Planet Mark's Blog. Thoughts, News And Strategy For Poker Tournaments Of All Size

Is it just me - or are the online WSOP qualifiers getting earlier?

Played my first WSOP qualifier game in a good few years yesterday. I can’t recall them being announced this early in any previous year. Will park that thought along with the cops / doctors getting younger and move on…

The game was a $16.50 sub qualifier at 888Poker. It did not go well for me (got short and lost a standard race A-J vs 10-10). What I was encouraged by was the number of crazy / terrible / or maybe drunk players at the tables. I’m talking about people 5 betting all-in with K-10 (75 BBs deep against a tight player), raise-calling almost every hand then folding the flop without a monster… I’m sure you get the idea.

888 Sponsor WSOP Events

With 888 sponsoring the WSOP (and having their own crazy 8’s event), it was no surprise to see them first out with the qualifiers.

Things are simple for now. Here is what is on offer:

  • $16.50 qualifiers each evening which lead to...
  • $109 qualifiers at weekends which lead to...
  • $1050 qualifiers on Sundays which lead to...

A $12,600 package to the WSOP. That includes $1000 into your 888 account for expenses, 6 nights at the Vdara and entry into the Main Event.

As I side note, I was lucky enough to stay at the Vdara last year. This is an excellent hotel, behind the Aria and connected to the Bellagio.

Here is a picture of the view (pic does not really do it justice, this was a one-bedroom fountain view room).

Early WSOP Qualifiers Blog Post

What’s Next for WSOP Qualifiers?

Usually March is when the qualifiers get going in earnest.

For US players, America’s Cardroom is the place to head.

888 push their satellites hard, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other options get added. With the $16.50c starting price, micro-limit players don’t have an entry point at the moment. I’d also like to see some side-event packages (one for the Crazy 8’s tournament around a week before the Main Event would be welcome).

As for me… I’m too busy running multiple business projects to dedicate too much time to the qualifiers this year. Plan is to try a few in my weekend evenings downtime… you never know!

Interesting Additions to the 2019 WSOP Schedule

Instead of announcing the whole schedule at once, Caesars are drip feeding us this year. There are some new additions worth a shout:

  • Mini Main Event: This is a $1000 entry event, just a few days before the real Main. It uses the same blind levels and 60k starting stack as the big one, though 30-minute levels. This is a turbo by any measure, though the first few levels should be deep enough for a lot of post-flop play.
  • Short Deck Hold’em: This year’s popular format gets its own $10k event.
  • Colossus: Goes down to $400 entry (with rebuys)

The other notable change is that Big Blind Ante will be adopted (not sure for how many events). This is popular and will certainly speed up play.

You can check out the first online WSOP qualifiers at www.888.com (new players from many countries get $88 in tokens, no deposit needed – terms do of course apply).

GL at the tables,

Mark

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