does anyone else think this will end up being a 5 day event instead of 4?

Without question! I'm already planning on not going back to work until Tuesday!

Think this event should be a 2,500 next year

That would be sweet...

I disagree. The reason it's gonna be so popular is that it's a great value. Increasing to $2500 will make it less of a value for the casual player, who will make up the vast majority of this tournament.

Pre-Registered and ready to go. sounds like this one will be huge.

maybe they should have two next year. a 1500 and a 2500

That would not be a good idea, you'd lose most of the rec population. 1500 is about what people can scrounge up for their one and only wsop event. I'm part of a large poker group in LA and this 1500 is the highlight for most of the group going this year. Making it anymore then 1500 would reduce numbers significantly.

Judging from interest here , should we expect record braking crowd ?

5000+ !!!

But on the other side WSOP did not add 2nd flight yet !

Its still 17 days away, give it a chance to come to a boil.

How would you define record breaking?

I do think the Buzz for this event will continue to grow.... there is lots and lots of anecdotal evidence from around the pokersphere that the event will be really big. We shall see, and I for one shall see in person.

Tuchman's number has moved to 2800. Too bad he can't wager for anything other than a 6 pack. Tuchman's thesis... "rec players don't want to play deep against pros"... is just stupid. Rec players don't want to have to nurse a relatively short stack if they lose a couple medium pots in the first levels off a 4500 starting stack. They want some play. And yes... pros are salivating because they can get in pots in position with rec players while deep. EVERYBODY perceives value in this event. EVERYBODY thinks they are above average and can play a deep stack. Me included. We shall see about that, too, LOL

A deep structural (CWIDT? bwahahaha) analysis will reveal that the "crap I'm short I gotta get a hand and stick it in" stage will just come later and be more drawn out with the 15k starting stack, and it will become a variance fest late... which actually favors the rec vice the pro, generally.

It won't become any more of a variance fest than a regular 1500, which plays plenty deep in the late stages. Bigger blinds with bigger stacks, sure, but same average bb.

I think most who have said that were referring to field size in an event with only one "Day 1".

Yes, I bet him. We have traded phone numbers so I don't see there being a problem (for either of us).

If they completely shut down the cash games and sat tournaments, that leaves 480 total tables. They will need to save about 50 tables for day 2/3's for the prior day(s) events leaving a max start of about 4300, 4500 max. It will be alternates after that. How long would it take for 1000 runners to bust out with these stacks? I would guess alternates will be seated as late as level 8, the 200-400 level, 38 BBs. Do people really want to join this "Monster Stack" with 38 BBs going to 25 at level 9? I think caps the tournament somewhere near 5000.

Noz22, I think your point is exactly why Jack mentioned running a second flight in the evening.

Personally I think it would be odd to add a second flight the evening of day 1 since day 2 is the very next day. The second flight wouldn't complete till 10:00am or thereabouts if it starts, say at 8:00 pm. Another option would be to start the second flight earlier, say 5:00pm, and end the first flight earlier, say 10:00 pm. This would mean the second flight would end at about 3:00 am (a little more reasonable than 10:00 am), and day 2 would start with more people, thus potentially extending the tournament some amount.

Either way, a second flight on day 1 is not a great option. I really think they should have planned for two starting flights from the get-go, especially since the schedule is relatively light on Wed/Fri of that week. In any case, I'm still leaning towards this being a bit less chaotic than people are predicting. It could get upwards of 5000 entries, which would probably be the limit before they consider a second starting flight. But this is still a Thursday tournament with no re-buy/re-entry. Sure, lots and lots of people who will be in town playing the WSOP and other events have circled this one as a must-play. But I believe it will take a large influx of people coming from out-of town specifically for this event to push it towards 5K. I think the Thursday start will dampen that quite a bit.

Anybody have a guess as to when this event will sell out if it does? I'm considering playing but I have some business to take care of next week which may preclude me from being able to do. I really don't want to register until I can be certain that I can make it. I'll know by the 20th. I should be ok, right?

I'm not sure this will sell out at all, and if it does, I'd be shocked if it occurred before the 26th.

I think many rec players are building their trip targeting this event... and therefore the condition you have highlighted will be met.

My schedule happens to coincide with 51... but I have heard several anecdotal reports that many local room grinders are in fact targeting this event for their Vegas trip.


I'm not predicting a sell or addition of a 1b, but I definitely expect a big crowd and would not be shocked if it does sell out/require another starting flight.

I agree with you but I think it may come down to the CA traffic. I wonder what percentage of the typical weekend warrior at the WSOP come from CA? and what percentage of those will come out on a Thursday?

Most years I come in 1st week of July and try to sat into the Main, but this year I'm coming specifically for this event (and playing the Main after I win )

As of Sunday evening they had about 500 entries.

Online pre-registration ends today, so it will be interesting to get an update tomorrow. I assume I am not alone in just wiring the money today.

I pre-registered for this event last week (and E48) and got the confirmation email as verification. Glad I did that.

I know many, *many* players in the Houston area who have never played the WSOP before or even a Circuit event but who are making the trip to Vegas specifically for this event. Because who can pass up 15,000 chips, right?

I'd be quite surprised if it does not clear 5,000.

Tuchman answered my tweet directly on one of the live broadcasts about his guess for the number of runners (he said the Thursday starting day would reduce entries in comparison to the Milly Maker), but I think he's way under-selling this. I fully expect a last-second decision towards dinner break on June 26 to add a Day 1B flight.

How would they fill it in that case? Would they just dump all the alternates in and hope to pick up a few more through announcements in the rooms?