Players React to the 2018 World Series of Poker Schedule

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Dec 18, 2017 5 min read

The 2018 World Series of Poker schedule released earlier this week elicited mixed response among the poker community. PokerNews' Laura Cornelius got a chance to catch up with some pros at the PokerStars Championship in Prague to get their reactions, which were positive for the most part.

Daniel Negreanu called the schedule "big," referring to the addition of a $50K and $100K high roller in addition to the return of the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop.

Negreanu admitted, "Unless I do well in the million-dollar One Drop, you're likely to see a new all-time money leader in poker."

Jake Cody and Parker Talbot think the schedule looks pretty good. Cody is fine with the "gimmicky" tournaments which seem to draw a lot of people, while Talbot noted the addition of more PLO events and high rollers that he says don't affect him much, though he may play some of the PLO events as he has been getting more into PLO cash of late.

2013 Main Event champ Ryan Riess at first wasn't crazy about the idea of the Main being earlier in the schedule with more post-lims after, but he told Cornelius he actually likes it now. He also pointed out that Day 1C of the Main is on July 4, which will provide more incentive for people to play 1A and 1B, making the three starting fields a bit more even.

Martin Kabrhel is okay with the schedule apart from putting the $100K high roller at the beginning instead of toward the end with the other big buy-in events. Will Kassouf likes the addition of post-lims after the Main, saying there's "Something for everyone. There's other tournaments to play other than the Main Event towards the end of the series."

Upswing Poker's Fernando Habegger is, of course, excited about the addition of low buy-in PLO events to the schedule and says it's important "to pick up people at low buy-in levels." He's especially excited about the $365 PLO event, "So everyone from all sorts of budgets and buy-in levels can contribute and learn PLO." Habegger also commented that the schedule is reflective of some other trends in poker including more high rollers and more bounty tournaments, both fun to play and watch.

Twitter Reactions

On Twitter, most were appreciative of the earlier-than-usual release, though most of the big name pros have been pretty quiet regarding the schedule details, despite plenty of changes worthy of discussion.

Matt Glantz attributes the lack of hype to the poker world’s obsession and recent good fortune in the Cryptospace, an idea seconded by Dan O’Brien.

Phil Hui was one of the most vocal pros to express some disappointment, particularly with regard to the multitude of post-lim events following the Main. The bracelet winner and four-time Circuit ring winner also questioned the process WSOP uses to arrive at a final schedule, wondering about the “Player’s Committee” and who it consists of, making his recommendation for DJ MacKinnon to advise WSOP on the schedule.

MacKinnon was himself undecided about the number of post-lims, but noted that his edits would consist of scheduling events so people can play more of them.

Vinny Pahuja chimed in about the post-lims, calling it "one of the best changes" on the schedule, which seems to be the overall consensus in the community.

Neil Blumenfield brought up the fact that they lowered the age requirement for the Super Seniors event from 65 to 60, probably a welcomed change for those in the five-year age window that it most affects.

While many players have been quiet on the schedule for now, overall most of the changes seem to be welcomed among many top poker pros.

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