The World Series of Poker is back for the 54th time, and it is undoubtedly bigger than ever. There’s more WSOP tournaments, more events and highlights, and it features a prize pool large enough to fund a small country.

  • 115 events will take place, with 20 of them online.
  • The live cardroom will be monstrous – the largest in history – with 608 tables spread across more than 200,000 square feet of convention space.
  • Not only will there be exciting events happening every day, but there will also be 24/7 live cash game action. Let’s dive right into it.

What’s New at the WSOP? Top Highlights and New Events to Watch Out For

The $10,000 buy-in Championship events have always served the professional poker player community quite well with various game formats available, but players have been clamoring for some of those same formats to be available at some of the lower price points for a while now. The WSOP finally relented this year and there are $1,500 Short Deck events on the schedule.

1. Return of Millionaire Maker

The 2023 WSOP will feature the return of the ever-popular Millionaire Maker event. It’s a No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament with a $1,500 buy- in. The cool part? The 1rst prize up for grabs is a $1,000,000 guaranteed! That’s not something that’s chopped among all winners, but $1M going straight to that top finisher. Millionaire Maker is listed at #53 on the WSOP’s schedule, and takes place on June 23rd.

2. Badugi Tournaments

This is one of the most exciting new WSOP events 2023 has to offer. Badugi is a four-card lowball draw version of poker. There are 3 betting rounds and players attempt to make the lowest four-card hand they can without pairing up or matching suits. A-2-3-4 is the best hand possible, also called a four-card “four.” This would beat A-2-3-5, which is a four-card “five.”

Badugi has been in the rotation for some of the Dealer’s Choice and 10-game mix events over the years past, but this marks the first time it’s getting a standalone bracelet event.

3. Gladiators of Poker: New event with an even lower buy-in

Do those crazy high-roller buy-ins make the best WSOP events impossible to join? Pick up a ticket to Gladiators of Poker (Event #18) for only $300. This $3,000,000 guaranteed tournament is sure to attract a monumental number of poker players. Never before has the WSOP offered a tournament at this price. Your shot at winning a WSOP bracelet could be right here.

4. New event: Ultra Stack

The WSOP 2023 schedule and events list shows that Event #81 on July 11th will be an Ultra Stack tourney with a $600 buy-in. It’s super accessible, compared to other events, isn’t it? You get 60,000 chips to start and could amass an absolute monster stack if you make a deep run.

5. Secret Bounty Tournaments

The mystery bounty format was wildly successful in 2022, so the addition of a 10K version of this tournament has been added this year: Secret Bounty No-limit Hold’em tournament – Event #35. This means that, each player you eliminate, you get a randomized bounty. The buy-in is $10K, but you could make good on that quickly with a few knockouts, even if you get eliminated early. This one should be so much fun, honestly.

6. Other WSOP News

The Horseshoe Casino has a brand-new 18-table Hall of Fame poker room.

  • Satellites and qualifiers are happening at casinos and cardrooms all over the world. Main Event Maynia (because they’re happening in May, get it?) is on multiple continents and just might be at a location near you! “Step” up tournaments are available with buy-ins of $140. These lead to $1,175 buy-in satellites that award a guaranteed WSOP Main Event seat and travel stipend to Las Vegas.
  • WSOP tournaments are also kicking off on WSOP.COM’s, like the 112 Seat Sprint. Starting 6/25, the site will offer games that award guaranteed Main Event seats. The last chance final seat will be awarded on July 8th. Don’t be late!

Changes to WSOP events and other highlights

The WSOP continues its push into the modern era with more online events than ever before. Last year’s 13 events are now being pushed up to 20. This is in line with the theme of breaking records, which the 2023 WSOP is anticipated to do. It should be bigger than ever, award more prize money than ever, and in general be the biggest thing in poker since… the 2022 WSOP!

More online events will undoubtedly make the WSOP more universal. Someday, nearly every player will be able to say, “I’ve played in the World Series of Poker.”

  • Bally’s is gone. The new and improved facility is known as the Horseshoe, operated by Caesar’s. Right at the center of the Strip, you can explore all that Vegas has to offer when you’re not grinding out an event at the tables. Then again, with the world-class food court, attractions, shops, and amenities, you can stay at the Horseshoe the whole time and not feel like you’ve missed anything. Float in the Blu Pool and let your stress melt away.
  • There’s so many game variations. Seven Card Stud, Pot Limit Omaha, Badugi, Razz, HORSE… the list just goes on. There’s a lot more to life than just No-Limit Hold’Em.


On a related note, there’s so many different themed events:

  • The WSOP kicks off 5/30 with a $500 buy in casino employee event.
  • The $500 Salute to Warriors donates proceeds to the USO and other military organizations. (Event #56)
  • The Super Seniors tourney is only open to players that are 60 or older. There’s miles on the tires but that doesn’t put out the fires in their spirits by a long shot. These savvy vets of the felt will probably put a lot of youngsters to shame, honestly. (Event #61)
  • The Ladies tourney lets women buy in for $1,000 instead of $10,000 (Event #67)

Enjoy the WSOP this year. We can’t wait to hear about the amazing experiences and stories that come out of this historic event.