Negreanu, Ivey and Petrangelo Among Players Registered for Big One for One Drop

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Regardless of what happens from this point, the $1M Big One for One Drop at the 2018 World Series of Poker is guaranteed to have the largest payout of the year. WSOP officials confirmed on Friday that 30 players have committed to play in the event with a little over three weeks left before the event kicks off. Presently, the event will pay over $11 million to first.

22 of the 30 Players Registered Are Pros

Through Friday, 30 players have registered for the Big One for One Drop with 22 of those players being professional poker players. According to a report on WSOP.com, some of the pros confirmed to play in this year’s event include Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Rainer Kempe, Jason Koon, Adrian Mateos, Nick Petrangelo, Bryn Kenny and 2012 winner Antonio Esfandiari.

The remaining eight players registered are classified as “philanthropic businessmen and include Talal Shakerchi, Rick Solomon, and Leon Tsoukernik. Tsoukernik is the owner of King’s Casino in Rozvadov and is known for being a high stakes poker player.

Presently, there are 18 slots left to be filled to meet the cap of 48 players. Of those slots, two are open for special qualifiers. One seat will be taken by the winner of the MGMRI Big 3 Poker Invitational run by MGM Resorts International.

The other slot may be filled via satellites at the World Series of Poker. On July 14 there will be a $10,300 satellite at noon to feed a $100,500 mega satellite at 6 pm. If there are enough entries, one seat will be awarded to the Big One for One Drop on the 15th.

Players Have Until July 10 to Register

The Big One for One Drop kicks off on June 15 and players have until July 10 to secure a reserved seat. Players must post their $1 million buy-ins by that point to lock up the seat. Afterward, seats will be awarded to any player 21 or older that can come up with the $1 million buy-in until the cap of 48 is reached.

According to tournament director Jack Effel, “That a charitable poker tournament could have such an impact is simply astonishing. Since 2012, through 15 tournaments and player donations, over 12,000 individuals have contributed to raising over $20 million for the cause of access to safe water. This has had an incredible impact on the lives of over 170,000 people in need. Both from the poker and humanitarian aspects, the whole poker community and us at WSOP are lucky to be a part of this.”

Event Guaranteed to Award at Least $11 Million to the Winner

According to the structure sheet distributed for the Big One for One Drop, this event is presently guaranteed to award at least $11 million to the winner of the event. Based on the current field size, five players will be paid with each player receiving at least $2 million.

Should the field max out at 48 players, the event will pay the final eight with eighth place receiving $1.47 million and the winner earning $15.35 million. Should the field max out, this would be the second largest payout for first place in the event’s history.

One difference between this year and previous years is that the charitable contribution has been reduced to just 8%, meaning that only $80,000 of each buy-in will go to charity rather than $111,111 in previous events. The contributions will go to One Drop, an organization that attempts to improve living conditions in vulnerable countries around the world by providing access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Back in 2012, Antonio Esfandiari won the inaugural event for $18.34 million. Two years later in 2014, Dan Colman defeated Daniel Negreanu heads-up for $15.3 million. In 2016, the event was held away from the World Series of Poker and drew its smallest field to date. Elton Tsang won the event for €11,111,111 ($12.91 million USD.)

Photo Credit – WSOP.com