It’s finally time for the World Series of Poker Main Event.

This week, thousands of players will flock to the Rio to post their $10,000 buy-in and register for Event #65, The Main Event. It’s the tournament that every recreational player aspires to play, every pro must play and everyone dreams of winning.

With three starting flights this year, including one on July 4, the Main Event will take the better part of two weeks to complete. However, thanks to some new scheduling ideas this year, including a full slate of “post-lims”, the Rio will keep rocking with non-stop action well after registration for the Main Event has closed.

The Main Event

Come Monday, all eyes in the poker world will be focused on Day 1A of the Main Event, which kicks off on Monday, July 2. The entire poker tournament calendar revolves around this event and there’s no doubt, like every year since Moneymaker won it all back in 2003, it’s going to be huge.

But how big will it really be? There is a modicum of concern for the numbers that the 2018 WSOP Main Event may draw. While there have been plenty of successful NLHE tournaments this season (see: The Double Stack), many of the regular branded tournaments including the Millionaire Maker, Monster Stack, and the Giant have seen slight downticks in attendance. The Colossus saw a much-discussed sharp decline in registration this year.

Some believe that the scheduling of the Main Event isn’t going to help much. All of the three starting flights are on a weekday and the third of which is on the US holiday of July 4. In 2017 Days 1A and 1B were both landed on a weekend. In addition, it wasn’t until the 11th hour that WSOP officials decided to hold a $1,100 Mega satellite on the Sunday evening before Day 1A. So, one may take all of that into account, and assume that the numbers may be down from the 7,221 runner that defending champion Scott Blumstein defeated en route to his $8,150,000 payday.

However, in 2018 WSOP schedule makers have taken the chance that some people may want to start their WSOP experience at the beginning of the Main Event. Instead of letting players bleed into the other Vegas properties once they bust out of the Main, WSOP officials have scheduled a whole back-end of 13 additional tournaments where people can still vie for a bracelet.

So, this week will answer the question: will recreational players step up and spend the first half of their July 4 weekend taking a shot at the Main Event or will the current scheduling experiment lead to a drop in Main Event attendance?

More Than The Main

As mentioned, the bracelet chase doesn’t end once a player experiences the pain of busting the Main. While the bulk of the Amazon and Brazilia rooms will be packed with players in the Main, once the starting flights have consolidated, new tournaments will be fired up. Beginning on Thursday, players will be able to find their way into a number of lower buy-in NLHE and PLO tournaments including the popular Little One For One Drop, which allows players to participate in a charity-raising effort for Guy Laliberte’s clean water initiative One Drop.

Last year, the $1,111 Little One For One Drop was the only post-Main Event tournament and it drew 4,391 runners. California’s Adrian Moreno took the top spot and over $528,000 in first place money. Not a bad consolation prize for not making it deep in the Main Event.

2018 WSOP Week 6 Schedule

Monday	65A	$10,000 WSOP Main Event Day 1A	Scott Blumstein
Tuesday	65B	$10,000 WSOP Main Event Day 1B
Wednesday	65C	$10,000 WSOP Main Event Day 1C
Thursday	66	$1,500 NL Hold’em	Chris Klodnicki
Friday	67	$1,500 PLO Bounty	NONE
Saturday	68A	$1,111 NL Little One for One Drop	Adrian Moreno
Sunday	68B	$1,111 NL Little One for One Drop
Sunday	69	$3,000 PLO 6-Handed	Luis Calvo

The Main Event Start To Finish

The streaming coverage of the WSOP from PokerCentral has been incredible this year. Now, the Main Event is when the service will really shine. Teaming up with ESPN, the broadcast is set to give the Main Event’s virtual rail just about all the action it can handle. Also, if the FOMO of the Main Event is simply too much, viewers will be able to find auxiliary action available on PokerCentral’s Twitch channel. Cancel any plans you may have made, it’s going to be a wild week of poker on TV.

July 2	8:00 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 1A	ESPN2
July 3	1:00 AM	WSOP Main Event Day 1A	PokerGO
July 3	6:00 PM	$888 NL Crazy Eights FT	Twitch
July 3	8:00 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 1B	ESPN2
July 3	11:00 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 1B	PokerGO
July 4	8:30 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 1C	ESPN2
July 5	12:00 AM	WSOP Main Event Day 1C	PokerGO
July 5	8:00 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 2AB	PokerGO
July 5	10:00 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 2AB	ESPN2
July 6	12:00 AM	WSOP Main Event Day 2AB	PokerGO
July 6	8:30 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 2C	ESPN2
July 7	12:00 AM	WSOP Main Event Day 2C	PokerGO
July 7	6:00 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 3	ESPN2
July 7	6:00 PM	$1,500 NL FT	Twitch
July 7	9:30 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 3	PokerGO
July 8	2:00 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 4	ESPN
July 8	6:00 PM	$1,500 PLO Bounty FT	Twitch
July 8	7:00 PM	WSOP Main Event Day 4	PokerGO

All times are ET.

News and Notes

Players who are jumping into Event #68: The Little One For One Drop can get an extra 5K in chips with their $111 donation to the charity. Note: the tournament is unlimited re-entry in both starting flights through the end of registration.

Take note of the starting times for continuing coverage of the Main Event when PokerGo picks up where ESPN leaves off. There are a number of days when the broadcast resumes at midnight Eastern, which is technically the next day.