The playing cards are within the air on the 56th version of the World Series of Poker, and whereas many questions have been answered — no, there won’t be a bank card price to register for events through the WSOP+ app this yr — a number of stay.
Will Hellmuth skip Predominant Occasion?
Love him or hate him, Phil Hellmuth is poker’s best residing showman. Each time he brings his lanky 6’7″ body into any room, all eyes flip and watch. He’s even parlayed his fame right into a prolonged profession shelling items, and at the moment may be seen as a spokesman for BetRivers in TV commercials.
Nonetheless, Hellmuth, who turned 60 throughout final yr’s WSOP, took to Twitter in February with a ballot asking his fanbase if he ought to boycott this yr’s Predominant Occasion. His challenge: He needs Day 6 to develop into a time without work as a result of the occasion is simply too rattling lengthy for old-heads like himself.
However quickly after the ballot went from favoring “he ought to play” to “boycott,” it was deleted, leaving everybody now questioning: Will Phil play within the Predominant Occasion?
If he skipped, it might be the primary time he missed since 1988, the yr earlier than he gained his first bracelet as Predominant Occasion champion.
Hellmuth is semi-famous for his typically cringe-worthy grand entrances to the Predominant Occasion. Oh, and there’s additionally the truth that he holds the WSOP bracelet document with 11. There’s little question he craves consideration as a lot as a badger can’t assist however dig for all that honey.
With almost a full week of late registration time accessible for the Predominant Occasion beginning July 2, the Phil Hellmuth watch will likely be actual. And he loves it.
Right here’s one other storyline to look at: If Hellmuth does enter and manages an inconceivable deep run, the event is scheduled to finish on July 16 — Hellmuth’s 61st birthday.
Will the Predominant Occasion document be damaged once more?
It’s a query that retains WSOP Govt Director Ty Stewart’s abdomen churning: Will the variety of Predominant Occasion entrants be sufficient to interrupt the document — once more.
Throughout an Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit, Stewart admitted he worries an excessive amount of on whether or not or not the document will likely be damaged year-after-year. Answering a query about his favourite and least favourite moments of the Sequence, he addressed the strain he feels to ensure the numbers are excessive for the WSOP Predominant Occasion.
“I believe my favourite second yearly is the sweat of Predominant Occasion registration coming to a detailed. I believe my least favourite second yearly can also be the sweat of Predominant Occasion registration coming to a detailed.
That quantity most likely takes on an excessive amount of significance to sign well being of business, however I do know what it means to folks and to me and the employees. We really feel an excellent duty to everybody to point out poker’s wholesome.”
The magic quantity to cross this yr is 10,112, which was set final yr, beating the earlier excessive mark of 10,043 in 2023.
Somebody get Stewart some Tums, as a result of it’s going to be a detailed. And that’s an excellent factor, as a result of regardless of how you narrow it, pulling-off a ten,000-plus contest is a tremendous achievement.
Will Roland win one?
Roland Israelashvili has had a tremendous event poker profession, significantly in World Sequence of Poker occasions, the place he sits second on the all-time number of cashes list at 509. Arkadiy Tsinis is the one participant with extra, with an astounding 532. Brett Apter sits in third with 327. That quantity contains Circuit occasions.
Though he has 11 WSOP Circuit rings and greater than $4 million in WSOP event winnings, Israelashvili has by no means gained a bracelet. And whereas he’s made the ultimate desk in WSOP occasions world wide 75 occasions, solely seven of these got here in bracelet occasions.
Come on, poker Gods, the person is flippin’ due.
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