
It also allows users to make comments on each tourney, and quite a few have used that feature to complain of poor customer service and lack of payment options. If the WSOP get’s all the kinks worked out by the time the players touch down in Las Vegas later this month, it will be a game-changer.
WSOP bans phones, coaching
The WSOP has tweaked its rules concerning the use of phones and electronic devices on the rail for this year’s series. This year, players will not be able to use their phones at all during the final three tables of any tournament. It was put in place in time for the WSOP Paradise series in December.
From the rule book: “Once Participants have reached the final three tables in any Tournament, all approved electronic devices must be removed. An announcement will be made to Participants once they have reached the final three tables to remove all such electronic devices.”
Players may access their devices again during breaks or after being eliminated. During streamed events, the WSOP “reserves the right to remove all Participants’ electronic devices. Participants will only be allowed to have their devices back during breaks or after elimination.”
Another rule change bans coaching from within the tournament room. The rule reads: “No coaching from anywhere within the tournament room will be allowed; this includes viewing of the tournament stream and usage of any electronic assistance.”
