In the first half of this two-part series, I introduced readers to an age-old dilemma faced by folks attending the World Series of Poker (WSOP) – should you play the Main Event or a few smaller tournaments instead?

If you are going to take the WSOP seriously, you NEED to have a sleep schedule. Leading up to the WSOP you should work on developing good sleep habits, getting around 8 hours of sleep each night. Part of this is to establish a routine, and the other part is to make sure you.

The earlier installment covered the pros and cons associated with playing in the Main, which costs a pretty penny to enter at $10,000. Sure enough, that big buy-in does give you a shot at winning $8 million or so, which is why several thousand hopefuls take their shot at the WSOP Main Event every year.

At the time of writing, close to 2000 entrants have registered for the Main, covering 30% of the original guarantee already. With a buy-in of $1615+$85, the operator would need to attract another 4200 entries to meet its ambitious guarantee. Each Day 1 allows up to three re-entries through its late registration period which lasts around 4 hours. Every player starts with a 50,000 chip stack, equivalent to 200 big blinds. That may not be the case anymore. No one can take away his prize money or title. However, the crowning of another winner does call into question the status of both titles. Opinions aside, there will be another WSOP Main Event in 2020 and, if you’re in a country where GGPoker operates, you can qualify now. The plan still remains for the WSOP proper to take place in Vegas in Autumn and the WSOPE Main Event has been a re-entry before. Either way it looks like the World Series of Poker Online is going to be contentious before it even starts this year. Do you consider this event 2020's official WSOP Main Event? Let us know in the comments. The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion of the World Series of Poker in series history. In September 2007, the first WSOP championship events outside of Las Vegas, complete with bracelets, were held. The inaugural WSOPE consisted of three events held in London from September 6–17, 2007. The main event, a GBP 10,000 buy-in no-limit hold 'em tournament, was won.

But for recreational players like me, and the vast majority of my readers, spending a huge chunk of your bankroll on a single tournament isn’t really sound money management. And with no reentries to work with, this is a one and done affair (at least until next year), making the WSOP Main Event one of the more volatile major tournaments on the circuit.

All things considered, there’s something to be said for taking an alternative approach by breaking that $10,000 into smaller increments for use in multiple tournaments. As this second part sets out to show you, competing in a handful of preliminary events can balance out variance and give you a better shot at bagging that precious WSOP gold bracelet.

To get an idea of how professional players divide their time at the WSOP, check out this post from Andrew Brokos of the Thinking Poker podcast as he sold of pieces of last year’s preliminary “package.” Be sure to click through to his Google spreadsheet to see exactly how Brokos broke his bankroll up while chasing bracelets in 2017.

As it turns out, his efforts didn’t result in gold, but Brokos did manage to cash four times in small buy-in events, including three runs into the top 80 or higher.

Read on for a rundown of the benefits and drawbacks you’ll encounter when playing a WSOP prelim package rather than the Main.

Can You Re Enter The Wsop Main Events

Reasons to Play Several Smaller Bracelet Events

The following entries highlight reasons to take the Brokos approach and spread your resources out over several smaller tournaments.

Variety Is the Spice of Life

The WSOP Main Event is a No Limit Hold’em (NLHE) freezeout tournament, and while it does crown the World Champion of poker in most players’ eyes, the game has much more to offer than the traditional two-card game.

NLHE itself can be supplemented by re-entry events, six-handed and heads-up play, the shootout format, and thanks to WSOP.com and Nevada’s regulated iGaming industry, even online access. Moving past the NLHE paradigm, poker offers several popular variants, including the four hole card action-fest known as Pot Limit Omaha, the purist’s pursuit Seven Card Stud, and more obscure offshoots like Razz and Lowball.

By sticking to the WSOP Main Event alone, you’re sacrificing the true nature of this summer-long poker festival.

Just take a look below at the 2018 WSOP schedule, which I’ve edited to include only tournaments priced at $1,500 or below, to see what I mean.

Event #DateTournamentBuy-In
130-MayCasino Employees NLHE$565
431-MayOmaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better$1,500
61-Jun“GIANT” NLHE (FLIGHT A)$365
68-Jun“GIANT” NLHE (FLIGHT B)$365
615-Jun“GIANT” NLHE (FLIGHT C)$365
622-Jun“GIANT” NLHE (FLIGHT D)$365
629-Jun“GIANT” NLHE (FLIGHT E)$365
72-Jun“COLOSSUS IV” NLHE (FLIGHT A)$565
72-Jun“COLOSSUS IV” NLHE (FLIGHT B)$565
73-Jun“COLOSSUS IV” NLHE (FLIGHT C)$565
73-Jun“COLOSSUS IV” NLHE (FLIGHT D)$565
74-Jun“COLOSSUS IV” NLHE (FLIGHT E)$565
74-Jun“COLOSSUS IV” NLHE (FLIGHT F)$565
93-JunWSOP.com Online NLHE$365
113-Jun“GIANT” PLO (FLIGHT A)$365
1110-Jun“GIANT” PLO (FLIGHT B)$365
1117-Jun“GIANT” PLO (FLIGHT C)$365
1124-Jun“GIANT” PLO (FLIGHT D)$365
111-Jul“GIANT” PLO (FLIGHT E)$365
124-JunDealer’s Choice 6-Handed$1,500
135-JunNLHE$1,500
145-JunNo-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw$1,500
156-JunH.O.R.S.E.$1,500
177-JunNLHE 6-Handed$1,500
198-JunPot-Limit Omaha (FLIGHT A)$565
198-JunPot-Limit Omaha (FLIGHT B)$565
219-Jun“MILLIONAIRE MAKER” NLHE (A)$1,500
2110-Jun“MILLIONAIRE MAKER” NLHE (B)$1,500
229-JunEight Game Mix$1,500
2511-JunSeven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better$1,500
2612-JunPot-Limit Omaha$1,000
2913-JunLimit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw$1,500
3014-JunPot-Limit Omaha$1,500
3114-JunSeven Card Stud$1,500
3215-JunSenior’s Championship NLHE$1,000
3416-JunDouble Stack NLHE (FLIGHT A)$1,000
3417-JunDouble Stack NLHE (FLIGHT B)$1,000
3516-JunMixed Omaha Hi-Lo$1,500
3616-JunSuper Senior’s NLHE$1,000
3717-JunNLHE$1,500
3919-JunNLHE Shootout$1,500
4120-JunLimit Hold’em$1,500
4522-JunNLHE (30-min levels)$1,000
4722-JunWSOP.com Online PLO 6-Handed$565
4823-Jun“MONSTER STACK” NLHE (A)$1,500
4824-Jun“MONSTER STACK” NLHE (B)$1,500
5024-JunRazz$1,500
5125-JunNLHE Bounty$1,500
5326-JunPot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better$1,500
5527-JunTag Team NLHE$1,000
5728-JunLadies Championship NLHE$1,000*
5929-JunNLHE Super Turbo Bounty$1,000
6129-JunWSOP.com Online NLHE Champ.$1,000
6230-Jun“Crazy Eights” NLHE (FLIGHT A)$888
6230-Jun“Crazy Eights” NLHE (FLIGHT B)$888
621-Jul“Crazy Eights” NLHE (FLIGHT C)$888
621-Jul“Crazy Eights” NLHE (FLIGHT D)$888
665-JulNLHE$1,500
676-JulPot-Limit Omaha Bounty$1,500
687-JulLittle One for One Drop NLHE (A)$1,111
688-JulLittle One for One Drop NLHE (B)$1,111
689-JulLittle One for One Drop NLHE (C)$1,111
7210-JulMixed NLHE/PLO 8-Handed$1,500
7311-JulNLHE Double Stack (30-min levels)$1,000
7512-Jul“CLOSER” NLHE $1M Gtd. (A)$1,500
7513-Jul“CLOSER” NLHE $1M Gtd. (B)$1,500

*$1,000 buy-in for women, but men can enter for $10,000

As you can see, of the 43 individual events accessible for less than the $1,500 price tag, 18 of them are non-NLHE formats.

With so many options to choose from, players who enjoy alternative forms of poker can cobble together quite a diverse package using the WSOP Main Event’s $10,000 buy-in.

For example, you could start off with Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Eight or Better, before firing three bullets at Event #11: $365 “Giant” Pot Limit Omaha. From there, why not try Event #12: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice Six-Handed and Event #14: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. to work on your mixed game skills?

After that, the middle of June offers a sweet spot of sorts, with Event #25: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better; Event #26: $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha; Event #29: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw; and Event #31: $1,500 Seven Card Stud providing the perfect mixed game package.

And when you tally up the damage from playing those seven tournaments, the total cost comes to $9,595 – leaving you with just over $400 for the buffets and bars.

Smaller Buy-Ins Make Bagging Bracelets a Bit Easier

I posted this table in Part 1 of the series, but it bears repeating simply to show just how massive WSOP Main Event fields have become over the last 15 years.

WSOP Main Event Field Sizes by Year
YearChampionEntries
2003Chris Moneymaker839
2004Greg Raymer2,576
2005Joe Hachem5,619
2006Jamie Gold8,773
2007Jerry Yang6,358
2008Peter Eastgate6,844
2009Joe Cada6,494
2010Jonathan Duhamel7,319
2011Pius Heinz6,865
2012Greg Merson6,598
2013Ryan Riess6,352
2014Martin Jacobson6,683
2015Joe McKeehen6,420
2016Qui Nguyen6,737
2017Scott Blumstein7,221

Without fail, you can expect to face a field of over 5,000 players, with 6,800 to 7,000 a more realistic baseline nowadays. That’s a ton of opponents to wade through, even for the more talented players out there, making the WSOP Main Event one of the more difficult tournaments to win in all the world.

Those who successfully pass the test can bring home many millions in winnings, but the sheer odds against any one player make the Main a longshot, to say the least.

On the other hand, entering a smaller buy-in prelim at the WSOP tends to provide much better odds when it comes to field size. Sure, you’ll usually be competing in re-entry events which allow eliminated opponents to buy back in, but even so the field sizes pale in comparison to the WSOP Main Event.

The table below shows you the field sizes for all tournaments priced under $1,500 at last year’s WSOP, along with the winner’s name and the prize they earned.

TOURNAMENTENTRIESWINNERPRIZE
$565 Casino Employees NLHE651Bryan Hollis$68,817.00
$1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better905Benjamin Zamani$238,620.00
$565 The Colossus III NLHE18,054Thomas Pomponio$1,000,000.00
$333 WSOP.com Online NLHE2,509Joseph Mitchell$122,314.00
$1,000 Tag Team NLHE843Nipun Java$150,637.00
$1,500 Dealers Choice Six-Handed364David Bach$119,399.00
$1,500 NLHE1,739David Pham$391,960.00
$1,500 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw266Frank Kassela$89,151.00
$1,500 H.O.R.S.E.736David Singer$203,709.00
$1,500 NLHE Six-Handed1,748Anthony Marquez$393,273.00
$565 Pot Limit Omaha3,186Tyler Smith$224,344.00
$365 The Giant NLHE10,015Dieter Dechant$291,240.00
$1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker7,761Pablo Mariz$1,221,407.00
$1,500 Eight-Game Mix Six-Handed472Ron Ware$145,577.00
$1,500 Limit Hold’em616Shane Buchwald$177,985.00
$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha1,058Tyler Groth$179,126.00
$1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple326Brian Brubaker$109,967.00
$1,000 Seniors NLHE Championship5,389Frank Maggio$617,303.00
$1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better688Vladimir Shchemelev$194,323.00
$1,500 NLHE1,698Christopher Frank$384,833.00
$1,000 Super Seniors NLHE1,720James Moore$259,230.00
$1,000 NLHE2,020Thomas Reynolds$292,880.00
$1,000 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty1,868Rifat Palevic$183,903.00
$1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8595Ernest Bohn$173,228.00
$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha870Loren Klein$231,483.00
$1,500 NLHE Shootout1,025Ben Maya$257,764.00
$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 830Nathan Gamble$223,339.00
$1,500 NLHE Monster Stack6,716Brian Yoon$1,094,349.00
$1,500 NLHE Bounty1,927Chris Bolek$266,646.00
$1,500 NLHE1,580Mohsin Charania$364,438.00
$1,500 Seven Card Stud298Tom Koral$96,907.00
$1,500 NLHE1,763Artur Rudziankov$395,918.00
$888 Crazy Eights NLHE8,120Alexandru Papazian$888,888.00
$1,000 NLHE1,750Rulah Divine$262,501.00
$1,500 NLHE/PLO Eight-Handed1,058Sebastian Langrock$268,555.00
$1,000 NLHE1,413Shai Zurr$223,241.00
$1,500 NLHE1,956Chris Klodnicki$428,423.00
$1,500 Razz419Jason Gola$132,957.00
$1,000 Ladies NLHE Championship718Heidi May$135,098.00
$1,000 WSOP.com Online NLHE1,312Nipun Java$237,688.00
$1,000 Little One for One Drop4,391Adrian Moreno$528,316.00

I’ve bolded the tournaments that managed to draw more entries than the 2017 WSOP Main Event, which attracted 7,221 players to the fray. As you can see, of the 40 events last summer offering affordable buy-ins of $1,500 or less, only four were able to generate field sizes larger than the Main.

In fact, when you lower the threshold to 5,000 entries, just six prelim events made the mark.

Without a doubt, playing in smaller buy-in tournaments is the best way to cut down on the fields you’ll be forced to fight through.

On average, the tourneys priced at $1,500 or under attracted 2,518 entries per event. Remove the mega-massive “Colossus III” – which garnered over 18,000 entries thanks to a $1 million guarantee for the winner – and the average field dropped all the way down to 2,120.

Playing against 2,000 or so opponents must offer better odds at making a deep run than a 7,000+ field, making a prelim package much more palatable than taking a shot at the Main.

You’ll Still Get Rich If You Wind Up Winning

Many players view their WSOP Main Event entry as a lottery ticket of sorts, albeit a very expensive one.

Wsop

As their reasoning goes, incurring a higher degree of risk is more than worth it when the tournament pays out $8 million and more to the World Champion. Indeed, even the final nine tend to guarantee themselves a million-dollar score, so the Main stands out as a “rags to riches” goal for legions of casual players.

Can You Re Enter The Wsop Main Event

I’ve even heard serious players bemoan their “bad luck” after winning a prelim event. These yahoos really do have the nerve to ask aloud why they had to “waste” their run good on a six-figure payday when seven-figure payouts await WSOP Main Event finalists.

I can sort of see where they’re coming from, even if I decidedly disagree with their sentiment. You only win so many poker tournaments in your life, so you’d surely prefer those victories to come with the most money on the line.

The thing is though, prelim bracelet events at the WSOP still offer plenty of bang for your buy-in buck.

Of the 40 events priced at $1,500 or under from that table above, just three paid out less than $100,000 to the winner. Two of those were the $1,500 events in Seven Card Stud and No Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple draw, a pair of variants that younger players largely haven’t learned. The other was the Casino Employee Championship event, which limits the field to folks who work on the backend of the casino industry.

The WSOP Main Event is famous for paying out a huge multiple on your $10,000 buy-in, and last year’s champ, Scott Blumstein, enjoyed an 815 to 1 return.

Well, you can fire just $365 at the “Giant” NLHE event and shoot for a similar return of nearly 800 to 1, given last year’s champion pocketed $291,240. The “Crazy Eights” event is even better, turning an $888 entry fee into $888,888 for a 101 to 1 return.

You’ll find a ton of these low buy-in, massive payout events littering the WSOP schedule, so take full advantage by spreading your bankroll out.

Reasons to Skip the Smaller Bracelet Events

Below you’ll find a few reasons to skip the small stuff during your next WSOP experience.

The Structure Says It All

Speaking of that “Giant” tournament, for $365 you’ll get a nice big stack of 25,000 chips to work with.

That’s all well and good, but when you take a closer look at the event’s structure sheet, you’ll notice that the blind levels are only 20 minutes on Day 1, and 40 minutes thereafter. Even an inflated starting stack like that will be whittled down in short order facing those blinds – a fate that befalls many players entering prelims.

Aside from the gimmick tournaments like the “Giant” and “Colossus,” regular low-level prelims use starting stacks equal to five times the buy-in amount. Thus, a standard $1,500 NLHE event begins with 7,500 chips and blind levels that last 60 minutes. This means your initial stake will represent just 30 big blinds or so – still comfortable, but by no means deep – within just a few hours of play.

Conversely, the WSOP Main Event begins with a whopping 50,000 chips and two-hour levels. This generous structure is one of the main draws for serious players and pros, as their skill advantage can only be applied when the stacks are deep.

Ever hear the term “shove-fest” used when referring to smaller, shallow-stacked tournaments? Well, you’d be surprised how the structure for many WSOP prelims can turn even bracelet events into the proverbial shove-fest.

What Dreams May Come

I touched on this in greater detail back in Part 1, but it’s worth repeating based on how important the WSOP Main Event really is to most poker players.

From the late legend Stu “The Kid” Ungar – who is the only three-time (’80, ’81, ’97) World Champion in history – to modern poker icons like Johnny Chan (’87, ’88), Phil Hellmuth (’89), and Chris Moneymaker (’03), the WSOP Main Event is poker’s pinnacle.

Just imagine the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Finals, and the Olympics into one week-long tournament to get an idea of the pride poker players take in winning it all.

But the best part is, unlike those major sporting competitions, any ordinary person can pony up the dough and play alongside the game’s greats.

Can You Re Enter The Wsop Main Event 2019

Whether you’re a poker fan who avidly follows the comings and goings on the tournament circuit, a recreational player looking for a lark, or an aspiring grinder who wants to test their mettle in the top tier, competing in the WSOP Main Event is a dream for millions of players all over the world.

If your dream is to play this tournament, and this tournament only, nothing else on the WSOP schedule will suffice. I’ve had the pleasure of playing the Main three times before, and I’ll always treasure those memories. Building a stack, bluffing a pro you’ve seen on TV, pacing on breaks, and even my bust-outs – I remember every minute of those Mains like they were yesterday.

On that note, I can’t begrudge anybody out there for passing up a package of prelims to live their dream by playing the WSOP Main Event.

Can You Re Enter The Wsop Main Event 2020

Timing Is Everything

Earlier, you saw a portion of the WSOP schedule, but the full series stretches out over six weeks between late May and mid-July.

Accordingly, setting up a package of prelims will usually require you to take a week or two away from work and family obligations. Even if you break things up into multiple trips, playing $10,000 worth of early events will take some time – especially if you happen to go deep.

The Main does last for a week, but most players only book two or three days to start their trip.

Can You Re Enter The Wsop Main Event

If the odds catch up to them and they bust early, no harm no foul when it comes to real life responsibilities. And if the dream starts to come true and they build a big stack suitable for a deep run, they can adjust from there.

When you’re working with limited timeframes, playing a WSOP package just doesn’t leave you with the same level of maneuverability.

Can You Re Enter The Wsop Main Event Tonight

Conclusion

Whether you decide to enter the WSOP main event or several smaller WSOP events, there’s no right or wrong decision. Consider your financial investment, time constraints, and your chance to place in the money to decide which path is best for you.

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