Exactly one year ago today, Caesars Entertainment launched its very own regulated, real money online poker site in Nevada via WSOP.com. On September 19, 2013, the online poker room became the second poker site regulated in the US, destined to rival the country’s first legal iGaming website, Ultimate Poker. It didn’t take long for WSOP.com to overtake the #1 position in Nevada. To celebrate its ultimately successful breakout year, the poker room is promoting a $70k GTD Anniversary Tournament Series.
The online poker tournament series will run an entire week, from Friday, Sept 19th, through Saturday, Sept 27th, featuring 9 events with variable guaranteed prize pools scaling from $1,500 to $25,000. While none of those events carry the esteemed ‘Main Event’ title, we can safely assume that the $200 buy-in, $25k GTD slated for Sunday, Sept 21st, is the undisclosed ‘main event’ of the Anniversary Tournament Series. Kicking off at 3pm, the $25k GTD NLHE Freezeout will replace the standard $15k Super Sunday for that day.
When structuring the online poker tournament series, WSOP.com officials did take into account many of the favorite tournament types players crave. The only notable exclusions were high roller and heads-up events. The series includes a NLHE Turbo, a short-handed NLHE 6-Max, a PLO event and several NLHE tourneys with re-buys and add-ons.
The series begins on Friday at 6:00pm with Event #1, a $25 NL Holdem R&A with $5k GTD. On Saturday, the action resumes at 3:00pm with Event #2, a $50 NL Holdem R&A boasting a $10k GTD prize pool. The unnamed ‘main event’ of the series then starts on Sunday (see above).
All of the weekday events get underway at 6:00pm, giving part-time players just enough time to get home from their 9-5 day jobs. On Monday, it’s a $30 Pot Limit Omaha R&A paying out $3,000 minimum, followed by a $10 NLHE R&A with $2k up for grabs on Tuesday. Wednesday’s action offers a $50 6-Max NL Holdem R&A with $6k GTD, then a $20 NLHE Turbo R&A with $2,500 GTD on Thursday, followed by the cheapest event of the series, a $5 NLHE R&A with $1,500 GTD on Friday.
Finishing out the WSOP.com Anniversary Tournament Series will be Event #9, held a 3:00pm on Saturday, Sept 27th. The NLHE event features a $100 buy-in with 1 Re-entry and the second largest guaranteed prize pool of the week, $15,000. By the time this one is over, the premier online poker destination in Nevada will have paid out a minimum of $70,000 to all who finish in the money across the series.
It will be interesting to see how close the Nevada online poker site comes to reaching its guaranteed prize pools this week. Last weekend, the $15k GTD Super Sunday attracted 85 entrants, building a $15,725 prize pool. It would take a field of 135, about 30% more players, to hit the $25,000 guaranteed this Sunday. WSOP.com hasn’t attracted enough players to hit those numbers since the 2014 World Series of Poker wrapped up for the summer in July.
| WSOP.com Nevada Anniversary Tournament Series Schedule | ||
| Date/Time | Event Details | GTD $ |
| Sept 19 @ 6:00pm | #1 $25 NLHE R&A | $5,000 |
| Sept 20 @ 3:00pm | #2 $50 NLHE R&A | $10,000 |
| Sept 21 @ 3:00pm | #3 $200 NLHE Freezeout (Main Event) | $25,000 |
| Sept 22 @ 6:00pm | #4 $30 PLO R&A | $3,000 |
| Sept 23 @ 6:00pm | #5 $10 NLHE R&A | $2,000 |
| Sept 24 @ 6:00pm | #6 $50 6-Max NLHE R&A | $6,000 |
| Sept 25 @ 6:00pm | #7 $20 NLHE Turbo R&A | $2,500 |
| Sept 26 @ 6:00pm | #8 $5 NLHE R&A | $1,500 |
| Sept 27 @ 3:00pm | #9 $100 NLHE Re-Entry | $15,000 |