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World Series of Poker Reveals 2021 WSOP Vegas Schedule

Written by Jennifer Newell
Last updated on
Jennifer Newell

Poker players have been waiting two years for the World Series of Poker schedule. They’ve seen online tournament schedules and live event cancellations since early 2020 due to the pandemic. And with the exception of live final tables – one in Europe and one in the US – in late 2020 for the Main Event bracelet, live WSOP action was on a perpetual hold since March 2020.

The last time the World Series of Poker welcomed players to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was in the summer of 2019. To many players, it feels like that was ages ago.

On April 1, 2021, WSOP executives announced that there would be live events this year. They provided some bookend dates – September 30 to November 23 for Las Vegas, and November 19 to December 8 for Rozvadov (WSOP Europe) – and added some online bracelet events for good measure.

The pandemic is not over. However, vaccines have decreased the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in many parts of the world, including the United States. Even so, arranging a summer WSOP would have been too ambitious. Pushing it all out toward the latter part of 2021 was the safest bet.

With all of that under consideration and everything cleared with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the World Series of Poker released the Las Vegas schedule today.

There are 88 gold bracelet events on it.

Let’s get to it.

Full Fall Schedule

The Rio Convention Center will open its doors at 9am on September 30, 2021. Registration will open, as will live cash games and satellites. Two hours later, the first bracelet event will begin.

The 2021 WSOP will conclude on Tuesday, November 23 when Events 87 and 88 finish their final tables.

Buy-ins will range from $400 for the Colossus (Event 55) to $250K for the Super High Roller (Event 82). The vast majority of tournaments will remain between $1K and $10K. And all 88 events will be live at the Rio, as online schedules for US and international players will be held at different times.

There are two important links to the 2021 WSOP schedule:

–PDF detailed schedule, including starting chips, levels, late registration and reentry information, mega satellites, and daily side tournaments

–Schedule with structure basics for each event, eventually to offer full structure sheets

Fall Schedule Highlights

There are a number of tournaments on the schedule that will either be new or noteworthy because of the missed year and some interesting additions to the lineup. Some of them are in the category of “Return of the Record Breakers” because of their history of developing large fields and massive prize pools.

-September 30 (Event 3) $1K Covid-19 Relief NLHE Charity Event (benefiting frontline healthcare workers, exact charity yet to be announced, unlimited reentries)

-October 1 (Event 4) $500 buy-in The Renunion NLHE (3 starting flights, $5M GTD)

-October 5 (Event 11) $25K buy-in Heads-Up NLHE Championship (64-player cap)

-October 8 (Event 17) $1,500 buy-in NLHE Millionaire Maker (2 starting flights, $1M GTD to winner)

-October 10 (Event 20) $1K buy-in Flip and Go by GGPoker (2 starting flights, each player all-in on first hand after selecting two of three cards preflop, one player advances in the money and to NLHE format)

-October 11 (Event 22) $1K/$10K Ladies NLHE Championship (women pay $1K buy-in)

-October 15 (Event 30) $1,500 NLHE Monster Stack (2 starting flights)

-October 22 (Event 43) $1K NLHE Double Stack (2 starting flights)

-October 27 (Event 52) $1K Seniors NLHE Championship (2 starting flights, players 50+ only)

-October 29 (Event 55) $400 buy-in NLHE Colossus (2 starting flights, payouts each flight)

-October 31 (Event 58) $1K buy-in NLHE Super Seniors (players 60+ only)

-October 31 (Event 59) $1K buy-in (NLHE Tag Team (2-person teams must register together)

-October 31 (Event 60) $50K buy-in NLHE Poker Players Championship (9-game mix)

-November 2 (Event 63) $500 buy-in NLHE Salute to Warriors Charity Event (benefiting USO and other veterans’ organizations to be announced)

-November 3 (Event 65) $1K buy-in Mini Main NLHE

-November 8 (Event 68) $1K buy-in NLHE Little One for One Drop (3 starting flights, $111 tournament fee benefits One Drop Foundation, unlimited reentries)

-November 11 (Event 70) $888 buy-in Crazy Eights NLHE (4 starting flights, payouts each flight, $888,888 GTD to winner)

-November 16 (Event 77) $1,500 buy-in Fifty Stack NLHE

-November 17 (Event 79) $1,979 buy-in NLHE Poker Hall of Fame Bounty (open event but PHOF members play free with bounties on their heads corresponding to year of their induction, 2021 inductee to be announced)

-November 18 (Event 82) $250K buy-in NLHE Super High Roller

-November 19 (Event 83) $1,500 buy-in The Closer NLHE (2 starting flights, payouts each flight)

-November 19 (Event 84) $50K buy-in PLO High Roller

-November 21 (Event 87) $100K buy-in NLHE High Roller

THE Main Event

The big dance, the world-renowned championship, the one to win is the World Series of Poker No Limit Hold’em World Championship. One needs only to say “Main Event” to know that they are referring to the WSOP Main Event.

Last year, the Main Event veered into unknown territory for the first time because…well…the pandemic. The World Series of Poker divided it up at first – one tournament starting on GGPoker for international players and one on WSOP.com for US players. Those players making the final table went live to play down to winners – GGPoker at King’s Casino in Rozvadov and WSOP.com at the Rio in Las Vegas. Those two winners then battled in a $1M freeroll for the money and the bracelet.

Damian Salas of Argentina defeated Joseph Hebert of the United States for that honor.

This year, pandemic permitting, the WSOP Main Event will return to normal. The live event will play out completely in Las Vegas. The $10K buy-in freezeout will be the old standard to which players have become accustomed over more than 50 years of WSOP history.

Event 67 will be the 2021 WSOP Main Event and play out as follows:

-November 4 (Thursday) at 11am: Day 1A (first of four starting days, to play 7 levels)

-November 5 (Friday) at 11am: Day 1B (second of four starting days, to play 7 levels)

-November 6 (Saturday) at 11am: Day 1C (third of four starting days, to play 7 levels)

-November 7 (Sunday) at 11am: Day 1D (final starting day, to play 7 levels)

-November 8 (Monday) at 11am: Day 2AB (combines survivors of Days 1A and 1B)

-November 9 (Tuesday) at 11am: Day 2CD (combines survivors of Days 1C and 1D)

-November 10 (Wednesday) at 11am: Day 3 (combines all Day 2 survivors)

-November 11 (Thursday) at 11am: Day 4

-November 12 (Friday) at 11am: Day 5

-November 13 (Saturday) at 11am: Day 6

-November 14 (Sunday) at 11am: Day 7 (plays down to final table of nine)

-November 16 (Tuesday) at time TBD: Day 8 (final table action)

-November 17 (Wednesday) at time TBD: Day 9 (play to a winner)

That $10K buy-in Main Event offers no reentries, per tradition, and will start players with 60,000 chips playing 120-minute levels. (One form of the schedule shows Days 1A through 1C playing seven levels but Day 1D playing eight levels. This is a typo, as all starting flights will play only seven levels.) The full structure sheet and number of levels to be played from Day 2 forward is not yet available.

For Players on a Budget

There will be quite a few events with buy-ins at the price point of less than $1K, which is beneficial for all of those players on a strict poker budget. These are also solid ways for anyone to try a WSOP tournament without breaking the bank, relatively speaking per WSOP standards. Those events will be:

-Sept 30 (Event 1) $500 Casino Employees NLHE

-Oct 1 (Event 4) $500 The Reunion NLHE ($5M GTD)

-Oct 4 (Event 8) $600 NLHE Deepstack

-Oct 12 (Event 24) $600 PLO Deepstack

-Oct 17 (Event 33) $800 NLHE 8-Handed Deepstack

-Oct 18 (Event 35) $500 NLHE Freezeout

-Oct 24 (Event 46) $800 NLHE Deepstack

-Oct 26 (Event 50) $600 Mixed NLHE/PLO 8-Handed Deepstack

-Oct 29 (Event 55) $400 Colossus NLHE

-Nov 1 (Event 61) $600 NLHE Deepstack Championship

-Nov 2 (Event 63) $500 Salute to Warriors NLHE

-Nov 11 (Event 70) $888 Crazy Eights NLHE ($888,888 GTD for 1st)

-Nov 18 (Event 81) $800 NLHE Deepstack

Daily Deepstacks

The daily deepstacked tournaments in past years have become hugely popular. Players flock to the lower buy-ins for a variety of reasons, and they will be able to do the same this year in the Pavilion Room at the Convention Center.

The daily tournament schedule will vary in some cases, especially on days that will require extra space to start major WSOP Events like the Colossus or the Main Event. In general, though, the overall schedule will remain in place from September 30 through November 21.

-1pm: $250 NLHE

-4pm: $200 NLHE

-7pm: $400 NLHE with accelerated format

-10pm: $150 NLHE with accelerated format

By popular demand, there will be other daily offerings for special interests, for date ranges below:

-9am: $250 Seniors Only (50+) NLHE (October 6 – November 17)

-5pm: $250 HORSE (October 4 – November 15)

-6pm: $150 Ladies Only NLHE (October 10 only)

How to Register and Play

As the great Whodoni once rapped in Five Minutes of Funk, now we’re gettin’ down to the nitty gritty.

Players must register for these tournaments. And since the Rio in Las Vegas is still, albeit temporarily, a part of the Caesars Entertainment family, players must obtain a Caesars Rewards loyalty card to enter any of the WSOP events. Caesars provides an easy way to create a new account – free, of course – or update one already in existence.

To obtain an actual card, players can visit any Caesars Rewards kiosk in any participating casino to print or reprint a card.

International players will also need to obtain an ITIN, an individual taxpayer identification number, in order for Caesars to pay winnings to players located outside of the US. Players can begin this process now on the IRS website. They can also complete the process at the Rio by bringing ID and a utility bill or lease agreement to verify the person’s name and address.

With a card and a photo ID – and money – players can buy in to any WSOP event, including dailies, in several ways:

-BravoPokerLive.com = Must register for free at BravoPokerLive.com, visit Belize Ballroom during WSOP to validate in person with ID, then register and pay online for all WSOP action. (Players can then visit Bravo kiosks in Rio Convention Center during WSOP to print seat cards.

-Tropical Ballroom = Must present valid photo ID, register in person at main or VIP registration cages September 30 through November 23.

Of course, players must also actually buy in to the tournaments. Options are:

-cash

-credit or debit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express) (must present valid ID)

-ACH (automatic bank transfers) (must present valid ID)

-wire transfer

-cashier check made payable to Rio

-Rio casino chips

-Rio tournament buy-in chips

-tournament buy-in credits

Prior the the WSOP, players should check their own chosen methods to determine potential fees by issuing financial institutions.

The Rio may issue payouts from tournament cashes and wins via:

-cash

-wire transfer

-casino chips

-check

-tournament account deposit via a Bravo Poker Live account

It’s also important to note that all players winning at least $5K more than the buy-in must complete a tax form at the time of the payout. Those without a tax ID number (social security number) and players from non-tax treaty countries may be subject of a withholding of up to 30% tax at the time of payout.

The plan for the WSOP 2021 is final – as final as anything can be after a pandemic. Of course, the WSOP reserves the right to make changes, but at this point, the schedule is set.

 

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