World Series of Poker® Announces 2015 Dates
Poker’s Most Popular Festival Set to Run From May 27 to July 14, 2015
At Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas
46th Running of WSOP Concludes with Main Event July 5-14; $10 Million for 1st Returns
Opening Weekend to Feature “The Colossus” $565 buy-in, $5,000,000 Guarantee!
LAS VEGAS (Dec. 23, 2014) – Save the Date(s). The 46th World Series of Poker (WSOP) – the longest-running, richest and most prestigious tournament series – begins on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The action-packed schedule includes gold bracelet events, satellites, cash games and thrice daily deep stack tournaments running for 49 consecutive days, with the WSOP Main Event reaching its final nine players on Tuesday, July 14, 2015.
The summer festival reaches its pinnacle with the globe’s longest-running poker tournament — the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em WSOP Main Event championship — which is slated to run over ten consecutive days from July 5 – July 14, 2015 and will feature three starting flights – Sunday, July 5; Monday, July 6; and Tuesday, July 7. The 2015 World Champion will be guaranteed to win $10,000,000.
Also back on the schedule in 2015 will be the Millionaire Maker and Monster Stack, which in 2014 secured their place as the most attended events in all of poker.
The average WSOP gold bracelet event in 2014 featured a $3,503,275 prize pool with $792,504 going to the event’s winner. The 2014 WSOP featured all of the Top 5 field sizes of the year with the Main Event (6,683 entries), Millionaire Maker (7,977), Monster Stack (7,863), Little One for ONE DROP (4,496) and Seniors Event (4,425 entries) combining to attract a staggering 31,444 entries.
“We believe the WSOP is uniquely able to deliver the big event with life-changing money for some and a life-experience for all,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “We are going to proudly stage the kinds of events which draw players from all around the world while also staying true to our heritage of contesting all variants of poker.”
To that end, the WSOP is pleased to announce the first new event for 2015. A flagship event to kickoff the opening weekend of the WSOP schedule and deliver the largest field ever to play in a live poker tournament. Dubbed “the Colossus” this two starting day event on Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30 will feature a $5,000,000 prize pool guarantee and the lowest buy-in for any WSOP open event in 35 years – just $565! There will be two starting flights each day – at 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM – with a re-entry format (limited to flights they have not previously entered). Players will love the robust 5,000 in starting chips with the tournament beginning without an ante and blinds at 25/50.
“Load up the entire gang – the home game, the spouse, whomever you know that enjoys the game,” said Stewart. “The Colossus is going to feature a historic prize pool at this buy-in level and it can only happen at the World Series of Poker.”
Buy-ins for tournaments at the Rio start as low as $75. Cash games will begin on May 27 and run 24 hours a day throughout the seven-week series taking place in the spacious Rio Convention Center.
Mixed games will again be well represented at the 2015 WSOP. The “two-track” system for popular disciplines of poker, with a $1,500 track and $10,000 Championship disciplines set to return.
Some other key tournaments confirmed already to circle on your calendars include:
Friday, June 5/Saturday, June 6: Millionaire Maker – The second Friday/Saturday of the series marks the return of the successful Millionaire Maker event with a couple new wrinkles sure to be a hit with players. In the 2015 iteration, players will begin with 7,500 in starting chips – an increase of 66.6 percent. The event moves to two starting days to make things more comfortable for players. The Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em event on June 5-6 will again feature a $1,500 investment, with the winner guaranteed to earn at least $1,000,000. The event will feature two starting flights, Flight A on June 5 at 10:00 AM and Flight B on June 6 at 10:00 AM. Eliminated Flight A players may re-enter Flight B. The tournament starts with no ante, and blinds of 25/50, giving players 150 big blinds at the outset. This event featured a record 7,977 entries in 2014 and the winner, Jonathan Dimmig earned $1,319,587 and the prize pool last year exceeded $10.7 million.
Friday, June 12/Saturday, June 13: Monster Stack – The no-doubt-about-it tournament of 2014 was the WSOP’s Monster Stack. It returns in 2015 with some new wrinkles. It will include two starting flights, one on Friday, June 12 and the other on Saturday, June 13. This year, both flights will begin at 10:00 AM. Players will begin with 15,000 in starting chips for their $1,500 investment, and with the move off of a Thursday start in 2014, the expectation is this event will exceed the record 7,863 unique entries and $10.6 million prize pool of its debut.
Friday, June 19: Seniors Championship – Easily one of the most anticipated events each summer, this year will be no exception. In 2014, the event attracted 4,425 entries, creating a $3,892,500 prize pool. Dan Heimiller captured the gold bracelet and the $627,462 first place prize. In 2015, the Seniors Championship will begin at 10:00 AM on June 19, with a special addition. Players will begin play with 5,000 in starting chips – an increase of 66.6% over the previous starting stack. The $1,000 buy-in event will see players start with 100 big blinds, with Level 1 starting with no ante and blinds at 25/50. In addition to the Seniors Event, this year a Super Seniors $1,000 buy-in event is being added for players ages 65 and older. The Super Seniors event is expected to be in close proximity to the Seniors event.
Thursday, June 25: Ladies Championship – The Ladies event in 2015 moves to a Thursday start at 12 noon. The $10,000 buy-in (90% off for ladies) event will also get a big boost in starting chips, with players getting 5,000 chips and a 100-big blinds for Level 1. The move to Thursday is in response to feedback of participants looking to maintain the option to play one of the big open No-Limit Hold’em events that run on the coinciding weekend.
Sunday, June 28th: ONE DROP High Roller – With the Big One for ONE DROP on its biannual leave, the ONE DROP High Roller returns with a $111,111 buy-in at 1:00 PM on Sunday, June 28. If 2013 is any indication, this event stands to be the largest field for a six-figure buy-in of any tournament in the world. ONE DROP founder Guy Laliberté is one of the first commitments to the tournament, which drew a staggering 166 unique players with Anthony Gregg winning $4,830,619 in 2013. This event will continue with its charitable component.
Tuesday, June 30: Little One for ONE DROP – The fourth biggest tournament of 2014 returns with some terrific enhancements for the 2015 version. The event will now feature a $1,000 buy-in, with players getting an increased starting stack of 5,000 in chips, an increase of 25 percent. But better yet, if players pay an additional $111, they will be able to double their starting stack to 10,000 in chips. We call this add-on feature the “Donating for Double” with all $111 going directly to support our charity partner, the ONE DROP organization (www.ONEDROP.org). Players will be required to pay for their add-on at the time of registration if they elect that option. The event will feature two starting flights, Flight A at 10:00 AM on June 30 and Flight B at 4:00 PM the same day. This is also an unlimited re-entry event during the open registration period. Players may re-enter the same flight or the alternate flight as often as they wish. Same rules apply as original entry. $1,000 buy-in for 5,000 in chips, with 10,000 chips being the starting stack if a player adds-on the $111 “Donating for Double” feature.
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Nearly 500 poker tables will be set up across more than 100,000 square-feet of ballroom space to accommodate the thousands of players from around the world who attend poker’s annual Woodstock.
WSOP.com’s real-money online poker offerings in New Jersey and Nevada will be the exclusive online home for players in these states to win seats into WSOP events, including the Main Event. While in New Jersey or Nevada, eligible players can play on WSOP.com, whether a resident or not, and satellites are expected to run regularly throughout the WSOP. New features this year include mobile access, on both iOS and Android devices.
The 2014 WSOP attracted 82,360 participants – the largest attendance in the WSOP’s 45-year history – in a total of 65 events, generating a prize pool of more than $227 million. Participants in WSOP events hailed from 110 countries in 2014. The WSOP Main Event, won by Sweden’s Martin Jacobson this year, attracted 6,683 players and awarded Jacobson $10,000,000.
The current slate of individual events offered during the 46th Annual WSOP are being finalized, with 60+ official gold bracelet events expected, with weekends catering to the No-Limit Hold’em weekend warriors and a broad range of other variations of poker at both entry level and championship level buy-ins being mixed in throughout the series.
The full event-by-event schedule is expected to be released sometime in January.
About the World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker® is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world, having awarded more than $2 billion in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest-running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2014, the event attracted 82,360 entrants from 110 different countries to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and awarded more than $227 million in prize money. In addition, the WSOP has formed groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent of the World Series of Poker Europe in 2007 and the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific in 2013. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit http://www.wsop.com/.
