2020 World Series Of Poker
The 2020 World Series of Poker schedule is set, and this year’s docket features more events than ever before.
The first WSOP, held in 1970, saw just a handful of players gather at Binion’s Horseshoe to play cash games before naming a world champion by vote. A half century later the series has grown into an international spectacle, with players from over 100 countries converging on Las Vegas annually to compete for the game’s ultimate prize — a gold bracelet.
The number of bracelets awarded will hit triple digits for the first time this year, with a record 101 events packed into the seven-week schedule. That tops last year’s 90 events, which drew 187,298 total entries and awarded payouts exceeding $293 million.
The 2020 series will take place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, home to the WSOP since 2005. Buy-ins will range from $400 for certain online events and the popular Colossus up to $250,000 for the Super High Roller.
No less than 14 events will be contested online, the most since the WSOP began holding bracelet events online in 2015. Thanks to a multi-state poker alliance, players in both Nevada and New Jersey are eligible to compete remotely.
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2020 WSOP Schedule
Here’s the full schedule of live events for the 2020 WSOP; see below for online bracelet events:
| Date | Time (PT) | Buy-in | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 27 | 11:00 AM | $1,000 | No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout |
| May 27 | 3:00 PM | $500 | Casino Employees Event |
| May 28 | 10:00 AM | $500 | Big 50 - Flight A |
| May 28 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better |
| May 29 | 10:00 AM | $500 | Big 50 - Flight B |
| May 29 | 3:00 PM | $25,000 | No-Limit Hold'em High Roller 8-Handed |
| May 30 | 10:00 AM | $500 | Big 50 - Flight C |
| May 30 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Dealer's Choice 6-Handed |
| May 31 | 10:00 AM | $500 | Big 50 - Flight D |
| May 31 | 6:00 PM | $25,000 | Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship |
| June 1 | 11:00 AM | $600 | No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack |
| June 1 | 3:00 PM | $2,500 | Mixed Limit Triple Draw Lowball |
| June 2 | 11:00 AM | $1,000 | No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty |
| June 2 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Seven-Card Stud |
| June 3 | 11:00 AM | $1,500 | No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed |
| June 3 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better Championship |
| June 4 | 11:00 AM | $1,500 | No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout |
| June 4 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | H.O.R.S.E. |
| June 5 | 10:00 AM | $1,500 | Millionaire Maker - Flight A |
| June 5 | 1:00 PM | $50,000 | High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed |
| June 5 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better / Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better / Big O |
| June 6 | 10:00 AM | $1,500 | Millionaire Maker - Flight B |
| June 6 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Seven-Card Stud Championship |
| June 7 | 11:00 AM | $1,000 | Forty Stack No-Limit Hold'em |
| June 7 | 3:00 PM | $3,000 | H.O.R.S.E. |
| June 8 | 11:00 AM | $600 | Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack 8-Handed |
| June 8 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Short Deck No-Limit Hold'em |
| June 9 | 11:00 AM | $1,500 | No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty |
| June 9 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | H.O.R.S.E. Championship |
| June 10 | 11:00 AM | $1,000 | Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed |
| June 10 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw |
| June 11 | 11:00 AM | $2,500 | No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout |
| June 11 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or-Better |
| June 12 | 10:00 AM | $1,500 | Monster Stack - Flight A |
| June 12 | 2:00 PM | $10,000 | Super Turbo Bounty |
| June 12 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw |
| June 13 | 10:00 AM | $1,500 | Monster Stack - Flight B |
| June 13 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Dealer's Choice Championship |
| June 14 | 1:00 AM | $800 | No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack |
| June 14 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed |
| June 15 | 11:00 AM | $500 | No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout |
| June 15 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship |
| June 16 | 11:00 AM | $600 | Mixed No-Limit Hold'em / Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed |
| June 16 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Razz |
| June 17 | 11:00 AM | $10,000/$1,000 | Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship |
| June 17 | 12:00 PM | $1,500 | No-Limit Hold'em Shootout |
| June 17 | 3:00 PM | $25,000 | High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed |
| June 18 | 10:00 AM | $1,000 | Seniors No-Limit Hold'em |
| June 18 | 1:00 PM | $3,000 | No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout |
| June 18 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship |
| June 19 | 10:00 AM | $1,000 | Double Stack No-Limit Hold'em - Flight A |
| June 19 | 3:00 PM | $2,500 | Nine-Game Mix |
| June 20 | 10:00 AM | $1,000 | Double Stack No-Limit Hold'em - Flight B |
| June 20 | 3:00 AM | $10,000 | Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship |
| June 21 | 11:00 AM | $800 | No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack 8-Handed |
| June 21 | 3:00 PM | $5,000 | Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed |
| June 22 | 10:00 AM | $1,000 | Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em |
| June 22 | 2:00 PM | $1,000 | Tag Team Event |
| June 22 | 3:00 PM | $50,000 | Poker Players Championship |
| June 23 | 11:00 AM | $600 | No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Championship |
| June 23 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better 8-Handed |
| June 24 | 10:00 AM | $400 | Colossus - Flight A |
| June 24 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Razz Championship |
| June 25 | 10:00 AM | $400 | Colossus - Flight B |
| June 25 | 3:00 PM | $5,000 | No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed |
| June 26 | 10:00 AM | $888 | Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed - Flight A |
| June 26 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better Championship |
| June 26 | 5:00 PM | $888 | Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed - Flight B |
| June 27 | 10:00 AM | $888 | Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed - Flight C |
| June 27 | 12:00 PM | $250,000 | Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em |
| June 27 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Limit Hold'em |
| June 27 | 5:00 PM | $888 | Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed - Flight D |
| June 28 | 11:00 AM | $1,500 | Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold'em |
| June 28 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or-Better Championship |
| June 29 | 11:00 AM | $1,000 | Mini Main Event |
| June 29 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed |
| June 30 | 11:00 AM | $500 | Final 500 Salute to Warriors No-Limit Hold'em |
| June 30 | 3:00 PM | $10,000 | Limit Hold'em Championship |
| July 1 | 11:00 AM | $10,000 | No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship - Flight A |
| July 2 | 11:00 AM | $10,000 | No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship - Flight B |
| July 3 | 11:00 AM | $10,000 | No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship - Flight C |
| July 4 | 12:00 PM | $1,111 | $1,000 + $111 Little One for One Drop - Flight A |
| July 5 | 12:00 PM | $1,111 | $1,000 + $111 Little One for One Drop - Flight B |
| July 5 | 3:00 PM | $3,000 | Limit Hold'em 6-Handed |
| July 6 | 12:00 PM | $1,111 | $1,000 + $111 Little One for One Drop - Flight C |
| July 6 | 6:00 PM | $5,000 | Mixed No-Limit Hold'em / Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed |
| July 7 | 12:00 PM | $1,500 | No-Limit Hold'em Bounty |
| July 7 | 3:00 PM | $50,000 | High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha |
| July 8 | 12:00 PM | $1,500 | Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty |
| July 8 | 3:00 PM | $3,000 | No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed |
| July 9 | 12:00 PM | $1,500 | Fifty Stack No-Limit Hold'em |
| July 9 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Mixed No-Limit Hold'em / Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed |
| July 9 | 6:00 PM | $50,000 | High Roller No-Limit Hold'em |
| July 10 | 12:00 PM | $1,500 | The Closer - No Limit Hold'em - Flight A |
| July 10 | 3:00 PM | $3,000 | Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed |
| July 11 | 12:00 PM | $1,500 | The Closer - No Limit Hold'em - Flight B |
| July 11 | 3:00 PM | $100,000 | High Roller No-Limit Hold'em |
| July 12 | 11:00 AM | $800 | No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack |
| July 12 | 3:00 PM | $1,500 | Eight-Game Mix 6-Handed |
| July 13 | 11:00 AM | $1,000 | No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo |
| July 13 | 3:00 PM | $2,500 | Mixed Big Bet |
| July 14 | 3:00 PM | $5,000 | No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed |
2020 WSOP online bracelet events
These 14 bracelet events will be available in Nevada and New Jersey via the WSOP online poker client.
| Date | Time (PT) | Buy-in | Event | Chips | Re-entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 31 | 3:30pm | $400 | No-Limit Hold’em | 15,000 | 1 |
| June 7 | 3:30pm | $777 | PLO 7-Handed | 20,000 | 3 |
| June 9 | 3:30pm | $800 | Freezeout Knockout Deepstack NLH | 40,000 | 0 |
| June 14 | 3:30pm | $500 | 8-Handed NLH Turbo Deepstack | 40,000 | 1 |
| June 21 | 3:30pm | $500 | Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em | 20,000 | 0 |
| June 28 | 3:30pm | $1,000 | No-Limit Hold’em Championship | 20,000 | 1 |
| June 29 | 3:30pm | $500 | No-Limit Hold’em | 15,000 | 1 |
| June 30 | 3:30pm | $1,500 | No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed | 20,000 | 1 |
| July 1 | 3:30pm | $3,200 | High Roller NLH 8-Handed | 25,000 | 1 |
| July 2 | 12 noon | $10,000 | Super High Roller Championship | 30,000 | 0 |
| July 3 | 3:30pm | $400 | No-Limit Hold’em | 15,000 | 1 |
| July 4 | 3:30pm | $500 | No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack | 40,000 | 1 |
| July 5 | 3:30pm | $600 | 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em | 15,000 | 1 |
| July 12 | 3:30pm | $500 | Summer Saver No-Limit Hold’em | 20,000 | 1 |
How to watch the 2020 WSOP
The WSOP is once again teaming with Poker Central and ESPN this year to broadcast from the Rio.
Below is the current schedule of at least 40 hours of Main Event coverage planned to be shown on ESPN and ESPN2. Outside of the TV broadcast windows, additional coverage of the Main Event will air on PokerGO throughout the tournament.
| Date | Time (ET) | Network | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1 | 8:00 PM - 1:00 AM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 1A |
| July 2 | 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM | ESPN | WSOP Main Event Day 1B |
| July 2 | 11:00 PM - 1:00 AM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 1B |
| July 3 | 8:00 PM - 1:30 AM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 1C |
| July 4 | 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM | ESPN | WSOP Main Event Day 2AB |
| July 5 | 10:00 PM - 1:00 AM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 2C |
| July 6 | 10:00 PM - 2:00 AM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 3 |
| July 7 | 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 4 |
| July 8 | 10:00 PM - 2:00 AM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 5 |
| July 9 | 8:00 PM - 12:00 AM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 6 |
| July 10 | 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 7 (play to final table) |
| July 12 | 10:00 PM - TBD | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 8 (9 to 6 players) |
| July 13 | 10:00 PM - TBD | ESPN2 | WSOP Main Event Day 9 (6 to 3 players) |
| July 14 | 9:00 PM - TBD | ESPN | WSOP Main Event Day 10 (3 players to winner) |
Things to watch for at the 2020 WSOP
Here are some of the storylines we’ll be watching when the 51st Annual WSOP begins in May.
More events means more variety
The WSOP rolled out the 2020 schedule in pieces this year — first teasing its 15 “tentpole” events, then successively rolling out:
- 14 online events
- 25 “value menu” events that cost $1,000 or less to enter
- 25 events with $1,500 buy-ins
- 16 Championship events with buy-ins of $10,000+
- 9 High Roller events costing $25,000+ to enter
- $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Scattered throughout the 101 events is a wide variety of offerings at every price point, in other words, making it almost seem like five or six different tournament series all running concurrently with one another.
Also worth noting are the 40 events that feature games other than no-limit hold’em, continuing a WSOP tradition of offering players a wide assortment of poker variants.
Here are just some of the events that stand out, including some brand new ones:
- $10,000 Short Deck tournament is back after 2019 debut
- Tag Team, Colossus, Millionaire Maker, Monster Stack, Ladies, Seniors, and Super Seniors events all return
- $250,000 Super High Roller (new)
- $50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha (new)
- $1,500 Mystery Bounty featuring 100 bounties totaling $1 million (new)
- $2,500 Nine-Game Mix featuring the standard eight plus NL 2-7 Draw (new)
More online events
The expanded schedule of online events actually presents an exception to the “more events means more variety” rule, as the added tournaments are generally more of the same. Even so, they will provide more opportunities for players to win bracelets on the virtual felt.
Only three of the 14 online events are freezeouts, with the rest all single re-entry save the $777 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha 7-Handed event (which allows triple re-entry). That’s a change from 2019 when all but one of the nine online events were either triple or unlimited re-entry.
Buy-ins for the online tournaments start at $400 with all but four being less than $1,000 to play. A new tournament this year is the highest buy-in online event, the Super High Roller Championship that will cost a cool $10,000 to play.
Online events will run every Sunday throughout the series, with others peppered here and there — including each day during the start of the live Main Event.
Re-entry is the new normal
Speaking of re-entries, many of the events will allow one re-entry per event or flight.
Last year, 41 of the 89 bracelet events were freezeouts. The other 48 were either single re-entry, single re-entry per flight, triple re-entry, or unlimited re-entry.
While the WSOP has generally shied away from including too many unlimited re-entry events (last year there were six total), it does appear the re-entry format — especially single re-entry — will be prominently used again in 2020.
Big blind antes, deep starting stacks return
While the structure sheets haven’t arrived yet, positive reception to the use of the big blind ante in all no-limit hold’em events last year means the “BBA” will surely return in 2020.
Starting stack sizes increased for many events last year, and it appears those same deep stacks will be back again in 2020.
For those 15 tentpole events, for example, the WSOP has already indicated what the starting stacks will be. And in all cases they are the same as a year ago, including in the Main Event where players will begin with 60,000 chips.
New record Main Event field?
The $10,000 buy-in Main Event drew 8,773 entries in 2006 to set an all-time record, creating a prizepool worth $82,512,162 and ultimately paying out $12 million to winner Jamie Gold.
Congress signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law that fall, however, causing the WSOP to stop accepting online satellite qualifiers from offshore poker sites. Entries dropped markedly to 6,358 the following year, and over the next decade averaged around 6,750 annually.
In 2018, however, the total jumped to 7,874. Then last year 8,569 players took part to create prizepool of $80,548,600. While that turnout exceeded expectations, many left Las Vegas encouraged to think the 2020 Main Event field could eclipse the 2006 total and establish a new all-time record.
Whatever happens, this year’s Main Event turnout will be the focus of a lot of attention during the first week of July.
Coronavirus impact on 2020 WSOP
Starting in late February, some in the poker world began speculating over whether or not the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in dozens of countries around the world — including the US — might affect the 2020 WSOP schedule.
Such discussions were prompted in part by reports raising similar questions about other big events happening in July and August, such as the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the major political parties’ national conventions.
Even if the summer WSOP calendar isn’t directly affected, COVID-19’s impact on international travel and global markets may still cause consequences that were unforeseen when the schedule was initially planned and finalized.
