Mission WSOP

Next year’s WSOP schedule has 23 different variants of poker and 3 restricted events (1 for casino employees, ladies and seniors) and it would take $230,000 to buy-in to all 55 events (maybe Neverbeg will stake Florence, the 75-year-old housekeeper at The Rio to play in all 55 as you’d have to be a female senior who works for the casino to do so).  After looking through the schedule, I decided to break down the WSOP into various tiers.

Tier One Events (2 Events Total)

• Event #54: $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Hold’em (a.k.a. The Main Event)
  The event that made Chris Moneymaker a household name and launched a poker boom that is still going strong.  This year’s Main Event is expected to start on July 3rd and last 13 days.  My guess is that the plan is for Day 1 to be broken down into 4 days and the estimates will soon be flying around about how big the field will be.  I doubt it will be as big as ‘06 when Jamie Gold won but it should be comparable to last year when Jerry Yang did so.
• Event #40: $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E.
  The biggest buy-in tournament begins its third year as part of the WSOP with its first-ever winner being memorialized through a trophy to the winner.  Now, the player who takes down this most prestigious event will receive a bracelet, the prize money and The Chip Reese Award.  Freddy Deeb won the 2nd incarnation of this in ‘07.

Tier Two Events (8 Events Total)

• Event #1: $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold’em
  This year’s first new $10,000 event kicks off the WSOP on May 30th.  This was actually part of the ‘07 WSOP but was just a $5k buy-in.  Allen Cunningham was last year’s Pot-Limit World Champion.
• Event #8: $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (I call it HORSENOPOLOW)
  The most unique event of the ‘08 WSOP.  There are the 5 variants of poker played in HORSE with added rounds of No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and 2-7 Lowball.  I will go out on a limb and say this event will draw in many of the big name pros.  The 2-7 Lowball round should make it very interesting. (Did I mention I have won 100% of all 2-7 Lowball MTTs I’ve ever played?)
• Event #14: $10,000 World Championship 7-Card Stud
  Another bigger buy-in for a non-No-Limit event should excite the seasoned pros.  Chris Reslock won last year’s Stud World Championship.  At 180 players last year, it will be interesting to see if this year’s tournament reaches the same heights.  I’m going to make my first bold prediction and say Phil Ivey wins this event.
• Event #25: $10,000 World Championship Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em
  The exciting part is that the Heads Up tournament returns.  The disappointing part is that while the ‘08 WSOP contains 13 straight No Limit Hold’em events, they stuck by the single Heads Up tournament.  Daniel Schreiber won last year’s 392 player event that was half price.  At $10k, it’ll be interesting to see where the number of players will fall to.  I’m going with roughly 256 players.
• Event #30: $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold’em
  Saro Getzoyan took down the ‘07 WSOP World Championship of Limit Hold’em.  What the effect of the $10k buy-in on events such as this should be interesting as the bigger name pros should be excited about the thinner fields brought on by the bigger buy-ins.
• Event #33: $5,000 World Championship 7-Card Stud Hi-Low
  It kept the World Championship moniker so I figured it deserved Tier Two status.  However, this is one of the World Championship dubbed tournaments that did not increase to a $10,000 Buy-In but was upped from $3,000.  Last year’s final table featured David Sklansky, Thor Hansen, Dutch Boyd, Scotty Nguyen and the eventual winner, Eli Elezra.
• Event #37: $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 Or Better
  Another sign that Omaha community games are becoming more popular is that the ‘08 WSOP contains 3 Omaha Hi-Low tournaments (instead of 1 as in ‘07) and a larger buy-in event as the one here.  The only Omaha Hi-Low event in ‘07 was just $1500 to enter and was won by Alexander Kravchenko.  Kravchenko later made a run at the Main Event finishing at the final table.
• Event #50: $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha
  The only other $10k event other than the Main Event and the $50k HORSE returns.  Last year’s final table was amazing with Robert Mizrachi capturing the bracelet and Patrik Antonius, Marco Traniello and Doyle Brunson making the final table.  I almost put this on Tier One but slid it into Tier Two on second thought.

Tier Three Events (8 Events Total)

• Event #4: $5,000 Mixed Hold’em (Limit Hold’em/No-Limit Hold’em)
  For some reason, this tournament lost its’ World Championship status.  Maybe drawing 451 players to kick-off the ‘07 WSOP or having the youngest player to ever win a WSOP event (Steve Billirakis at 21 years, 10 days) wasn’t enough to keep it but it’s still going to draw a strong field. 
• Event #11: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-Out
  This is the first of two No-Limit Shoot-Outs in the 2008 Series.  2007 saw just one Shoot-Out and with 899 players entering the lower buy-in event, a need was seen to add this bigger buy-in event that favors Sit & Go-style players.
• Event #18: $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball w/ Re-Buys
  Oddly enough, this event also lost the tag of "World Championship" from ‘07 to ‘08 so I slid it into the 3rd Tier.  This tournament had just 78 entries but generated an amazing prize pool of nearly $1.5 million when there were 226 re-buys.  8 players made the final table and Barry Greenstein bubbled with his 8th place finish.  The rest of the table featured Todd Brunson, Freddy Deeb, Andrew Black, Lamar Wilkinson, Shawn Sheikhan, Chad Brown and the winner, Erik Seidel. 
• Event #21: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em
  The discount Main Event!  The 2nd largest buy-in event of ‘08 for No-Limit Hold’em players.
• Event #22: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.
  The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament’s ugly sister.  It’s H.O.R.S.E. without the sexiness of the $50,000 buy-in.  With the edition of a few other mixed games, the H.O.R.S.E. variant dropped its second biggest buy-in from $5k to $3k.  Don’t expect this one to be on ESPN.
• Event #28: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Re-Buys
  One of the more entertaining final tables from ESPN’s ‘07 coverage was this event.  The prize pool was $2.9 million and the winner, Burt Boutin took down over $800,000.  If you watched the ‘07 coverage, this was the tournament featuring Humberto Brenes, John Juanda, David "Devilfish" Ulliott and Minh Ly amongst its final table.
• Event #29: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em
  Another cheaper version of the Main Event.  These usually bring out big fields and new winners.
• Event #46: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Handed (6-MAX)
  A lot of pros flock to the short-handed games.  This is this year’s largest buy-in of the three short-handed games presented for the ‘08 schedule.  Bill Edler took down the third biggest prize pool in 2007 by winning this event.

Tier Four Events (16 Events Total)

• Event #5: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Re-Buys
  These re-buy tournaments create some interesting action and sizable prize pools.  Both $1k buy-in events paid the winner over $500k.
• Event #7: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #10: $2,500 Omaha/7-Stud Hi-Low-8 Or Better
  Thomas Schneider won this event on his way to 2007 WSOP Player Of The Year.
• Event #13: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #16: $2,000 Limit Omaha-Split-Hi-Low-8 Or Better
• Event #20: $2,000 Limit Hold’em
• Event #23: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #24: $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha
  I went back to 1990 and I can’t find this variant anywhere in the mix of games at the WSOP which makes this a truly unique event for this year’s WSOP.
• Event #26: $1,500 Razz
  The only Razz event of the ‘08 WSOP. 341 players were bested by Team Poker Stars member Katja Thater in ‘07, the only woman to win a WSOP event not specifically for women in 2007.
• Event #31: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Handed (6-Max)
• Event #38: $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em
  Interesting to see such a large drop-off from the $10k World Championship of Pot Limit to $2,000.
• Event #43: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Split-Hi-Low-8 Or Better
  The only Pot-Limit version of this variant in ‘08.
• Event #44: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Re-Buys
  These re-buy tournaments create some interesting action and sizable prize pools.  Both $1k buy-in events paid the winner over $500k.
• Event #45: $2,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball
  Last year’s event featured two Lowball events but both had the re-buy attachment.  This one does not.
• Event #48: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #53: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shoot-Out
  The only Limit Shoot-Out on the ‘08 schedule.

Tier Five Events (18 Events Total)

• Event #2: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #3: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em
• Event #6: $1,500 Limit Omaha Split-Hi-Low-8 Or Better
• Event #9: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Handed (6-Max)
• Event #12: $1,500 Limit Hold’em
• Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-Out
• Event #19: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha
• Event #27: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #32: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #34: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Re-Buys
• Event #35: $1,500 7-Card Stud
• Event #36: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #39: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #41: $1,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit)
• Event #47: $1,500 7-Card Stud Hi-Low-8 Or Better
• Event #49: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #51: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
• Event #52: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Restricted Tier Events (3 Events Total)

• Event #15: $1,000 World Championship Ladies No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #42: $1,000 World Championship Seniors No-Limit Hold’em
• Event #55: $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em