2016 WSOP Gets Underway Today in Las Vegas

The waiting is now over, and the biggest event in the poker calendar, the World Series of Poker, is officially underway at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Between June 1st until July 18th, poker players from all across America and the rest of the world will descend upon the USA’s gambling capital hoping to win big payouts, and walk away having captured a coveted gold champion’s bracelet, or two.
Proceedings kick-off with Event #1: $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em, although for non-casino staff the competition begins with Event #2: $565 Colossus, a tournament which last year attracted a massive field of
22,374 players making it the biggest live poker tournament ever held. The action will then continue all the way until the $1,111 Little One for One Drop starts on July 12th, and the marathon $10k Main Event gets underway on July 9th.
“Our schedule this year really runs the gamut for all levels of poker enthusiasts, so we hope you will peruse the events and make your plans to join us this summer at the Rio,” commented Tournament Director Jack Effel.
Amongst the high-profile pros winning WSOP bracelets at last year’s competition were such players as Phil Hellmuth, Shaun Deeb, Brian Hastings, Phil Galfond, Jason Mercier, and Eli Elezra, to name but a few. There will similarly be high expectations of the pros cleaning up once more at the 47th WSOP, although it is still uncertain whether one of the game biggest stars, Phil Ivey, will put in the hours this year, or instead continue plying his trade at the cash games on the other side of the world in Macau. The 40 year-old legend picked up the last of his gold bracelets in 2014, and is currently tied on 10 together with Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson.
Phil Hellmuth, however, leads the way having amassed 14 bracelets since winning the Main Event for $755,000 back in 1989. Other multiple winners who will going all out to increase their tallies at WSOP 2016 include Erik Seidel (8), Daniel Negreanu (6), and Mike Matusow (4).