This Year’s WSOP to Take Place Online

By Jerry Smith Staff Writer Updated: 06/17/2020

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Jerry’s greatest advantage is his extensive experience on the casino floor. His time as a casino manager taught him everything about what makes a player tick. Besides being a skilled poker player, he has deep knowledge of all live table games and gambling regulations in the US.

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The World Series of Poker has taken place in Las Vegas for half a century. However, the unprecedented situation created by the COVID-19 global pandemic meant that this year’s World Series of Poker had to be postponed. The 51st WSOP event was scheduled to take place at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on May 26th.

Earlier this week, there was some good news for fans of the event after officials from WSOP announced that the event was being taken online, with 85 of its coveted gold bracelets up for grabs in a series of events. The online events will start at the beginning of July.

Players Must Be in Nevada and New Jersey

WSOP has partnered with the online poker platform GGPoker to run the events for non-American players. Events for those in the USA will be through the WSOP.com platform. However, participants for these US events must be located in Nevada or New Jersey. There will be one gold bracelet event each day for US players, starting from July 1st.

The 51st World Series of Poker has still not been canceled officially as a live event, although it was postponed earlier in the year due to the pandemic. When it was postponed, there were hints that new dates would be scheduled for the fall. It now looks as though the event has been moved online for the first time.

Ty Stewart, executive director of the World Series of Poker, said:

It wouldn’t be summer without WSOP. While we are thrilled to be reopening our venues and optimistic about future offline events, we couldn’t be more excited about deepening our relationship with GGPoker and watching some history unfold online this summer.

It was also confirmed that WSOP.com will be enticing players with a range of special offers and promotions to mark the first online version of its annual event.

Global Pandemic Impact on Live Poker

The global pandemic has had a huge impact on live poker gaming in a number of ways. Due to the spread of the virus, businesses including brick-and-mortar casinos had to close their doors in mid-March.

Casinos have remained closed for nearly three months, with many just starting to reopen. This has had a negative impact on all forms of live gaming, including poker.

Another problem that is affecting live poker gaming is the fact that restrictions have been placed on player numbers in many states, including Nevada. Due to social distancing, only a handful of players can now sit at poker and other gaming tables in casinos.

On the upside, the pandemic has resulted in a huge rise in the number of people playing poker online. In fact, searches for online poker have rocketed over the past few months, as people in lockdown have been looking for ways to stay entertained and enjoy some gambling. There has also been a large increase in activity at online casinos as well, although online sports betting hasn’t been very popular, thanks to most mainstream sporting events being canceled or postponed.