After two long years, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been restored to its full form, making its official debut on the Las Vegas strip today in the early hours of Wednesday morning (AEST time).
The official order to ‘shuffle up and deal’ was given by reality TV star and restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump, who then jumped into the US$500 buy-in Casino Employees Event, the first of 88 tournaments on this year’s schedule.
Also launching today was one of the WSOP’s brand-new offerings – the US$100,000 High Roller Bounty – which is already building up to be a huge showcase of some of the world’s best, with Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Brian Rast and 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey amongst those to have taken their seats.
This year also marks the first time that the world’s most prestigious poker festival has been held on the Las Vegas strip, with the honours shared between the Paris and Bally’s casino properties.
Initial reviews from players already in attendance have been positive, with the convention centre and amenities already “a monster upgrade over the Rio”, according to a Facebook post from American poker industry magnate and 2019 WSOP Main Event final tablist Garry Gates.
With the borders now all but fully opened to international travellers, the 2022 WSOP series – and the surrounding major poker festivals throughout Las Vegas – are shaping up to be some of the biggest ever, with plenty of our nation’s finest (and our adopted Aussies) already having arrived or now en route to Las Vegas.
Amidst the first wave of players confirmed by sources close to PokerMedia Australia include Ehsan Amiri, who made headlines last year after both he and Sean Ragozzini both ran deep in the WSOP Main Event, along with Ricky Kroesen, Zac Duce, Jennifer Cassell, Bert Perry, Mike Maddocks and Australian Poker Hall of Famer Grant Levy.
AUSSIE ARMADA (updated as of 1 June, 2022)
| Anthony Cierco | Bassam Habib | Bert Perry |
| Brett Crouch | Chris Arcella | Chris Skinner |
| Craig Abernethy | David Rodwell | Ehsan Amiri |
| Grant Levy | Janet Wyvill | Jennifer Cassell |
| Jonathan Levy | Josh Duce | Lauren Mooney |
| Marcial Dias | Michael Sleiman | Michal Jalc |
| Michel Bouskila | Mike Maddocks | Noel Jaber |
| Odai Burbar | Raj Ramakrishnan | Ricky Kroesen |
| Rob Spano | Rod Meneses | Sam Capra |
| Sammy Lucisano | Scott Gordon | Simon Chahine |
| Will Davies | Zac Duce | Zoe Charters |
PMA will endeavour to bring you updates as they come to hand throughout the course of the next few weeks and months; be sure to join the #vegas-sweat-thread in the PMA Discord server to show your support for our players, and log onto wsop.com for more information, the full schedule and updates; feature table streaming for select events is also available through PokerGO.
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