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The world’s biggest poker event is underway. The 2019 World Series of Poker ( WSOP ) began last May 29, 2019, and will run until July 16, 2019. The venue is, as it has been since 2005, the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This year’s WSOP is special because it is the 50th edition of the tournament. To celebrate its 50th year, there will be a $50,000 No Limit Hold’em event, the Big 50, a $500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event with a guaranteed $5 million prize pool and $1 million for the winner. A short deck tournament will also be held for the first time as is a tournament for past WSOP bracelet winners.
Those are just some of the newest events added to the WSOP, which has seen the number of individual tournaments grow steadily since its inception in 1970. This year, there are a total of 89 bracelet events. ( Every event awards its winner a signature WSOP gold bracelet ). But despite the new events added, the highlight of the WSOP is still the $10,000 buy-in Main Event which is the biggest poker tournament of the year and offers a prize pool that reaches tens of millions of American dollars. The biggest-ever WSOP Main Event took place in 2012 with Jamie Gold walking away with $12 million as first prize.
With the WSOP Main Event, it’s not only the poker players who can make money out of the tournament. You can, too, because as the Super Bowl of poker, there are so many bet markets available for the WSOP Main Event. We went to bet-maker Bovada and checked out their poker betting odds. Here are some WSOP Main Event bets which we liked and which we believe are going to cash in. These bets were taken from Bovada as of 6/6/19:
How Many Entries For The Main Event?
- Over 7,850.5 -135
- Under 7,850.50 -105
Despite online poker slowing downs since the early 2000s, the Main Event has always retained its massive field. And why not? The WSOP Main Event is the richest poker tournament in the world and it just keeps on getting bigger.’
From 7,221 in 2017, the Main Event attracted a total of 7,874 players, making it the second biggest of all-time. The 2006 Main Event stands as the biggest ever thanks to the influx of online players that year. Will this year’s Main Event surpass last year’s mammoth field? It’s always difficult to say but considering that that poker has been trending up over the past year, I think there is a good chance that it’s going to exceed 7,850 entries.
Also, the organizers have ‘tweaked” this year’s Main Event, which could lead to more entries. This year, players will have more time to get in on the action this year as registration has been extended to the start of play on Day 2, which is noontime. There is also a slight increase in chips from 60,000 instead of 50,000 and the utilization of the Big Blind Ante to streamline play are likely going to entice more players to join. Sin City is going to have a wide assortment of poker tournaments on tap this year and all the extra tournaments could feed into the attendance in the Main Event as well.
Prediction: Over 7850.5
Will a Female Win An “Open” Event?
- Yes +300
- No -500
The WSOP is hosting 89 events this year and if the female population continue to make up around 4% of the field, I think there will be at least one. Kristen Bicknell and Maria Ho are on a roll coming to the WSOP so these females are for sure drawing as live as they have in recent years. I would say that there will be two ladies heads up for gold including the Ladies event and yes there will be at least one open event won by a female.
Prediction: Yes
Will A Female Make The Final Table?
- Yes +550
- No -1000
The only time that there was a woman on the Final Table was more than two decades ago when Barbara Enright won $114,180 for the 5th place back in 1995. But remember that the entrants were 273 back then. Although no woman made it last year despite the mammoth 7,874 total that battled it out, the number for the ladies is expected to increase further in this year’s Main Event. Although history says no, I think it’s due time that we see another female in the Final Table. Who knows, there could be two this year.
Prediction: Yes
2019 Main Event Winner’s Birthplace?
- USA -200
- Europe +300
- Canada +650
- Central or South America +1600
- Australia +2000
- Others +1600
Only five non-Americans have won the Main Event since 2000. Since 2010, only three winners were non-American, the last one was Martin Jacobson in 2014.
Prediction: USA
How Many American-born Players Will Be in the Final Table?
- Over 5.5 -120
- Under 5.5 -120
There were six Americans in last year’s Final table. There were five Americans in the November Nine in 2017, 2016 and 2015.
Prediction: Under 5.5
Age of Winner When the Last Card is Dealt?
- 29 or older -135
- 28 or younger -105
John Cynn in 2018 and Qui Nguyen in 2016 were over 30 years old when they won at the Final Table. But although two out of the last three Main Event winners were over 29 years old, there were no other above-29 winners since at least since 2010.
Prediction: 28 years or younger
