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WSOP Announces Expanded Schedule for WSOP Europe

For the first time in history, the World Series of Poker is offering more than 100 bracelet events in 2019. Originally, the series was scheduled to award 100 bracelets and then added an additional event onto the summer schedule in Las Vegas to bring the total to 101.

Now, WSOP officials have announced that they have expanded the schedule for the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe. Originally slated to have 10 bracelet events, the WSOP-E is now a 15 event series. This brings the bracelet total for 2019 up to 106.

Five Events Added to WSOP Europe Schedule

WSOP officials have announced changes to the 2019 WSOP Europe Schedule that will see five additional events added to the series. The first is a €1,350 Mini Main Event with three starting flights. During the summer, the Mini Main Event proved to be a popular event, and it rolled over to Rozvadov.

The next event added to the schedule is a €250,000 Super High Roller NL Hold’em Event with a €5 million guarantee. Super High Roller Events are all the rage and it’s no surprise to see a massive buy-in event added to the series.

The third event added is a €2,5000 8-Game Mix. One knock on the WSOP Europe is that it has lacked mixed game action. This is one of two events to feature mixed games. The other is the €25,500 Mixed Games Championship. Similar to the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship at the WSOP in Las Vegas, this event will be a true test of poker prowess.

The last event added to the schedule is a €2,500 Short Deck Event. There is already a Short Deck High Roller on the schedule, and it is nice to see an event at a pricing point that most players at the series can afford.

King’s Resort Owner Leon Tsoukernik spoke about the expanded schedule, revealing that, “We heard the feedback and are happy to add some mixed games and some bigger buy-in tournaments in order to encourage more players to make the trip.

After hosting some big events here at King’s recently, players insisted to me they would come back to WSOP Europe if we added a few additional tournaments. So, we have now done so and we look forward to welcoming them with this revised WSOP Europe schedule in October.”

Expansion of Series May Help Overall Attendance

While I have been a critic of the WSOP offering more than 100 bracelet events in the past, I don’t mind this expansion quite as much. The reason being that this expansion could actually help overall attendance.

As mentioned earlier, a knock on the series was a lack of mixed game action. Some pros choose to skip this series. Last year, many of the biggest names in the game skipped the series, including Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu.

With an expanded schedule, it is likely we will see some pros try to make the trip to Rozvadov to try and win their first or subsequent bracelet.

This expanded schedule may make the Player of the Year chase actually exciting this time around. Shaun Deeb, Daniel Negreanu, and Daniel Zack are all within striking distance of Robert Campbell. It is likely that Deeb and Negreanu will make the trip to try and overthrow the Aussie from the top spot.

With Campbell being primarily a mixed games and PLO specialist, it was unlikely we’d see him try and make the trip to defend his title. With the expanded schedule, it is much more likely.

Frankly, the WSOP needed to do something to generate excitement for the series. This is a positive step in the right direction and if it proves successful, expect more changes in this regard for the 2020 World Series of Poker Europe.

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