2020 World Series Of Poker Postponed
Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Golf, Nascar, and Tennis have all been postponed or have had events canceled. You can now add the World Series of Poker to that list. Yes, Poker is another sport where social distancing is tough unless they are down to the final two at a table. The 51st edition of the tournament was set to begin on May 26 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
It will not take place as scheduled but the World Series of Poker is looking to make up the event in the fall of 2020. When the event does take place it will feature the $10,000 buy-in Main Event championship. That is annually the largest prize on the poker calendar. Prior to the Main Event, the Global Casino Championship will take place as scheduled from August 11th to the 13th. It will take place at Global Casino Championship.
"We are committed to running the World Series of Poker this year but need additional time to proceed on our traditional scale while prioritizing guest and staff well-being, said Ty Stewart (WSOP Executive Director) "We will soon announce details of an expanded series of tournaments to be played on WSOP.com and through partnership with international operators, which will allow players to chase WSOP glory from their homes,"
With the postponement of the circuit of Las Vegas-based tournaments, 200,00 players are now scrambling to make ends meet. The WSOP circuit hosted 89 tournaments back in 2019 with a little over 187,000 entrants from 118 countries. Until in-person tournaments return, the WSOP will be holding official events online. Can the players still make enough to make ends meet? That remains to be seen.
Chris Moon (St Louis) is about to turn 31 and he had a big 2019, in which he racked up nearly $400,000, so he is all set through the pause. Ryan Riese is another one that is comfortable as his lifetime live winnings are 15 million dollars.
"It's such an unfortunate circumstance for a lot of businesses, casinos, restaurants, hotels, everyone has their own personal interest," said Riess, 29. "It's bad. For a lot of people (poker players), this is their job. Just like in other industries, there are people that go to the casino every Thursday, Friday and Saturday and play live cash games or travel and play tournaments, and they can't work."
Many players are not in the position, financially, that those two are in so they will have to hope that they can make enough from the online tournaments to live. The only problem for many is that the online option is only available in Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania at the moment. The players may have to get creative in order to get through this pandemic as it is not like MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL where players are under contract and are still getting paid. I am a fan of watching an playing poker, so I do hope that it returns in full in late summer.
Info Garnered From The Detroit News & CBS Sports
