Week 1 WSOP Guide: Full Schedule, Streaming Options, Key Stats
The 2018 World Series of Poker gets cards in the air on Wednesday afternoon. Whether you’re making the trip to Las Vegas to chase a bracelet of your own or if you’re just a fan excited to tune in from home, our weekly guide will get you hyped and prepared for the week ahead.
Let’s Get This Party Started
The pomp and circumstance that will come with Wednesday’s opening two events is all fine and dandy, but the biggest event of the first week has a six-figure buy-in and in all likelihood, a field full of the best players in the world.
Event #5, the $100,000 No Limit High Roller, starts Friday – just long enough for the wounded souls from the Super High Roller Bowl to regroup and get ready for more high stakes battles.
You can count former #1-ranked PocketFiver and Germany’s all-time leading money winner Fedor Holz as ready to go.
2018 WSOP Week 1 Schedule
| Day | Event # | Event | Defending Champion |
| Wednesday | 1 | $565 Casino Employees | Bryan Hollis |
| Wednesday | 2 | $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty | NONE |
| Thursday | 3 | $3,000 NL Shootout | Upeshka de Silva |
| Thursday | 4 | $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo | Benjamin Zamani |
| Friday | 5 | $100,000 NL High Roller | NONE |
| Friday | 6A | $365 NL Giant | Dieter Dechant |
| Saturday | 7A | $565 Colossus | Thomas Pomponio |
| Saturday | 7B | $565 Colossus | — |
| Saturday | 8 | $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball | Jesse Martin |
| Sunday | 7C | $565 Colossus | — |
| Sunday | 9 | $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship | Abe Mosseri |
Get Your Popcorn Ready
Between the 16 final tables streaming on PokerGO and the 30 that are being shown for free on Twitch this year, poker fans probably won’t need to leave their couch. The first week is a bit rough though as just three events will make it to air, but that includes Day 3 of the $100,000 High Roller.
2018 WSOP Week 1 Live Streaming Schedule
| Day | Time (ET) | Event | Outlet |
| Saturday | 4:00 PM | $3,000 NL Shootout FT | PokerGo |
| Saturday | 6:00 PM | $1,500 Omaha 8 FT | Twitch |
| Sunday | 6:00 PM | $100,000 High Roller Day 3 | Twitch |
News & Notes
There were three players who managed to pick 20 or more cashes during the 2017 WSOP: Chris Ferguson (23), John Racener (21) and Mike Leah (20). Prior to last year, the record for most cashes in a single year was 13 by Roland Israelashvili in 2016.
The Player of the Year system was overhauled yet again this year after players complained that the system in place for 2017 gave too much credit for min-cashes and lower buy-in events. Ferguson rode those 23 cashes, which included a bracelet win at WSOP Europe, to POY honors and will have his POY banner unveiled Wednesday.
The annual $25,000 buy-in WSOP Fantasy Draft was held Tuesday night at the Aria, with 15 teams participating. The players who went for the most in the auction were Daniel Negreanu ($131 – an all-time record), James Obst ($129), Stephen Chidwick ($97), Jason Mercier ($91) and Racener ($88). Teams each had $200 to bid on players to fill their eight-spot roster.