WSOP 2017: New Tournaments and A Crucial New Rule You Should Know About!

The world’s biggest poker competition, World Series of Poker, will begin its 48th Season on 30th May at Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. WSOP will last for 50 days straight with 24/7 action throughout its duration till 17th July!2017WSOPfeat

Last year’s WSOP had a record turnout of 1,07,833 entries and over $221 Million were distributed in prize money. The numbers will certainly increase this year and it will be an action packed 50 days Poker Extravaganza unfolding at Rio in Vegas this year.

This year, there will be 14 official WSOP Gold Bracelet Events over the 50 days of competition. There are going to be 8 new tournaments at WSOP 2017. They are as follows:

  1. May 31: $10,000 Tag Team Event (2-4 players per team, similar to last year’s $1,000 tournament)
  2. June 3: $333 WSOP.com No-Limit Hold’em Online Bracelet Event ($333,333 guaranteed prize pool)
  3. June 9-July 7 (every Friday): $365 “The Giant” No-Limit Hold’em (Day One is hosted every Friday with Day Two beginning July 8)
  4. June 12: $2,620 “The Marathon” (five-day event with 100-minute levels)
  5. June 20: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty (30-minute levels, $300 bounty per player)
  6. June 26: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better (three-day event)
  7. June 30: $2,500 Mixed Big Bag Event (eight-game mix, three-day event)
  8. July 1: $3,333 High Roller WSOP.com Online Bracelet Event (one-day event with unlimited entries)

Once again, the WSOP 2017  features its flagship Colossus III, the world’s largest live poker tournament! This tournament will have a guaranteed prize pool of $8 Million. It is the highest ever offered prize pool for a $565 buy-in event and $3 million more than the original guarantee.

For the first time, WSOP is introducing events in the $300 price range which will bring a lot of recreational and casual players to the Mecca of Poker as well!

Change of rule pertaining to Calling the Clock

WSOP announced that they will reduce the amount of time allotted to a player to complete their action and making their decision after “the clock” has been called. The minimum tile needed before calling the clock will also be reduced.

Calling the Clock is when a player says out loud that the player thinks someone else is taking an unreasonable amount of time for making their decision (also known as tanking). When the clock is called, the dealer calls over tournament who assess the situation and put a time on the player who is tanking. If player fails to make his/her decision by the end of the timer, the player’s hand is declared dead and the dealer mucks it. The clock can be called by anyone on the table whether one is in the hand or not.

Under the old rule, the clock basically couldn’t be called until about two minutes of deliberation. The new rule removes that two-minute requirement. Participants are allowed to call the clock at any point during the hand if they feel that the participant at the table is taking longer than a reasonable time.

E.g., A player is tanking preflop in a pretty straightforward situation, any player on the table could call the clock instantly on him or her.

To avoid the abuse of this new rule, WSOP staff reserves the right to not initiate the clock which depends on the game situation. However, the floor person may later initiate a clock once he or she deems an appropriate amount of time has passed.

Habitual stalling and excessive clock calling, both can invite penalties for the players abusing this. Basically, calling the clock shouldn’t be overused.

Once the clock is called and staff deems that a timer should be used for the situation, a player will have up to 40 seconds to act which used to be 60 seconds in old rule.

To reiterate: The clock can now be called earlier in a hand and once it is implemented a player will have less time to act before their hand is mucked.