Dates Announced! 2023 WSOP to Run From May 30 to July 18 Next Year

On Tuesday, December 13, the dates for the ‘world’s biggest poker festival’ were announced! The World Series Of Poker (WSOP) will return for its 54th edition from May 30 to July 18 and will take place at the Paris Casino and Bally’s (soon to be renamed Horseshoe) on the Las Vegas Strip.

While the official 2023 WSOP schedule will not be revealed until early next year, Caesars has confirmed details of several featured events, including the ‘Queen of all Bracelet Events,’ the Main Event. The $10,000 buy-in Main Event, officially known as the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em World Championship, gets underway on July 3, with four flights running until July 6. The new World Champion will be crowned on July 17 (tentatively).

The 2023 WSOP will again be hosted at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas for the second consecutive year. Bally’s will officially be rebranded as Horseshoe Las Vegas later this month.

The Horseshoe is where it all began, as WSOP’s late founder Benny Binion hosted the annual tournament at his Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas from 1970 through 2004. Caesars, then Harrah’s Entertainment, acquired the WSOP brand in 2004 and relocated the annual series to the company’s off-Strip Rio. It was hosted there until the 2022 WSOP.

“The historic debut of the WSOP on the Las Vegas Strip delivered in a big way, and we’re excited to announce our Summer 2023 dates in time for the holidays,” said WSOP Senior Vice President and Executive Director Ty Stewart.

“Poker players and fans can now officially mark their calendars and maybe even book their loved ones or themselves a trip to the WSOP as a holiday gift. We’re glad to be back at Paris Las Vegas and the future Horseshoe Las Vegas for another exciting chapter in the tournament’s history as these two resorts raised the bar in hosting last year’s event.”

Jason Gregorec, SVP and General Manager of Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, echoed Stewart’s sentiments saying he was looking forward to more unforgettable WSOP moments.

“The tournament delivered unforgettable moments during its debut on The Strip,” said Gregorec. “We’re excited to welcome back poker’s premier event of the year. We can’t wait to see the first WSOP Main Event champion crowned at the new Horseshoe Las Vegas.”

Here are some of the events to look forward to during next year’s @WSOP. ? pic.twitter.com/sUp6pz1ZRJ

— Horseshoe Las Vegas (@HorseshoeVegas) December 12, 2022

Bracelet Events Unveiled For 2023 WSOP

The first flagship event of the 2023 WSOP, the $1,000 buy-in “Mystery Millions” No-limit Hold’em tournament, takes place on May 31, featuring bounties ranging from $10,000 to $1 million on each knockout in addition to a $1 Million guaranteed top prize.

The WSOP will continue to feature tentpole events each weekend, such as the “Monster Stack,” the “Millionaire Maker,” the “Seniors Event,” and the “Ladies Championship.”

Other notable tournaments include the “Colossus” on June 30, which is a $400 buy-in tournament.

There are two new additions to the WSOP schedule:

Gladiators of Poker (June 7): Sporting the lowest buy-in in a bracelet event ever of $300, the Gladiators of Poker offers a $3 Million guarantee and is the only event currently announced with an overall tournament guarantee

Ultra Stack (July 11): For a buy-in of $600, the Ultra Stack will offer (as the name) suggests a massive starting stack to players. However, no stack details are available at the moment.

The $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event is slotted from July 3 to 17. The 2022 WSOP saw 197,626 entrants from more than 100 countries participate across 88 bracelet events, generating a record-breaking $347.9 Million in combined prize pools.

The 2022 WSOP Main Event was the second largest in history, with 8,663 starters and an $80,782,475 prize pool. Norwegian Espen Jorstad took home the $10 Million first prize.

Large Indian Contingent Expected to Attend 2023 WSOP

India’s biggest contingent at the WSOP was recorded in 2019. Since then, the numbers have dwindled. The global pandemic in 2020 resulted in the WSOP live series being canceled. The subsequent two years were marred with travel restrictions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Next year, there is a good chance that we may reach our pre-COVID numbers, if not exceed them.

PokerGuru reached out to several WSOP regs to know their plans for the upcoming series. The 2022 WSOP`s standout performer, Kartik Ved, confirmed that he will attend the entire series and play “pretty much all events, excluding the High Rollers.”

Sriharsha Doddapaneni and WSOP bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer also confirmed they intend to play the full schedule.

Newly-minted PokerBaazi Team Pro Abhishek Goindi confirmed that he will attend the series but has yet to figure out his schedule. “Definitely gonna play the Main (Event) and some big ones like the Millionaire Maker. It’s happening on my birthday too!” We certainly hope his birthday luck works out for him.

Spartan Poker Team Pro Zarvan Tumboli missed playing the annual series this year due to visa-related issues. Instead, he created havoc on the live felts in the Asian circuit. He is presently attending the WPT Wynn World Championship in Las Vegas, so it’s safe to assume that his visa issues have been resolved. He confirmed that he is most likely to attend the 2023 WSOP..

And last but never least, Aditya Agarwal will make his 17th WSOP appearance next year. For the last two years, Agarwal has come incredibly close to clinching the prestigious gold bracelet. With eight WSOP Main Event cashes under his belt, the Bengaluru resident holds the record for most WSOP cashes from India. Agarwal will be hunting for the gold hardware and closing in on the world record of most WSOP Main Event cashes, which currently stands at 10, held jointly by Allen Cunningham, Johnny Chan, and Berry Johnston. If Agarwal scores in the Main Event next year, he will level with the likes of John Esposito, Chris Bjorin, Humberto Brenes, and Doyle Brunson, all of whom have nine WSOP Main Event cashes each.

Team India at the 2022 WSOP

The 2022 WSOP saw the coveted gold bracelet elude the Indian battalion. Though we came close on more than one occasion, locking in five final table finishes and 125 cashes in the series. Former bracelet winner Kartik Ved was the Indian ‘Star of the Series’ with two FT finishes and a jaw-dropping $489,195 (~₹3.90 Crores) in total winnings.

There was a fleet of other fantastic runs by Indian players. One such performance came from Sriharsha Doddapaneni, the last Indian standing in the 2022 WSOP Main Event, who scored $46,800 (~₹37.23 Lakhs) in 249th place.

Aditya Agarwal made his 16th appearance in the annual series and set the mood for the rest of the series with a final table finish in Event #3: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em (9th for $23,634, ~₹18.36 Lakhs). He wrapped up the summer with five cashes, cumulatively worth $87,905 (~₹70.23 Lakhs).

Other consistent performers included WSOP bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer (8 cashes for $115,183, ~₹91.96 Lakhs) and Young Gun Neel Joshi (8 cashes for $78,612, ~₹62.76 Lakhs).

The coveted WSOP gold bracelet has eluded Indian players for two years. Kartik Ved was the last Indian player to win a bracelet when he shipped Event #64: $840 Turbo Bounty NLHE in the 2020 WSOP Online Series. While there were no bracelets to brag about this year, the team brought back a WSOP Circuit gold ring. Ashish Ahuja championed Event #11 – $100,000 GTD NLH Double Stack at the 2022 WSOP.com Circuit Series for $28,883 (~₹23.07 Lakhs).

While it’s still early days, the announcement of the 2023 WSOP has undoubtedly set the Indian poker community buzzing!

This is a developing story. Keep following PokerGuru for more updates!