WSOP 2020 Championship Events Schedule is complete

The schedule for the Championship Events of the WSOP 2020, which takes place from May 26th to July 15th 2020 in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, is now fixed.

The first of a total of 17 events, including the Poker Players Championship and the prestigious Main Event, is scheduled for June 3rd, with the final event to be held on July 3rd.

For 16 of the Championship tournaments, players will have to pay a buy-in of $10,000. The Poker Players Championship is worth $50,000. The best all-around player will be chosen.

The event lasts five days. Players must master a total of nine poker variations, including 2-7 Lowball Draw, Omaha, Stud Poker and Razz, to reach the top ranks.

WSOP Vice President Jack Effel comments:

“Championship events are one of the WSOP’s most special events each year. We’re proud to be the only tournament series to offer such an opportunity, and we’ve worked with some of the most respected players this off-season to ensure that our schedule and events match the state of poker in 2020”.

Back to the Roots: Return of the Freezeout tournaments?

Significantly, 15 out of 17 tournaments are freezeouts. This means that a player cannot buy in again after being eliminated. The question could be whether there is a trend towards the classic freezeout tournament.

Rebuys and Late Entries have been part of the game for several years. Now, however, more and more players are opting for freezeout tournaments. A well-known proponent is Daniel Negreanu, who only spoke in October 2019 of bringing out his tournament series, which would exclusively include freezeouts.

However, many other players also seem to be convinced of the advantages.

Poker Pro Rob Young posted a poll on Twitter:

Rob Yong

Amateurs/qualifiers – what would you say IS the level playing field that qualifiers want in a Main Event (assume no Day 2 buy-in)

56%  Total freezeout
28%  1 RE for event
13%  RE into Day 1B
3%    FO Day1 Qualifiers only

2.072 votes-Final results

“What do you think is the consensus that qualifiers want in a Main event? (assuming there’s no buy-in on Day 2)”

56.4% were in favour of a complete freezeout, 27.6% of the players were in favour of only one rebuy per tournament. It will be interesting to see how the poker game develops in the future.