Wsop Online Announced With 74 Bracelets Up For Grabs
The World Series of Poker is the world’s oldest and richest poker tournament series. It is constantly expanding and offering players around the world an opportunity to become poker champions. Last week, GG Poker and WSOP.com announced yet another opportunity for players to win a WSOP gold bracelet.
WSOP Online is returning from 20 August through 17 October on WSOP.com in the United States and GGPoker internationally. The series will feature 74 gold bracelets and massive guarantees. The WSOP Online Main Event features a massive $25 million guaranteed prize pool. While the series will undoubtedly prove popular, it is clear at this point that the WSOP has jumped the shark on the number of bracelets offered.
WSOP Online Returns With 74 Bracelet Events
On Thursday, the World Series of Poker and GGPoker announced the World Series of Poker online. The international bracelet series will run from 20 August to 17 October at GGPoker and WSOP.com. There will be three series of bracelets events.
The first is the US-based WSOP Online, with 33 bracelets awarded at WSOP.com. Players physically located in New Jersey and Nevada will be able to participate. Next, Canada will be able to play for eight bracelets at GGPoker.ca.
Finally, international players can go to GGPoker.com and compete for 33 bracelets. This brings the total number of bracelets to be awarded in the series to 74.
Poker Hall of Famer and GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu spoke on the series, stating, “I cannot wait to get into WSOP Online 2023 and play for WSOP gold alongside thousands of other players. I’ll be streaming a lot during the series and you’ll also be able to buy some of my action via GGPoker’s legendary integrated staking feature, so why not buckle in and ride along with me this WSOP Online?”
Guarantees Up to $25 Million Available
If you’re looking for massive prize pools, the events at GGPoker will be the ones to play. Several events have guarantees of $1 million or more. Some of the top events include the $210 Mystery Millions and $10,300 GGMillions High Roller. Both have a $10 million guarantee.
The top event of the series will be the WSOP Online Main Event. Kicking off on 25 September, the event has a $5,000 buy-in and a $25 million guarantee. Other events like the $300 Gladiators of Poker and the $500 Mini Main Event have guarantees of $2.5 million.
The WSOP Has Clearly Jumped the Shark – But Nobody Seems to Care
Remember when people complained that the WSOP was going overboard with a 50-bracelet schedule? With the addition of WSOP Online, there will be 227 WSOP bracelets up for grabs in 2023. This is easily a world record for bracelets and not necessarily a good one.
The original purpose of the World Series of Poker was to bring together the best poker players in the world to compete for the world’s largest prizes. The open-field concept of the series allowed amateurs to play if they could afford it.
Now, the WSOP has evolved into a corporate entity more concerned with drawing huge crowds than producing quality poker events. It seems the “more the merrier” approach aims to give everyone a chance to play, regardless of bankroll.
While this approach can be good for amateurs, it diminishes the quality of the series. A WSOP bracelet means much less now than it did even ten years ago. Winning a bracelet was a massive accomplishment. Now, it can be a matter of simple variance, particularly when there are over 200 chances to win a bracelet each year.
Unfortunately, there isn’t enough outrage or concern to change things. Poker players continue to flock to WSOP events, and as long as they continue to do so, the WSOP will continue to dilute the series’ quality.
