The $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold’em event returns to the World Series of Poker in 2019 and provides another lower buy-in option for players looking to chase a gold bracelet in Las Vegas. The event has four starting flights across three days and there is a guaranteed first-place prize of $888,888. The biggest change to the event on its surface is the amount of chips players begin with, as the starting stack for 2019 is 40,000 versus the 8,000 in starting chips in 2018. Here is PocketFives’ look at the new structure for the 2019 WSOP $888 Crazy Eights tournament.

2019 WSOP $888 Crazy Eights Structure

Buy-In: $888
Starting Chips: 40,000
Level Duration: 30 minutes on Day 1, 60 minutes on Days 2-4
Late Registration Period: 12 levels
Re-Entry: Unlimited
Click here for structure sheet

DATE	EVENT DAY	START TIME (PT)	DAY LENGTH
6/28	Day 1a	10 a.m.	19 levels
	Day 1b	5 a.m.	19 levels
6/29	Day 1c	10 a.m.	19 levels
6/30	Day 1d	10 a.m.	19 levels
7/1	Day 2	12 p.m.	10 levels
7/2	Day 3	12 p.m.	To eight players
7/3	Day 4	12 p.m.	To winner

*Per WSOP structure sheet: In the event that the final table of this event gets selected for live streaming, management reserves rights to adjust the schedule as needed to accommodate.

The 2019 version of the $888 Crazy Eights event is a four-day event and is using a big blind ante format and has the same structure and starting chips as the 2019 Colossus does.

You can see the 2019 Crazy Eights structure in the table below, where levels during the registration period are shown, plus one additional level that you’d start playing if you registered right before registration closed.

LEVEL	ANTE	BLINDS	BB DEPTH	M
1	–	100-100	400	200
2	–	100-200	200	133.33
3	200	100-200	200	80
4	300	100-300	133.33	57.14
5	400	200-400	100	40
6	500	300-500	80	30.80
7	600	300-600	66.67	26.67
8	800	400-800	50	20
9	1,000	500-1,000	40	16
10	1,200	600-1,200	33.33	13.33
11	1,600	800-1,600	25	10
12	2,000	1,000-2,000	20	8
13	2,500	1,000-2,500	16	6.67

Just like in the Colossus, the added chips to the starting stack allow for much deeper play right from the start. You can also see that if you enter or re-enter right at the close of registration and head into Level 13 with a fresh 40,000-chip starting stack, you’ll have 16 big blinds and an M of 6.67 to work with. If you did that in 2018 when registration lasted eight levels, you’d have come into Level 9 with a starting stack of 8,000 in the 300-600 level with a 100 ante. That would have been good for 13.33 big blinds and an M of 4.44, so the 2019 version of the structure is better at this point.

In a further comparison of the two structures, the table below is a year-by-year look at the two structures.

The starting stack for the 2018 WSOP Crazy Eights was 8,000 and it’s been upped to 40,000 for 2019. That’s five times more chips to start, but it’s not just about the number of chips you start the tournament with. It’s about the structure you play with those chips. We already pointed out that there’s a little more play with a fresh stack at the close of registration this year versus last year, so let’s look at all of the early levels.

For “ante,” we took the standard ante from the 2018 structure and multiplied it by nine to show the cost of a full round of antes at a standard nine-handed table. This was done to align the comparisons better.

2018 Structure Compared To 2019 Structure

LEVEL	YEAR	ANTE	BLINDS	BB DEPTH	M
1	2018	0	25-50	160	106.67
	2019	0	100-100	400	200
		–	–
2	2018	0	50-100	80	53.33
	2019	0	100-200	200	133.33
		–	–
3	2018	0	75-150	53.33	35.56
	2019	200	100-200	200	80
		–	–
4	2018	225	75-150	53.33	17.78
	2019	300	100-300	133.33	57.14
		–	–
5	2018	225	100-200	40	15.24
	2019	400	200-400	100	40
		–	–
6	2018	450	150-300	26.67	8.89
	2019	500	300-500	80	30.80
		–	–
7	2018	450	200-400	20	7.62
	2019	600	300-600	66.67	26.67
		–	–
8	2018	675	250-500	16	5.61
	2019	800	400-800	50	20
		–	–
9	2018	900	300-600	13.33	4.44
	2019	1,000	500-1,000	40	16
		–	–
10	2018	Reg. Closed
	2019	1,200	600-1,200	33.33	13.33
		–	–
11	2018	Reg. Closed
	2019	1,600	800-1,600	25	10
		–	–
12	2018	Reg. Closed
	2019	2,000	1,000-2,000	20	8
		–	–
13	2018	Reg. Closed
	2019	2,500	1,000-2,500	16	6.67

As previously mentioned, registration lasted through eight levels in 2018. In 2019, it’s been upped to 12 levels. For comparison purposes, we’ll refer to the first nine levels as the “overlapping registration periods.”

Furthermore, although you could not enter the WSOP Crazy Eights in Level 9 in 2018, you could still do so in the break right before it, giving you a fresh stack of 8,000 in chips to begin Level 9. The same then applies for 2019 and Level 13, when you’d start with 40,000 in chips.

As we’ve grown accustomed to seeing when comparing 2019 structures to 2018, there is more play throughout the tournament at each level. The difference between the two structures in the Crazy Eights event isn’t as large as it is in the Colossus event, but there are still improvements at every level. The reason the gap isn’t as great is that the Crazy Eights event started with 8,000 in chips in 2018, whereas the Colossus began with 5,000 in chips.

Right off the bat in 2019, you have 240 more big blinds to play with than you did in 2018. Your M is also greater by almost double to start. The added depth is carried throughout the overlapping registration periods to provide much more play.

What Happens in the Later Stages?

The later stages of the 2019 WSOP Crazy Eights look good from a structure standpoint, too. There are a few mismatches due to the big blind ante format, but overall, all of the levels played in 2018 are there in 2019 so players don’t have to worry about the structure skipping levels late.

Once again, the verdict is that there has indeed been more value added to the WSOP Crazy Eights in 2019 when compared to 2018.

Want to know more? Check out ‘Everything You Need To Know About the 2019 WSOP.’