World Series of Poker Kicks Off Next Week: Preview & Canadian Players to Watch

(Photo: PokerGO)

The biggest poker series in the world kicks off next week in Las Vegas. The World World Series of Poker runs May 30 – July 18 with 95 tournaments from the Horseshoe and Paris casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. All events award the traditional gold bracelet to winners along with plenty of cash.

Organizers are promising the biggest series yet with more tables and more variety, while also hoping to top the record of 8,773 players for the $10,000 Main Event. The tournament came up just 111 players short of that last year.

“With the momentum generated from the WSOP’s debut on the Las Vegas Strip last year, we expect a record-breaking WSOP and World Championship (Main Event) at Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas in 2023,” WSOP Senior Vice President Ty Stewart said. “If the Main Event is on your bucket list, this is the year to get to Vegas.”

Details on This Year’s Series

The WSOP is working to make that record happen, running numerous qualifiers around the world both live and online. Organizers have also launched the “Main Event for Life” promotion as part of this year’s festivities. If the tournament breaks the record, all players in the field are entered into a drawing on July 8, awarding a non-transferrable Main Event entry for the next 30 years.

This year’s series also features the largest capacity in history with 608 tables and more than 200,000 square feet of convention space. Players can expect 24/7 cash game action including a new permanent Hall of Fame Poker Room. Along with live bracelet events, another 20 online bracelet events are on the schedule as well.

Players looking to follow the action at home can check out live streaming on PokerGO, the PokerGO YouTube channel, and CBS Sports Network. This year’s events once again feature a wide range of buy-ins from $300 to $250,000, meaning a large collection of events catering to more “weekend warrior” players as well as large buy-ins for well-heeled pros.

Beyond the Main Event, one of this year’s highlights is the $1,000 Mystery Millions. The mystery bounty format awards a player a random prize for eliminating an opponent and features a top bounty payout of $1 million. The $300 Gladiators of Poker comes with a $3 million guarantee and kicks off June 7.

For a complete WSOP schedule, click here. For a complete WSOP streaming schedule from PokerGO, click here.

Canadian Players to Watch at the WSOP

Numerous Canadian players have shined on the poker felt through the years and that includes at the WSOP. Four players who hail from Canada reached the winner’s circle in 2022 and more will be hoping to accomplish that in 2023. Here’s a look at some players to watch this summer in Las Vegas.

• Daniel Negreanu – This Toronto native loves the WSOP and has six bracelets and $21.6 million in series winnings. His last bracelet win came in 2013 and he’ll be looking to grab some gold again this summer. Negreanu, who now calls Las Vegas home, recently detailed his entire tournament schedule and plans on playing in 88 events at all buy-in levels. He enters the action with some nice recent runs that includes winning a PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel for $100,000 and the Super High Roller Bowl for $3.3 million.
• Mike Watson – This player originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, and now living in Toronto has yet to win a bracelet but brings plenty of poker skills to the table. Watson has $20.5 million in live tournament winnings with almost $3.5 million of that at the WSOP. He came close to a win last summer, finishing runner-up in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $326,296. He enters the series on a hot streak after winning two recent Triton Poker high roller events for more than $1 million and the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Main Event in April for $825,731.
• Sam Greenwood – Another Canadian player finding nice recent results, Greenwood has some massive wins from May alone. The Toronto-based player scored more than $2 million in Triton events. In January he also won the Super High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for more than $3 million. Greenwood has limited WSOP results, but if he heads to Vegas this summer the big run might continue.
• Alex Livingston – After winning his first bracelet last summer, Livingston will look to keep the momentum going. His summer also included seventh- and fourth-place finishes as well. Some nice scores have followed since then, including runner-up finishes in two PokerGO events for almost $400,000. In 2019, Livingston finished third in the Main Event for $4 million and has $6.8 million lifetime tournament winnings.