Im hoping to hear some peoples thoughts about WSOP 2021. Will it be completely back to normal, will it be a socially distanced, pretty lame version of it with plexiglas dividers, etc.

I know we dont have any way of knowing what will happen, but ive been on a hard covid lockdown for 4 months and need something to do, so just humor me and give your opinion on this subject please.

Ive never been to the WSOP and was planning on going this year which isnt going to happen even if they have it in December.

And since ive never been, i want the full experience. I want non stop poker tournaments and all of the energy, so, depending on how things look next year, i might end up waiting until 2022. If things arent back to normal by 2022, then im just going to go.

My opinion is that theres a good chance a vaccine will be released early 2021, as well as some more covid treatment options, but that wont be enough time to have wsop 2021 be normal enough to be worth going to, but hopefully im wrong.


Mod Edit - adding schedule:

how does plexiglass make it lame?

Okay, maybe less people but that's different.

Maybe add a weird element, but the game is still fundamentally the same.

Might even help if you have a person with poor hygiene beside you.

I hope that it happens, but live poker tournaments seem like one of the least viable activities during a pandemic. There are just so many contact points and people sharing close quarters. All it would take is one person to spread the virus like wildfire, so maybe it's simply not going to happen without widespread herd immunity and/or vaccination.

Are there things they could do to limit the damage? Yes. They could do a charity event for COVID relief upfront to minimize negative PR. They can require masks and gloves. They can attempt to sterilize playing surfaces and chips. A lot of this still largely amounts to placebo since one infected person coughing in the bathroom could be enough to cause a massive outbreak.

It's really unfortunate for players and organizers. I hope they figure it out and if it DOES happen, I would really recommend going. It's a fun time.

I hope by years end a vaccine is on the market. Lots of testing is going on without it who knows. Though the whole USA may have been infected by than

Yeah, a vaccine is what im hoping for.
The pfizer vaccine trial had 24 people ( i think,it was 24) and all of them developed neutralizing antibodies. That just has to be something. Doesnt seem like that will fizzle out into nothing, but who knows.

Good point but i guess im thinking that if there are plexiglass dividers, then there will also be distancing, masks, etc.

I would bet very strongly that there is WSOP as normal in 2021. If there isn’t a vaccine well before then, enough people in the US will have been infected that we will have effective herd immunity a year from now.

I mean, literally no one knows. Anyone who tells you different is just guessing. A year is a long time

I'm not saying you're wrong, or that there should or shouldn't be one... But there was also a huge contingent of people that were saying "No sports until 2022" and "I can't see live poker coming back until maybe even Summer 2021" etc

And as I look at bravo now, there's about 40 rooms with live poker... And most have been open for months.

Point being, it's way too early to say, and "Life will find a way" thing

Perfect. Eloquent, concise, on point. A+

And 3 Major sports starting at the end of this month as long as things don't take bad turn.

not comparable and things already have taken a bad turn, i doubt any of these 3 associations would've scheduled a restart if they anticipated largely increasing infection numbers throughout the summer.

Right now, I'd expect some kind of WSOP in 2021 - what it looks like depends on where we're at with a vaccine. I think the predictions ITT of a vaccine by the end of the year or early next year are pretty optimistic, but I sure hope they're right. If that happens, while I think it still will take a bit for things to return to "normal" I'd expect full steam ahead with a regular WSOP. If we get to April/May next year without a vaccine, but they think they're on the verge of one, then it probably gets pushed to the fall. And if we get to this time next year and they think a vaccine isn't going to work out, life's going to have to go back to some kind of "new normal" and I'd expect some form of WSOP to happen, whatever that will look like.

I'm curious - those who say "no WSOP in 2021", under what conditions are you seeing that? No vaccine yet, but still expecting one, so we continue to not allow large gatherings right through the fall? Or do you have something else in mind?

I'm certainly no "flubro", and am pretty happy with the very slow reopening we're doing where I live, but even I think there has to be *some* point where we go back to fairly normal life no matter where we're at with the pandemic. If that's much more than a year from now - wow. But then, if you told me 4 months ago we'd be where we are now, I probably would've been surprised by that too, so I've learned by now not to completely rule anything out.

Vaccine is not going to happen in 2020.

That's not because they aren't able to find one that works -- decent chance they will. However, you have to also due VERY extensive testing to show that there isn't adverse side effects. Considering the relatively "low" deathrate of covid, it would be horrible to give the entire population the vaccine, only for the vaccine to be worse than the disease itself

How do they even manage the lines for buy ins and cash outs with social distancing?

Without herd immunity or vaccination, there will likely be no 2021 WSOP.

Maybe masks will turn out to be the magical elixir and everyone will agree to wear them.

You just proved Gazzy's point. Rooook, it is people like you that are making it so difficult to get ahead Covid. Live poker is gone until at least 2021. If that means I don't have to share a table with folks like you. . .well, all the better.

Has it been confirmed that there will be no live WSOP this year or are we still hoping for that one outer to happen in December?

Still postponed as of now, but the WSOP Online tournaments are happening at WSOP.com and GG Poker for now I think. If it doesn't happen this year I would totally understand. Hard to say if it's going to be back to "normal" for 2021. My sights are set on 2022 for things to be pretty close, as long as a vaccine is on the market

I disagree. I think 2021 will happen. You m not basing that on much more than a gut feeling, but the economic impact of shutdowns is so great, I think by summer next year everything will be back to normal as far as that goes and people will either protect themselves or they won’t.

How is live poker gone when there's 40+ poker rooms running around the clock literally right now, with more on the way? Good troll.

Is it possible that they could hold the main WSOP in some part of Europe, Canada, or another place that isn't as affected by COVID as the USA? Obviously we associate the WSOP with Las Vegas and the Rio, but circumstances are unusual.

I do agree with other commenters that it's hard to project 9-10 months in advance. A lot can happen.

Imagine being a human that posts this.

Back to the topic - I really hope WSOP 2020 is back and as normal as possible. That said, at the pace we are going......I am not feeling optimistic at all.

how is anyone supposed to know how things will be a year from now?

or even 1-2 months from now

1-2 months ago it looked like nothing was ever coming back and here we are

so why doesn't president cheese doodles tell his legion of cult followers who will do anything he says to wear ****ing masks?