Announcements regarding the 2014 WSOP schedule have been made, and a couple of very popular tournaments are returning. Both the $1,500 Millionaire Maker and $1 million Big One for One Drop will be back at the Rio for next year’s WSOP.
The Big One is definitely the headliner here because last time it set some very notable records. The first included the largest poker tournament buy-in in history since hopefuls had to fork over $1 million to play. Despite the lofty buy-in, 48 players turned out for this event and competed for a $42,666,672 prize pool.
Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari catapulted himself into poker lore by winning the Big One along with a $18,346,673 payout. This giant fortune remains the biggest prize in poker history and is expected to stand until, oh, at least the summer of 2014. That’s because the 2014 WSOP Big One will be capped at 56 players. This means that the top prize should be worth around $20 million, which would eclipse Esfandiari’s current record payout.
Expanding on the Millionaire Maker, this $1,500 buy-in event debuted at the 2013 WSOP. It featured a guaranteed $1 million first-place prize and the amount actually exceeded this when 6,343 players bought into the tournament. Benny Chen was the big winner here as he topped the large field and collected $1,199,104.
As for the rest of the 2014 WSOP, exact details on the tournaments still have yet to be released. However, word is that over 60 bracelet events will be offered. Tournaments will run for 49 consecutive days, and those who can’t afford buy-ins can participate in satellites that’ll be running at the Rio.
The World Series of Poker is set for another exciting chapter in its soon-to-be 45th year of existence. It’ll certainly be fun to see the new stars and big winners who emerge during the 2014 WSOP.
