Players get their first shot at winning a 2017 WSOP bracelet this week (WSOP photo)

The 2017 World Series of Poker officially gets underway Wednesday with the first two bracelet events but there’s so much more packed into the first week of events. A total of nine events open up the first week with both ends of the buy-in spectrum covered.

Tag Team Action

It doesn’t appear that the Young Bucks – the self-proclaimed greatest tag team in the world – are going to be making an appearance in the $10,000 Tag Team Championship event, but that doesn’t mean it’s without star power. Michael Phelps, yes THAT Michael Phelps, is joining his good friends Antonio Esfandiari, Brian Rast and Jeff Gross to form a team.

The “Tag Team” format made its first appearance of the modern era last year, with Ryan Fee and Doug Polk taking down the $1,000 buy-in event. The three-day event wraps up on Friday.

Third Time’s a Charm: Colossus III

Two years ago the WSOP decided to see just how many bodies they could fit into a single bracelet event with the $565 buy-in Colossus event. The inaugural event drew 22,374 for a $11,187,000 prize pool with Cord Garcia winning it all. Last year, with more starting flights available, the field dropped to 21,613 players. Ben Keeline took home $1,000,000 for beating the massive field.

This year there are again six starting flights, with players able to re-enter after busting the previous flight. Day 1A is Friday, June 2 at 10 am with the Day 1F starting Sunday, June 4 at 4 pm. The final table is scheduled for June 7.

Hey, Big Spender

Might as well get the biggest buy-in event out of the way early. The $111,111 buy-in One Drop High Roller begins Friday, June 2 with all of the big names expected to be in the field.

Last year, Fedor Holz beat Dan Smith and 181 other entries to win the first bracelet of his career. In 2015, Jonathan Duhamel topped the 135-player field to win his second bracelet.

One Drop events raise money for the Guy Laliberte-founded One Drop Foundation which helps provide access to safe and clean water to people around the world.

Week One Schedule

DATES BUY-IN # EVENT
May 31 – June 1 $565 1 Casino Employees Event (NHLE)
May 31 – June 2 $10,000 2 Tag Team Championship (NLHE)
June 1 – 3 $3,000 3 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
June 1 – 3 $1,500 4 Omaha Hi-Lo Eight or Better
June 2 – 7 $565 5 Colossus (NLHE)
June 2 – 5 $111,111 6 One Drop High Roller (NLHE)
June 3 – 5 $2,500 7 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball
June 3 $333 8 WSOP.com Online (NLHE)
June 4 – 6 $10,000 9 Omaha Hi-Lo Eight or Better Championship