World Series of Poker announces 2020 dates

The 51st World Series of Poker (WSOP) – the longest-running, richest and most prestigious tournament series – opens its doors on Tuesday, 26 May 2020 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and will run for 51 consecutive days through Wednesday, 15 July 2020.

This marks the 51st running of the famed tournament series and the golden anniversary.

The WSOP has been a Las Vegas institution dating back to its humble beginnings in 1970 and has grown to become a global phenomenon, with record-setting numbers across the board last year featuring more than 187,000 entrants from 118 different countries and in excess of $293 million in prize money awarded.

“We can’t wait to open our doors for the 2020 World Series of Poker,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “Summer can’t come fast enough, and we look forward to welcoming poker players from all over the globe back to the Rio in Las Vegas to award gold bracelets and hundreds of millions of dollars.”

The first bracelet events will start on Wednesday, 27 May 2020. The opening weekend signature event will be the $500 buy-in, 50,000 starting chip, 50-minute levels record-setting BIG 50 No-Limit Hold’em. With starting flights scheduled for Thursday, 28 May, Friday, 29 May Saturday, 30 May and Sunday, 31 May this exceptional value tournament will be another can’t-miss event.

The $10,000 buy-in Main Event Championship will have three starting flights, on Wednesday, 1 July, Thursday, 2 July and Friday, 3 July. Players who compete on 1-2 July, will return on 4 July to play their Day 2 if they survive their opening flight with chips. Those that begin on 3 July, have 4 July off and return for their Day 2 on Sunday, 5 July. Fields will combine for the first time on Monday, 6 July for Day 3 play and continue through Friday, 10 July, which is when the final table is expected to be reached. An off day is planned for 11 July, with the Main Event final table televised on ESPN/ESPN2 12-14 July.

Registration for the Main Event remains open through Level 6, meaning all players participating must be in the field at the end of that first level on 5 July.

The third and final event the WSOP can confirm at this time for 2020 is the popular Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship. This $1,000 buy-in, single re-entry tournament will take place Thursday, 18 June at 10am and is open to those age 50 and up. The final table of this event is expected to take place on Sunday, 21 June.

Now that the overall dates for the BIG 50, Seniors and the Main Event dates have been solidified, the WSOP will begin to configure the individual events and dates for the rest of the WSOP. Schedule announcements are anticipated to come beginning in the New Year laying out those events and dates.

A record 187,298 entries participated in the 2019 WSOP, creating a 50-year high of $293,183,345 in prize money. The average WSOP gold bracelet event in 2019 had a $3,257,592 prize pool.

The 2019 WSOP featured huge field sizes once again in signature events, with the Main Event (8,569), Big 50 (28,371), Deepstack No-Limit Hold’em (6,150), Millionaire Maker (8,809), Double Stack (6,214), Monster Stack (6,035), Crazy Eights (10,185), Seniors Championship (5,916), Colossus (13,109), Deepstack Championship (6,140), Mini Main Event (5,521) and Little One for One Drop (6,248) all exceeding 5,000 entrants each and combining to attract a staggering 111,267 entries. All these signature events are expected to return in 2020.