Coronavirus Forces Postponement of World Series of Poker, Targeted for Fall 2020

By Jerry Smith Staff Writer Updated: 04/22/2020

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Earlier this week, it was announced that the World Series of Poker 2020 had been postponed indefinitely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The 51st annual running of the biggest and most prestigious poker series was scheduled to be held through May 26 to July 1 at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

As of now, organizers have not yet determined a new date for the series, but they did share that they were targeting to reschedule the series sometime in the fall this year.

Executive Director of WSOP, Ty Stewart, said that he and his colleagues are determined and working towards making the WSOP happen as soon as possible. However, they also need some additional time to move forward on their traditional scale while still ensuring the well-being of their guests and staff.

He also mentioned that official WSOP competitions are scheduled to be played online this summer, so fans have something to look forward to.

Stewart said:

In the interim, official WSOP competitions are expected to be played online this summer, and we will soon announce details of an expanded series of tournaments to be played on WSOP.com and through partnerships with international operators, which will allow players to chase WSOP glory from their homes.

Schedule changes likely to happen

Considering the postponement, it is likely that the current schedule for the World Series of Poker 2020 will be revisited, and several changes will most likely be made.

WSOP had announced the finalized schedule for the series back in February, which included a record 101 gold bracelet events for players to participate in. Moreover, the recent postponement announcement stipulated that the main event of the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em, also known as poker’s world championship, will be included in the rescheduled WSOP.

Besides the postponement of the series, several stops of the World Series of Poker Circuit had also previously been postponed or canceled. For instance, the WSOP circuit stop at Harrah’s Atlantic City, which was scheduled to run till March 15, was canceled. The Circuit series at Harrah’s Cherokee and King’s Casino in the Czech Republic has also been canceled.

On top of this, the Circuit series held in Hard Rock Tulsa was postponed, with no rescheduled date announced as of now.

However, the finale of the WSOP Circuit, known as Global Casino Championship, which is scheduled to run from August 11 to 13 at Harrah’s Cherokee, has not been postponed nor canceled. Along with this event, the WSOP Europe remains on the fall calendar of the WSOP.

WSOP postponement not unexpected

For many players, fans, and industry experts, the postponement of the World Series of Poker 2020 does not come as a surprise. Considering the rapid development of the coronavirus and the rising number of cases, many major poker tournaments all over the world have been either canceled or postponed in the previous weeks.

Even though the organizers of the series assured the public that they were actively monitoring the development of the pandemic, and despite the officials maintaining that the event will go on as scheduled, observers were convinced that this was highly unlikely. Finally, the announcement from WSOP earlier this week put an end to these speculations.