Officials for the World Series of Poker have confirmed a desire to change the format of the online poker bracelet event scheduled to be held this summer. It was originally announced that the event would take place online with play being paused when the tournament gets down to heads-up. The tournament would then reconvene live at the Rio where a champion would be crowned and the WSOP would award its first ever online poker bracelet.
If organizers get their way, the event will now be halted once the tournament reaches the final six players with the remaining players venturing to the Rio to play out the final table. The proposed change is subject to the approval of Nevada gaming regulators; however, prospects that the change will be approved look good as no pre-registration has been accepted on that event as of yet.
The online bracelet event is scheduled to start on Thursday, July 2 at 12 PM local time. Players can play from anywhere in Nevada including on their mobile devices.
“We had concerns initially of getting the players to the Rio the next day to play out the event live,” Seth Palansky, Vice President of Corporate Communications for
Caesars Interactive Entertainment told pokerfuse. “But we’ve decided that July 3 will be a 'travel day’ in essence for any players not in proximity to Las Vegas. As such, we will play the final table on July 4 now. This allows us to increase the live portion to six players and know we can get them all to the Rio in time.”
The premier live poker festival is scheduled to take place from May 27 until the 2015 November 9 is established on July 14th. This year’s WSOP will feature the first ever running of “The Colossus”—a $565 bracelet event with a $5 million guaranteed prize pool.
Returning from last year are the Millionaire Maker—the $1500 buy-in tournament that guarantees a $1 million prize to the winner and the Monster Stack which features the same $1500 buy-in and a 15K chip starting stack. Both events were immensely popular last year.
The Main Event begins on Sunday, July 5 and includes three starting days. Once the tournament reaches its final nine players, play will be halted until November when the remainder of the tournament is expected to air live on ESPN and ESPN2.
As a result of feedback from players, organizers have adjusted the payout structure of the event so that more players will receive cash prizes. Satellites into the Main Event will be running throughout the series and on WSOP.com in Nevada and WSOP.com in New Jersey.
