Main Event is July 3-16
The World Series of Poker has released the schedule for the 53rd annual running of the year’s most prestigious poker festival. Slated for May 31 through July 20, the 2022 WSOP will feature 88 live gold bracelet events and 14 online tournaments.
It appears that things will be largely back to normal this year. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 WSOP was shelved, though organizers did create the WSOP Online and a modified, hybrid online/live “Main Event.” The 2021 World Series of Poker was back to the live tables (in addition to the now-routine online events), but the pandemic forced it to be pushed to the fall, so it only just ended in late November.
attendees will not be required to furnish proof of COVID-19 vaccination
Barring any changes in the next few months, attendees will not be required to furnish proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Protective facemasks will also be optional, as Nevada ended its indoor mask mandate this month.
The $10,000 Main Event will begin on Sunday, July 3 with the first of four starting flights. Days 2A and 2B will be on July 7, Days 2C and 2D will be on July 8, and then all the survivors will combine into a single field starting with Day 3 on July 9. The final table will span two days, July 15-16.
New home on the Strip
Arguably the most notable aspect of the 2022 World Series of Poker is that it is now on the Las Vegas Strip after a decade and a half at the Rio. The writing was on the wall when Caesars sold the Rio in September 2019, but it was only this past November that Caesars announced that the 2022 WSOP would be at Paris Las Vegas and Bally’s Las Vegas, which are connected.
The new, combined venue has a much greater poker capacity than did the Rio, able to house over 600 poker tables. The one problem attendees may find, however, is that parking will be a bit more difficult, though there are plenty of parking garages nearby. The Rio’s parking lot outside the convention center was both free and massive. The new location will be more accessible to tourists and fans, though, as it is walkable from other casinos on the Strip.
Tournament of Champions is back
To celebrate the move to the Strip, one of the bracelet events on opening weekend is a $500 buy-in, $5m guaranteed event called “The Housewarming.” It has become a tradition to have a “low,” $500-priced tourney during the first weekend; last year’s “Reunion” drew 12,973 entries.
One of the many other highlights on this year’s WSOP schedule is the return of the Tournament of Champions. It debuted in 2004, paused after its 2006 iteration, ran one more time in 2010, and that was it. This year, it is a $1m prizepool freeroll, open to only the 88 bracelet winners (or fewer, if someone wins multiple bracelets) and the gold ring winners from the 2021-2022 WSOP Circuit season. The TOC is the final event of the Series, taking place July 18-20.
Among the other more interesting and less “standard” bracelet events are two bounty tournaments. The $1,000 buy-in Million Dollar Bounty will run July 2-4, right when the Main Event begins. The first day is a normal tournament day, but starting on Day 2, everyone has a random, mystery bounty on their head that won’t be revealed until they are knocked out. One player’s bounty will be $1m.
And returning once again is the $1,979 buy-in Poker Hall of Fame Bounty tournament on July 10. All living Hall of Fame members get a free seat in the tournament, while at the same time having a bounty on their head corresponding to the year they were inducted into the HOF. The 2022 Poker Hall of Fame honoree will also be announced that day.