WSOP 2023 Satellites
For the second year in a row, the World Series of Poker will take over two casinos on the Las Vegas Strip – Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe (formerly Bally’s) Las Vegas. The first year at the new location delivered record numbers. This included players from more than 100 countries who added to a total prize pool of $347.9M. This year, there will be more tournaments and tables at Paris and Horseshoe. There will be 95 live tournaments, 34 online bracelet events and WSOP satellites. Additionally, this will give players the opportunity to win any of the 129 gold bracelets.
There is no question that there will be online satellites for the online bracelet events. But the World Series of Poker wants to focus on one particular tournament this year – the Main Event. They are determined to make it the largest WSOP Main Event in the series’ history.
What is a WSOP Satellite?
A satellite is a tournament in which the prizes are entries to a larger tournament rather. Satellite tournaments allow players to win a seat to a higher buy-in tournament for a comparatively smaller investment. For example, 2003 WSOP Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker satellited his way into the tournament for only $86 and won $2,500,000!
There can be different layers to satellites. Some of them will award a direct seat into the tournament you want to play. These satellites often cost a higher percentage of the target tournament buy-in to enter. Others will award a seat into another satellite that offers a direct seat. These satellites offer an easier way for people to win their way into big tournaments with just a few dollars. This can happen for multiple tournaments. The lowest buy-in satellites require you to win 3 or 4 tournaments before you even enter the one you want to play!
Online poker satellites can be incredibly cheap and will often cost somewhere between a few cents and a couple of dollars to enter. Live satellites usually offer entries at 10% of the actual buy-in. For example, many satellites to a $10K buy-in event will cost around $1K to enter, and one in every ten players will win a seat.
Main Goals
The 2022 WSOP Main Event gathered 8,663 players. That made it the second largest of all time, with the 2006 Main Event – at the heart of the poker boom – remaining the largest with 8,773 players.
| Year | Entrants | Prize Pool | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 7 | Johnny Moss (USA) | |
| 1971 | 6 | $30,000 | Johnny Moss (USA) $30,000 |
| 1972 | 8 | $80,000 | Amarillo Slim Preston (USA) $80,000 |
| 1973 | 13 | $130,000 | Puggy Pearson (USA) $130,000 |
| 1974 | 16 | $160,000 | Johnny Moss (USA) $160,000 |
| 1975 | 21 | $210,000 | Sailor Roberts (USA) $210,000 |
| 1976 | 22 | $220,000 | Doyle Brunson (USA) $220,000 |
| 1977 | 34 | $340,000 | Doyle Brunson (USA) $340,000 |
| 1978 | 42 | $420,000 | Bobby Baldwin (USA) $210,000 |
| 1979 | 54 | $540,000 | Hal Fowler (USA) $270,000 |
| 1980 | 73 | $730,000 | Stu Ungar (USA) $385,000 |
| 1981 | 75 | $750,000 | Stu Ungar (USA) $375,000 |
| 1982 | 104 | $1,040,000 | Jack Straus (USA) $520,000 |
| 1983 | 108 | $1,080,000 | Tom McEvoy (USA) $540,000 |
| 1984 | 132 | $1,320,000 | Jack Keller (USA) $660,000 |
| 1985 | 140 | $1,400,000 | Bill Smith (USA) $700,000 |
| 1986 | 141 | $1,410,000 | Berry Johnston (USA) $570,000 |
| 1987 | 152 | $1,520,000 | Johnny Chan (USA) $625,000 |
| 1988 | 167 | $1,670,000 | Johnny Chan (USA) $700,000 |
| 1989 | 178 | $1,780,000 | Phil Hellmuth (USA) $755,000 |
| 1990 | 194 | $1,940,000 | Mansour Matloubi (Iran) $835,000 |
| 1991 | 215 | $2,150,000 | Brad Daugherty (USA) $1,000,000 |
| 1992 | 201 | $2,010,000 | Hamid Dastmalchi (Iran) $1,000,000 |
| 1993 | 220 | $2,308,000 | Jim Bechtel (USA) $1,000,000 |
| 1994 | 268 | $2,680,000 | Russ Hamilton (USA) $1,000,000 |
| 1995 | 273 | $2,730,000 | Dan Harrington (USA) $1,000,000 |
| 1996 | 295 | $2,950,000 | Huck Seed (USA) $1,000,000 |
| 1997 | 312 | $3,120,000 | Stu Ungar (USA) $1,000,000 |
| 1998 | 350 | $3,500,000 | Scotty Nguyen (Vietnam) $1,000,000 |
| 1999 | 393 | $3,930,000 | Noel Furlong (Ireland) $1,000,000 |
| 2000 | 512 | $5,120,000 | Chris Ferguson (USA) $1,500,000 |
| 2001 | 613 | $5,946,220 | Juan Carlos Mortensen (Spain) $1,500,000 |
| 2002 | 631 | $5,931,000 | Robert Varkonyi (USA) $2,000,000 |
| 2003 | 839 | $7,802,700 | Chris Moneymaker (USA) $2,500,000 |
| 2004 | 2576 | $24,224,400 | Greg Raymer (USA) $5,000,000 |
| 2005 | 5619 | $52,818,610 | Joe Hachem (Australia) $7,500,000 |
| 2006 | 8773 | $82,512,162 | Jamie Gold (USA) $12,000,000 |
| 2007 | 6358 | $59,784,954 | Jerry Yang (Laos) $8,250,000 |
| 2008 | 6844 | $64,333,600 | Peter Eastgate (Denmark) $9,152,416 |
| 2009 | 6494 | $61,021,200 | Joe Cada (USA) $8,547,042 |
| 2010 | 7319 | $68,799,059 | Jonathan Duhamel (Canada) $8,944,310 |
| 2011 | 6865 | $64,531,000 | Pius Heinz (Germany) $8,715,638 |
| 2012 | 6598 | $62,021,200 | Greg Merson (USA) $8,531,853 |
| 2013 | 6352 | $59,708,800 | Ryan Riess (USA) $8,361,570 |
| 2014 | 6683 | $62,820,200 | Martin Jacobson (Sweden) $10,000,000 |
| 2015 | 6420 | $60,348,000 | Joe McKeehen (USA) $7,683,346 |
| 2016 | 6737 | $63,327,800 | Qui Nguyen (Vietnam) $8,005,310 |
| 2017 | 7221 | $67,877,400 | Scott Blumstein (USA) $8,150,000 |
| 2018 | 7874 | $74,015,600 | John Cynn (USA) $8,800,000 |
| 2019 | 8569 | $80,548,600 | Hossein Ensan (Germany) $10,000,000 |
| 2020 | 1379 | $13,238,400 | Damian Salas (Argentina) $2,550,969 |
| 2021 | 6650 | $62,011,250 | Koray Aldemir (Germany) $8,000,000 |
| 2022 | 8663 | $80,782,475 | Espen Jorstad (Norway) $10,000,000 |
Will it Break the Record?
The World Series of Poker wants to do better. It wants to break that record and set a new Main Event record. That means giving players more chances to win their seats via satellites and qualifiers.
The WSOP’s global online poker partner, GGPoker, will be putting up 600 Main Event seats online, more than double that offered in 2022. GGPoker will offer 500 seats on its global GGPoker site and another 100 on the subscription ClubGG-dot-net site available more broadly.
WSOP’s proprietary online poker site in the US operates only in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Spread across those sites, there will be 112 Main Event seats available through satellites. Specifically, the 112 Seat Sprint, as it will be called, will start on June 25 and put up 10 seats guaranteed per day, with the most popular satellite being the 25-Seat Scramble on July 2.
Main Event Maynia
Whether the WSOP adopts its Main Event Maynia nickname or sticks with Mania, the goal remains the same. It will be a chance for players around the world to win their Main Event seats via live poker tournaments. The global qualification weekend – May 20-21 – will be the first ever.
The Mania will happen at casinos and cardrooms on five continents. Each poker room will start with a $140 buy-in “step” tournament, so players can work their way into the $1,175 mega satellite. They can also buy in at any level. And each mega will guarantee at least one prize package. This will include that $10K Main Event seat and travel costs.
The initial list of properties is only an indicator of the opportunities that will be available when the list is complete. For now, players in the United States will find Mania weekend action at Harrah’s Cherokee and Pompano; Horseshoe Las Vegas, St. Louis, Tunica, and Council Bluffs; Turning Stone, Hard Rock Tulsa, and Grand Victoria Casino. Internationally, participating rooms already represent several countries: Czech Republic, France, Canada, Morocco, and Uruguay.
The initial list of properties is only an indicator of the opportunities that will be available when the list is complete. For now, players in the United States will find Mania weekend action at Harrah’s Cherokee and Pompano; Horseshoe Las Vegas, St. Louis, Tunica, and Council Bluffs; Turning Stone, Hard Rock Tulsa, and Grand Victoria Casino. Internationally, participating rooms already represent several countries: Czech Republic, France, Canada, Morocco, and Uruguay.
Main Event for Life
The biggest “satellite” of all will be one prize to one winner. The Main Event for Life promotion is as it sounds; one player in this year’s WSOP Main Event will win a Main Event seat for life.
There is a caveat. The Main Event must set a new record for number of entries. But if that happens, every person registered in the tournament will be in a drawing for one prize package. On July 8, they will choose one name. That person will win a non-transferrable seat to the Main Event for the next 30 years. The buy-ins alone will be worth $300K.
On-Site Satellites
There are always satellites running at the WSOP location throughout the summer series. From May 30 to July 14, there will be satellites running for tournament credits at the $135, $240, $580, and $1,100 buy-in levels.
As the WSOP plays on, players can satellite into any number of events. As the Main Event nears, there will be daily satellites for the Main Event and final events on the schedule. Additionally, turbo satellites will be on offer for $145 or $250 for tournament credits. Regular satellites are open for buy-ins of $580, $1,100, and $2,175.
There are plenty of US-facing sites that offer satellites to the Main Event. However, these satellites have not been announced yet. Stay tuned to find out where you can play to qualify for the Main Event.
FAQs
The WSOP will be hosted between two casinos: Horseshoe and Paris in Las Vegas in Nevada, USA.
A WSOP satellite is a tournament that you can play wherein the prize is a seat to a WSOP bracelet event. There are WSOP satellites on some online poker sites and in brick-and-mortar casinos in Las Vegas.
In many past years, WSOP satellite winners at the Rio won lammers. They could then use those lammers to buy in to the bracelet events or sell the lammers to another player. Those who specialized in satellite play could focus on those qualifying events and sell any extra seats they didn’t need. That policy has changed. Players are no longer awarded lammers and cannot resell seats that they win. If a player wins a WSOP satellite, they will automatically be registered for that specific bracelet event.
You can qualify for the WSOP by winning a seat through a WSOP 2023 satellite.
The length of a World Series tournament depends on the exact event you play. For example, some last only one day, whereas the Main Event takes about two weeks to win.
When you cash in a WSOP event, you will pay tax on your winnings if they’re over a certain amount. However, depending on your country of residency, you may be entitled to claim this tax back.
The WSOP Main Event costs $10,000 to enter.
When you enter a WSOP 2023 satellite, there is usually at least one package to an event guaranteed in the prize pool. More may be added if enough players join to cover the cost of additional packages. Once registration ends, the final prize pool is declared, and you find out how many seats are on offer. For example, if there are three seats available, the tournament plays down until only three players are left. Once this happens, all three players are awarded a seat in the tournament, no matter how many chips each player has in their stack.
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