The Main Event Finally Arrives In Week 5 of The 2021 WSOP
It’s finally here. The first starting flights of the 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event highlight what is sure to be an exciting Week 5 of the WSOP.
The Main Event is easily one of the most anticipated tournaments of any given (regular) year. Given the amount of action that fans can watch, the fantastic stories that emerge, and the grandiosity of it all. Also, the money – someone is going to not only become the next WSOP World Champion, but they are going to make a lot of money while doing it.
While the focus is the Main, there are plenty of other options for those who might find that a $10K is out of their reach or they prefer to play a tournament with a purpose. So here’s the complete schedule for Week 5 of the WSOP and a couple of tournaments to keep an eye on in addition to the Main.
Spotlight Tournament
Event #67 – $10,000 Main Event
No doubt about it, this week all eyes will be focused on the undisputed greatest tournament in any given year – the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event. If for no other reason than year after year it gives us the stories of players of every caliber all chasing the same dream – becoming a World Champion. The idea of joining the ranks of Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan, the notion of changing the game like Chris Moneymaker – the Main Event has it all.
But for so many reasons, this year will be considered special. For starters, while it hasn’t been officially announced yet, this is widely expected to be the last WSOP Main Event in the Rio era. This will be the final time the Amazon room will see a champion crowned. Sixteen years of history will come to a close with many of the most memorable moments taking place during the Main Event.
But more practically, it will be interesting to see exactly what the Main Event will look like and who will come out to play it. There were plenty of doubters if the 2021 Main Event would even take place at all. The coronavirus and the Delta variant, vaccination mandates, and mask policies were all hurdles for WSOP officials. It took a lot of navigating for officials to get the series to this point, but after missing the traditional Main Event last year, it seemed like every effort was made to get this series to go, and now the Main Event is here.
Additionally, the focus will be on just how big this event will be. When the world opened back up for a brief few weeks in early 2021, some thought the Main Event was going to go big…perhaps bigger than ever before. Now, no one is really sure what will take place. Overall fields have been down from 2019, which was completely expected. However, with the United States relaxing international travel restrictions for vaccinated travelers, the WSOP quickly pivoted once again and added two extra starting days for a total of six.
The live streaming will be plentiful, hand histories plenty, and, likely, a little Twitter drama to keep it interesting. So whether you are a fan or a future champion – it’s Main Event week and it’s time to get excited.
Complete WSOP Week 5 Schedule
| DATE | EVENT | TIME | BUY-IN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11-01 | Event #61: Deepstack Championship No-Limit Hold'em | 11:00 AM | $600 |
| 11-01 | Event #62: Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed) | 03:00 PM | $1,500 |
| 11-02 | Event #63: SALUTE to Warriors - No-Limit Hold'em | 11:00 AM | $500 |
| 11-02 | Event #64: Mixed No-Limit Hold'em; Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) | 03:00 PM | $5,000 |
| 11-03 | Event #65: MINI Main Event No-Limit Hold'em (freezeout) | 11:00 AM | $1,000 |
| 11-03 | Event #66: Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship (8-Handed) | 03:00 PM | $10,000 |
| 11-04 | Event #67A: MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - Day 1A | 11:00 AM | $10,000 |
| 11-05 | Event #67B: MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - Day 1B | 11:00 AM | $10,000 |
| 11-06 | Event #67C: MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - Day 1C | 11:00 AM | $10,000 |
| 11-07 | Event #67D: MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship - Day 1D | 11:00 AM | $10,000 |
| 11-07 | Online Event #7: WSOP.com No-Limit Hold'em High Roller 8 Max | 05:30 PM | $3,200 |
Additional Highlights
Event #65 – $1,000 Mini Main Event
Ten grand is an investment, no matter what it is. If that’s outside your bankroll, then the Mini Main Event is perfect for you. It’s a $1,000 buy-in (not insignificant, but a player can sell pieces for this a little more easily) and it follows the same structure and stack size as the Main Event, it just moves along a 4x the speed. Instead of two hour-long levels, the levels are 30 minutes. But with 60,000 chips in a starting stack, that means there’s plenty of time to get something going.
And who knows, a player that makes a run in the Mini Main will still have time to jump in one of the later starting flights of the Main Event…and that would make for a good story.
Event #63: $500 SALUTE to Warriors
The SALUTE to Warriors tournament returns this year with $40 of every entry being donated to the USO and other veteran organizations. With Veteran’s Day just a little over a week away from the Tuesday, November 2 start date this is a great event to remember the contributions and sacrifices for those who have served.
But also, a note that unlike a Seniors Event or the Ladies Event, this special event is open to everyone and the buy-in is just $500 making it one of the most affordable tournaments on the entire schedule. In 2019, 1723 entries took part and Susan Faber grabbed the gold bracelet and a $121,161 first-place prize. This year may not have a six-figure score up top, but one can expect that taking it down will bring them around $70,000-$80,000 return for the small buy-in.
