WSOP planners aim for record turnout

Ty Stewart typically is eager to offer up a forecast. Not this year.

As the World Series of Poker executive director prepares for his 10th summer of flops, folds and flushes, Stewart is finished playing prognosticator.

“As tough as it is, as much as it pains me,” Stewart said on a recent conference call with media members, “I finally learned it’s much better to allow you all to make the predictions and editorialize the themes for the upcoming summer.”

In that case, here goes: This year’s WSOP is about access.

The 46th annual World Series of Poker begins today at the Rio Convention Center with the first two of 68 bracelet events, and this year’s schedule features several changes designed to enhance the amateur player’s experience.

Less expensive buy-ins. Increased starting chips. More Main Event payouts.

“Absolutely, we are aiming to get a more recreational player involved in the game of poker, and we believe that the poker customer at large is a value-based customer,” Stewart said. “That means different things. That might be the price point. That might be the chip stack. That might be the time of the event.

“But the poker player is a value-based player, generally. So we are definitely trying to reflect that in our offering.”

The WSOP opens at noon today with the $565 buy-in Casino Employees No-limit Texas Hold’em tournament, and the four-day $5,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em event starts at 4 p.m.

The series culminates with the $10,000 No-limit Texas Hold’em World Championship, which runs July 5 to July 14 to determine the nine players for November’s final table.

Last year’s World Series of Poker drew a record 82,360 entries from more than 100 countries and awarded a record $227 million in prize money for 65 events. Tournament officials are expecting a larger turnout this summer.

“It’s fair to say we have more preregistration than the past five years combined,” Stewart said. “Even with the success of some of our flagship events over the last few years — things like the Seniors Event, the Millionaire Maker, the Monster Stack — we’ve never seen response like this. And we feel if the city is full of poker players at the start of the summer, it bodes very well for the series overall.”

The WSOP schedule includes 11 new tournaments with a high-profile event taking place each weekend. The most notable addition to the slate is the “Colossus” No-limit Hold’em tournament that starts Friday.

The Colossus’ $565 buy-in is the cheapest for an open event at the WSOP in 35 years, and with a guaranteed $5 million prize pool, it is expected to attract a record turnout at the Rio. The 2006 Main Event, with 8,773 players, is the largest field in WSOP history.

“I will go on record with this: If it is not, by a large margin, the largest event in the history of poker, it would be a disappointment,” Stewart said.

Tournament officials also expect the $1,500 buy-in Millionaire Maker (June 5 to 9) and the $1,500 buy-in Monster Stack (June 12 to 16) tournaments to draw thousands of players looking to cross an item off their bucket list. Last year’s Millionaire Maker was the largest non-Main Event field in history, with 7,977 entrants.

The new $777 buy-in Lucky Sevens No-limit Hold’em event (July 3 to 5) offers another option for players without a huge bankroll.

“We have something for everyone,” WSOP tournament director Jack Effel said. “That’s it in a nutshell.”

And in keeping with the times, there will be an online bracelet event for the first time. The $1,000 buy-in WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em tournament starts July 2, and the final six players will square off live at the Rio two days later.

“The WSOP has always tried to reflect the ever-evolving face of poker, and adding an online element seems like a natural next step in this evolution,” said Bill Rini, WSOP.com’s head of online poker. “We worked very hard on putting together something that will address player demand for an online event as well as living up to the high standards of the WSOP.”

All this leads up to the Main Event, which has undergone its own minor face-lift since Sweden’s Martin Jacobson won last year’s tournament and took home $10 million. Not only will the top 1,000 places now finish in the money — up from 693 in 2014 — but the final table will last three days instead of two.

“This event is primarily about exposing a game that we all love to a broader, mainstream audience,” Stewart said. “And while there are a bunch that have stayed with us till 4, 5, 6 o’clock in the morning, that’s obviously not ideal viewership time. So, by making it three days, we’re able to start in that prime-time window and have more of the coverage in a time that more viewers will tune in.”

ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP starts Aug. 18 with the $1 million National Championship, and the Main Event will be shown starting Sept. 14. Most final tables this summer will be streamed live on WSOP.com.