This week Caesars announced the daily event schedule for the 53rd World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2022. This is a big year for WSOP as it moves to the Vegas Strip after 17 years at Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino.
The 2022 WSOP will take place at Bally’s and Paris on the Vegas Strip for the first time. Another major move for WSOP this year is the addition of a celebrity Master of Ceremonies. Vince Vaughn will be on hand for the longest-running poker series.
WSOP 2022 will begin on Tuesday, May 31. There will be poker action on the Vegas Strip through its conclusion on Wednesday, July 20.
Ty Stewart, the WSOP’s Executive Director says:
“This year is particularly historic for the WSOP with its move to the heart of the Las Vegas Strip and debut in the best facilities we’ve ever had. We’re ready to welcome players from all over the world to our housewarming party at Bally’s, soon-to-be Horseshoe, and Paris. The schedule is jam-packed with first-class events and we expect this to be the biggest and most anticipated WSOP yet.”
This year’s World Series of Poker is once again headlined by the $10,000 buy-in No–Limit Hold‘em World Championship known as the Main Event.
This will be the first “normally” scheduled WSOP in a couple of years due to the Covid–19 pandemic. Despite restrictions and general weariness about traveling, the Main Event last year had 6,650 participants. Caesars expects the number of entries to be larger this year.
WSOP is returning to its normal timeframe with fewer Covid–19 restrictions in place. At this time, participants will not have to show proof of vaccination or wear face coverings.
This could change as Caesars and WSOP will follow local, state, and CDC guidelines relating to COVID-19.
WSOP Main Event
The WSOP Main Event is returning to its traditional time frame. The Main Event will begin on Sunday, July 3. The tournament will continue through the Final Table on Friday, July 15, and Saturday, July 16.
The Main Event has become a staple of poker on TV. This year won’t be any different. Once again, WSOP will work with broadcast partner CBS Sports for a second season of coverage with daily streaming on PokerGo.
There will be 18 different WSOP bracelet events televised with a minimum of 15 hours of coverage for the 2022 Main Event.
$500 Housewarming kicks off WSOP
In recent years WSOP has been looking to expand its player base with low buy-in tournaments that appeal to a broad audience. This year’s tournament will feature “The Housewarming” tournament to kick off the action during the opening weekend.
The $500 buy–in event will have a guaranteed $5,000,000 prize pool. Through the years, these $500 entry fee tournaments at WSOP have generated some of the largest field sizes in the history of poker.
For example, last year’s “Reunion” event had 12,973 entrants. This year organizers are expecting an even larger field as the event returns to its traditional summer schedule.
For comparison, the “Reunion” event had nearly twice the entries as the prestigious Main Event.
Return of popular events
Once again, WSOP will highlight its most popular no-limit hold ‘em events every Friday and Saturday from June 11-July 16.
The Millionaire Maker, Monster Stack, Colossus and The Closer all return with multi-million-dollar prize pools. These are all lower-limit events similar to the “Housewarming” event.
2022 WSOP New and mid-stakes events
WSOP has plenty of poker action daily. As usual, there will be a few new events and popular returning tournaments.
This year, WSOP is expanding how many mid–stakes events will be available for players.
The No-Limit Hold’em tournaments taking place on June 1, 8, 15, 23, 30 and July 11, 13, 16 will have a buy-in between $2,000 and $5,000.
There will be even more mid-stakes events throughout the series with the addition of $2,000 and $3,000 no–limit events this year.
Here are a few of the new WSOP events:
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- May 31 – $100,000 High Roller Bounty No-Limit Hold’em: This new high stakes event should attract experienced players that love the format. When a player eliminates another they will receive a $25,000 bounty prize. This is in addition to competing for one of the largest event prize pools of the tournament.
- July 2-4 – $1,000 Buy-In Million Dollar Bounty: This lower-stakes event was originally announced for 2020 WSOP. The new event features a mystery bounty for up to $1 million that players will draw for. This event begins as a regular tournament. Players who advance to day two claim the bounty of players they knock out. Each player who knocks someone out also gets an additional prize bounty.
- July 18-20 – Tournament of Champions: This is a $1,000,000 freeroll tournament that will happen at the end of WSOP. The event is open to any of the 88 bracelet winners and gold ring winners from the 2022 WSOP Circuit season.
The 2022 WSOP will host a variety of tournaments ranging in buy-in from $400 to $250,000. See a full list of 2022 WSOP events here.
New WSOP Location
WSOP 2022 is moving to Bally’s and Paris on the Vegas Strip. The two casinos are connected and share a parking garage with ample space to park.
Caesars has not released any information on parking fees for WSOP participants yet. The self-parking fees are currently between $15-$18 per day for Caesars Rewards members that have not reached Platinum status.
WSOP’s new home will include over 200,000 square feet of convention space at both Paris Las Vegas and Bally’s. This will create the largest tournament capacity in the event’s history with 600 poker tables.
The main cage for WSOP will be at Paris Las Vegas. The TV set staging will take place at the Bally’s Event Center.
Bally’s To Become Horseshoe Las Vegas
Earlier this year, Caesars announced that Bally’s will receive a makeover and become Horseshoe Las Vegas. This is sort of a homecoming. WSOP originally took place a Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas before moving to Rio All–Suites Hotel and Casino.
The makeover officially begins this spring. Caesars will renovate the exterior of the property. As it becomes Horseshoe Las Vegas, Caesars will be adding new entertainment along with new food and beverage options. M.Y. Asia by Martin Yang is the first new restaurant to be announced for Bally’s/Horseshoe.
The casino floor and public areas will also receive a makeover with a traditional Horseshoe motif. The new look for these areas will feature a handcrafted feeling. Designers will use “tooled leather, dramatic colors, and the brand’s signature gold horseshoe iconography” throughout the property.
Caesars recently updated all of the hotel rooms at Bally’s/Horseshoe. The rooms will not receive a brand-specific makeover.
Stewart commented on the makeover saying, “We couldn’t be more excited to see the World Series of Poker return to Horseshoe.” He continued, “Horseshoe is where it all began for WSOP. It’s always been a brand for gamblers and card players. As we move WSOP to the Las Vegas Strip for the first time, that it will happen at Horseshoe makes it incredibly special.”
In its announcement, Caesars said, “Horseshoe Casino was started by a gambler for gamblers.” It would sure be nice of Caesars to offer better odds on blackjack, craps, roulette and video poker on its main casino floor than its other Las Vegas properties.