The 2011 World Series of Poker schedule was announced at around 2 p.m. PST on Monday, after some significant changes were made for the 42nd running of poker’s richest annual tournament series.
This year’s WSOP, which will run from May 31 to July 19, will consist of 58 bracelet events. In 2010, 57 bracelet events created a combined prize pool of more than $187 million, thanks to a record 72,966 entries.
The first open bracelet event of this upcoming summer at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas will be a new $25,000 heads-up no-limit hold’em championship. Following the big buy-in heads-up event, the opening weekend (June 4-5) will feature a $1,000 no-limit hold’em tournament.
The 2011 WSOP will conclude, like always, with the $10,000 main event. The tournament, which begins play Thursday, July 7, will reach a final table on July 19. The November Nine delay is back for another year, as the final nine participants will resume play on Nov. 5. Canadian Jonathan Duhamel walked away with a first-place prize of $8,944,138 in 2010.
A notable change to this year’s series is that registration for all bracelet events (except the main event) will remain open through four levels of play (or until all available seats have been sold), making the registration window twice as long as in previous years.
The WSOP has also announced that “hard stop times” will be in effect. The maximum a playing day will last is 10 levels, regardless of the number of players remaining. If a winner or a final table has not been reached after 10 levels of play, all remaining players will return at 3:00 p.m. to resume action. The change ensures play each day will conclude at around 3:00 a.m. local time for re-starts.
Another new event on the schedule is a $2,500 buy-in shorthanded 10-game mix. The tournament will include no-limit hold’em, seven-card razz, limit hold’em, limit Badugi, seven-card stud, no-limit deuce-to-seven draw lowball, Omaha eight-or-better, pot-limit Omaha, limit deuce-to-seven triple draw lowball, and seven-card stud eight-or-better.
The $50K Players Championship will return in 2011. The event, which was won by Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi this past summer, will move to the tail end of the series. Last year the event was the second of the summer, but in 2011 it will be the 55th event.
