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Stories to Watch at the 2019 World Series of Poker

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The 2019 World Series of Poker kicks off on Tuesday in Las Vegas. This will be a historic series with 89 gold bracelet events being awarded to celebrate the 50th running of the series.

As we do every year, we will take a few minutes to look forward to the upcoming series and the stories to watch as the series unfolds.

How Will Wire Act Impact Online Events

The DOJ reversed their stance on the federal Wire Act late last year and by the middle of June, regulated online poker operators must comply with the new opinion or risk prosecution. The first two online bracelet events will be open to New Jersey players because they fall before the deadline but as things stand presently, the later events will not.

This begs the question as to what will happen regarding online events. If the legal challenge of the new opinion is not resolved before the deadline, we could see a solid drop in numbers for online bracelet events. If that’s the case and the legal battle rages on into 2020, will that result in a drop in WSOP online bracelet events?

Which High Rollers Will Shine

The 50th World Series of Poker features multiple high roller events and one big question is who will come out on top of them. While the Big One for One Drop will not be back until next year, there are still four events with buy-ins from $25,000 to $100,000.

Players such as Justin Bonomo, Bryn Kenney, Jason Koon, Sam Greenwood, Timothy Adams, and Mikita Badziakouski are all players to watch. If I were to put money on players, I’d bet on Koon and Badziakouski to perform well this summer. Of course, you can never count out players like Fedor Holz and Rainer Kempe as they are also threats, provided they play.

Will Phil Ivey Play?

With his ongoing legal problems and the fact that the Borgata can now seize his Las Vegas assets, the question is whether Phil Ivey will show up to the 2019 World Series of Poker. Ivey has not been a force in tournament poker for a while now and it seems he’s less interested in tournaments than in cash games and other business interests.

This is nothing new for the Tiger Woods of Poker and we would not be surprised to see him skip the series entirely this summer. We may not even see him in Vegas at all.

Can Phil Hellmuth win #16?

Phil Hellmuth managed to extend his record of 15 career WSOP bracelets last summer and all eyes are going to watch whether he can win #16 this year. Looking at his past history, it’s about 50-50 that he wins his 16th this year.

If I were to predict Hellmuth’s 2019 run, I’d say that he will make one to two final tables but not take down gold. Granted, if Hellmuth can find his way heads-up in an event, he’d be a fairly safe bet to win regardless of his stack size.

How Will Negreanu Perform?

We all know that Daniel Negreanu dropped over $1.3 million last year at the 2018 WSOP. This year, Negreanu claims to be focused and honestly believes he will win WSOP Player of the Year. Unfortunately, I can’t follow his logic.

There has been too much going on in his personal life lately and he hasn’t been playing a lot of poker. That’s not to say that he won’t have a ton of cashes this summer as he will be playing a ton of events. He is certainly still skilled enough to make the money a ton, but taking down a bracelet is another matter.

Of course, if Negreanu catches fire at any point, he certainly can put together a run to make his goal a reality. However, I see him having a mediocre series where he gushes over married life and how blessed he is, especially if we come to find out this summer that Amanda Leatherman is pregnant with his first child.

How Many Players Will Enter the Main Event

Last year, 7,874 players entered the WSOP Main Event, the second largest field in WSOP history. For this year’s series, many are wondering if the field will eclipse 8,000 for just the second time in WSOP history.

Based on the growth from past years, we could anticipate that the event will land around 8,200 players for this year’s Main Event. However, I am not certain that we will see the same growth. I think we will see the event eclipse 8,000 players, but it will be somewhere in the range of 8,050 players.

The 2019 World Series of Poker begins on Tuesday and we will bring you regular updates from the series, primarily covering major events and news stories throughout the series.

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