WSOP 2022 Gets Underway in Las Vegas in Style
This morning, May 31, the 2022 World Series of Poker got underway in Las Vegas.
The 2022 WSOP is the first one since 2019 that is running per tradition – from May 31 to mid-July and without vaccination or mask requirements.
That’s not to say this is a typical WSOP. By its sheer location, it is straying from tradition. For the first time, the action is on the Las Vegas Strip. And it is playing out at two casinos, though they are connected, as they’re both Caesars properties. The two convention centers provided an opportunity for Caesars to incorporate more of is properties and increase the amount of space available for poker.
Its kickoff this morning brought the familiar and unfamiliar together. From here on out, everything else will fall into place…hopefully.
With this tweet, the 2022 World Series of Poker is now open for business!
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) May 31, 2022
A New Home
Recently, the WSOP posted an FAQ page on the website to answer frequently asked questions. One of the most important answers provided was the location of the different activities, since they are split between Bally’s and Paris.
Paris
Champagne Ballroom: Main registration cage for all tournaments
Champagne Ballroom: Safety deposit boxes
Champagne Ballroom: WSOP tournament account transactions and verifications
Champagne Ballroom: WSOP.com online account deposits, withdrawals, and support representatives
Champagne Ballroom: Tournament payouts
Champagne Ballroom: WSOP retail store
Burgundy Room: Caesars Rewards desk
Burgundy Room: WSOP FasTrac for verification of online registrations
In or adjacent to Champagne Ballroom: WSOP player services office
Main Ballroom: All Day 1 bracelet tournament starts
Main Ballroom: All $10K+ bracelet tournament starts & playdown to final tables
Main Ballroom: King’s Lounge for high-stakes cash games
Main Ballroom (green section): All cash games
Main Ballroom: All daily deepstack tournaments
Main Ballroom: All mega and single-table satellites
Bally’s
Grand Ballroom: All Day 2 bracelet tournament restarts
Grand Ballroom: All final tables
Grand Ballroom: Overflow for Day 1 of large tournaments (i.e. Millionaire Maker)
Event Center: CBS feature tables filmed for television
Here is a helpful guide to the 2022 WSOP tournament room table numbering in @ParisVegas and @Ballysvegas pic.twitter.com/ViMjSsXCyX
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) May 29, 2022
It’s also important to note that the convention center and ballrooms areas of Paris and Bally’s are both on the ground floor, the same floor as the casino. It is not a long walk – not nearly as long as it may seem on maps – from the two WSOP areas. It does take a few minutes, depending upon one’s speed, but it is most certainly only a few minutes of a walk.
Last week, WSOP commentators Norman Chad and Lon McEachern recorded a video to explain and show things in a little more detail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfMHiZ48YOo
Getting Underway
The doors for the WSOP officially opened at 9am this morning at Paris. It wasn’t exactly open to everyone at that time, but by the time the first event started at 11am, everyone could move freely around the Paris ballroom areas.
Complaints from players standing in the initial registration line started within 30 minutes of opening time, but those dissipated just as quickly when the staff began processing players.
Keep in mind that the WSOP has provided numerous avenues for registering and paying online, only to have to show up at the Paris cage once to verify identity. Now that the cages and the entirety of the Paris WSOP area are open around the clock, there is no reason for players to show up on the morning of an event and complain about lines. (Seriously, folks. There are many alternatives.)
The 11am start time for the first event was delayed by a few minutes, as Jack Effel took to the microphone to welcome everyone. He talked about his excitement for this new chapter of the World Series of Poker. He then introduced Lisa Vanderpump, a reality television personality who also has a connection with Caesars in that she has a restaurant/lounge open in Paris.
We are LIVE for the 2022 @WSOP! Reality star @LisaVanderpump's "Shuffle Up and Deal" kickstarted the new era of action here @Ballysvegas @ParisVegas.
Read below for more on the inaugural day ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/DPHjZctNUQ
— PokerNews (@PokerNews) May 31, 2022
Vanderpump took to the podium for just a few minutes. She welcomed everyone and made it known that she, too, would be playing in Event 1 for casino industry employees.
From there, the day progressed as would a normal day at the WSOP, albeit in a much brighter space, seemingly more room to move around, and some very happy players.
Our Coverage
We’ll be doing what we did last year on the news section of this website. We will provide a daily recap of the action but without a lot of unnecessary fluff. We will provide the information from the end of the night for every tournament that played that day: the event and its day (1 of 3, for example), stats like field size and prize pool as available, and the top chip counts or final table results. Each will be in a convenient graph.
When a player wins a bracelet, we will link to a video (if available) or interview post from PokerNews, which is doing the official, detailed live reporting.
Finally, each day’s summary will have a list of the expected action for the next day.
Stay tuned for the best summarized WSOP results here daily for the next 51 days!
