WSOP Weekly: Action Gets Underway in Las Vegas

WSOP 2025: What You’ll Learn

• The World Series of Poker (WSOP) began with a handful of players in the 1970s and evolved with the addition of Texas Hold’em and gold bracelets for winners.

• The WSOP Main Event buy-in was established at $10,000 in 1972, with subsequent growth in popularity driven by television and pivotal moments such as Chris Moneymaker’s 2003 victory.

• Harrah’s acquired WSOP in 2004, relocating events to the Rio, and eventually to Horseshoe and Paris on the Las Vegas Strip under Caesars Entertainment management.

• The modern era of WSOP has been boosted by poker streaming, vlogging, and online gaming, with GGPoker securing rights as part of a significant acquisition deal.

• Despite changes in ownership and technology, the WSOP 2025 continues as the most prestigious poker series, underscored by the significance of winning a WSOP bracelet as highlighted by poker legends.
  

The World Series of Poker (WSOP 2025) kicked off on Tuesday at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas and players now have eight weeks of card playing to look forward to with millions of dollars and 100 gold bracelets on the line.

The series runs through July 16 and the first week of events already ramps up the action with plenty of big bucks up for grabs including the possibility of a luckey player walking away with a $1 million bounty.

Keep reading to learn more about the first week of action in Casino.org’s first edition of WSOP Weekly. Look for more updates each week throughout the summer.

Looking Ahead

The $1,000 Mystery Millions kicks off the series with five flights running through Saturday. Two lucky winners will score a bounty worth $1 million. Here’s a look at Valentyn Shabelnyk’s win last year. The lucky player seemed more concerned about getting back to his seat than celebrated the seven-figure win.

Alson on Tuesday, the $500 Industry Employees No Limit Hold’em (NLHE) event also gets underway. Formerly known as the Casino Employees Championship, the event has traditionally been one of the series’ first events and poker dealer Joe Garcia topped a field of 1,189 entries last year for a payout of $79,134.

Also this week, a pair of $5,000 buy-in events highlight the early action with a NLHE tournament kicking off Wednesday and a pot limit Omaha event set for Thursday.

Some real excitement hits the tournament venue on Friday with the $25,000 heads-up NLHE championship. This event brings out plenty of pros and saw England’s Darius Samual take the top spot in 2024 for a $500,000 payday.

Another hefty buy-in event begins on Saturday with the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship getting underway. The “weekend warrior” lower buy-in events begin on Sunday with the $600 NLHE Deepstack. A $10,000 Mystery Bounty kicks off on the same day, promising some added excitement of the popular random payout events.

For those who can’t make it to Las Vegas, coverage of the series begins this weekend on PokerGO. For a complete viewing guide, click here.

Will Hellmuth Reconsider Playing the Main Event?

While plenty of card playing can be expected on the felt, there is also plenty of news each year off the felt. This year, that has included 17-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth announcing earlier this year that he’d be skipping the $10,000 main event.

The “Poker Brat” won the tournament in 1989 for $755,000 at just age 24, but said earlier this year the event has become an “endurance contest” that favors younger players. Many doubted he’d be able to stay away from the biggest event in tournament poker – including Danaiel Negreanu.

Will the 60-year-old poker pro pony up his $10,000 and take a seat? That remains to be seen, but don’t bet against it.

And while Hellmuth is quick to boast about his poker prowess, he’s also not afraid to poke some fun at himself. Hellmuth reposted this fan’s AI “baby Phil” this week.

WSOP 2025: $25K Fantasy Draft

No poker player may get more excited for the WOSP each summer than Daniel Negreanu and his YouTube vlogs each summer offer a great way to get a look at the life of a high-stakes poker pro – the highs, the lows, and everywhere in between.

Negreanu also began the $25K Fantasy Draft in 2011. The annual event sees teams put up $25,000 each and draft eight players. The annual draft was set for Tuesday and by midday, 25 teams already planned to put up $25,000 each for one of the biggest fantasy poker seasons on record.

“25 teams and counting for $25K Fantasy!” poker pro David Baker posted on Twitter. “What an insane spectacle fantasy has become. I love it!”

How does the league work? Negreanu offered a look at what to expect and fans can follow the action both on Twitter and a website devoted to tabulating the results.

Last year saw “The Drinkers” come out on top for a total payout of $225,000. The team had quite a squad of performers, including John Racener, Brian Rast, Bryce Yockey, Robert Mizrachi, Chris Brewer, David Coleman, and Ben Lamb.

WSOP 2025 Players Ready for Action

Players wait to the WSOP for much of the year, amateurs living out their poker dreams and pros looking for deep runs throughout the summer. But pros and amateurs alike can’t wait for the events to get underway and are quick to post their feelings about getting back in the Horseshoe and Paris.

Four-0time bracelet winner Max Pescatori was ready on Day 1 and showed off the new WSOP+ app that is set to make registration easier. The app also shows which opponents will be at each player’s table, live updates, tournament information, and more.

Another player heading to the tournament area made note of the two newest banners, one for 2024 main event winner Jonathan Tamayo and one for player of the year Scott Sevier.

As usual, Phil Ivey will be one of the biggest names to watch and he sits second on the all-time bracelet list with 11, one ahead of poker legends Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel, and Johnny Chan, and six behind Phil Hellmuth.

PokerGO director of live events Tim Duckworth offered a nice look at Ivey’s career to kick off the WSOP. Ivey added bracelet No. 11 in 2024 after winning the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship for $347,440.

WSOP 2025: History of the Tournament

The WSOP dates back to 1970 when Benny Binion looked for a major spectacle to bring visitors downtown Las Vegas to his Horseshoe casino. He envisioned a high-stakes poker game with some of the best players around.

That initial game attracted a handful of high-stakes players, including legends like Doyle Brunson, Johnny Moss, and others. The winner wasn’t decided by a tournament and Moss was voted the best all-around player.

A Texas Hold’em tournament format was added the following year and Moss won again. In 1972, the buy-in for the tournament (now known as the Main Event) was set at $10,000 and Amarillo Slim Preston came out on top. His appearances on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson gave the game a real shot in the arm.

The series continued to grow, adding side events and the addition of a gold bracelet to winners in 1976. The main event’s top payout reached $1 million in 1991. As online poker boomed in the 2000 and fans at home could watch poker on television, complete with hole cards visible, the WSOP took off like a rocket.

Prize and player pools ballooned, especially after amateur Chris Moneymaker won the main event in 2003 for $2.5 million. His amazing run was shown over and over on ESPN, propelling the game around the world. He has since gone on to create his own tour!

Harrah’s (later to become Caesars Entertainment) purchased the WSOP in 2004 and moved the series to the Rio in 2005. The series flourished at the property until Caesars sold the Rio and moved the events to the new Horseshoe (formerly Bally’s) and Paris on the Vegas Strip.

More recently, poker streaming, vlogging, and mobile gaming online poker has helped propel the series event more and reach a new generation of players. GGPoker purchased the rights to the NSUS Group, the parent company of GGPoker, in 2024 for $500 million.

However, as part of the deal Caesars retained the right to host the live tournament series for the next 20 years. Caesars poker rooms will also continue featuring WSOP branding. The WSOP 2025 remains the biggest series in the game.

“The series means everything to poker players,” Hellmuth said. “A good measure of poker greatness is measured in WSOP bracelets.”

Title Image Credit: Caesars Entertainment