E-WSOP

WSOP Qualifiers

If you’ve ever played poker, there is probably one thing you want to do in poker before dying and that’s play the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, and if you don’t, that’s because you’ve already played it. That has to be on your bucket list, and for those that don’t know, a bucket list is a list of things a person wants to do before they “kick the bucket.” Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson made a movie around this concept, as two old guys trying to do everything they missed out on in life before they expire. It’s a race against time, but the message you should take from the movie is you don’t have to be old to have a bucket list.

Even people that haven’t played poker, but have merely watched it on TV have the idea of playing in the World Series of Poker on their bucket list. They might opt to sky-dive if they could only do one thing, but for everybody that has the poker bug, playing in the Main Event is the penultimate. Fortunately, this is a very attainable goal, because you can play WSOP qualifiers year round. You don’t have to have an extra $10,000 laying around to buy into the Main Event, WSOP qualifiers sometimes start as cheaply as a couple of dollars.

Winning the seat, may not be easy, but it is doable. Buying in for almost nothing usually means winning multiple tournaments to get to the WSOP qualifier that offers the seat. In a ladder formation, you win say a $1.00 buy-in event and this qualifies you for a $10 buy-in event. Winning this qualifies you for a $100 event, then a $1,000, and finally the $10,000 WSOP qualifier.

It’s not easy, but in this format all you have to do is be in the top 10% of each tournament . If you don’t have $10,000 to play but you do have $100 you can skip a couple of steps, and still have a chance to win your way to Las Vegas for a huge discount. Since luck is such a strong element of poker that sometimes rank beginners can blindly win all the way up a ladder and get a seat.

Unfortunately, for those that don’t play poker, skill is a stronger component. This is both good and bad for those of you chasing your bucket list dreams. The bad part is it may take numerous tries and failures to win your WSOP qualifier. Instead of spending a $1.00 to win a seat you might spend hundreds (which is still a big discount) or you might play a long time and spend almost as much as you would to buy-in directly.
That’s the worst case scenario, but even if that one plays out there are some benefits. What’s the point of winning WSOP qualifiers, if once you get there you bust out on the first hand? Your bucket list isn’t about just buying into the event it’s about participating and living the event. You want the experience and you want it to last as long as possible.

So from that perspective, the longer it takes you to get there two good things happen. The first is you appreciate it more. That’s probably overrated to a degree but still if you got there on your first try do you really feel like you accomplished something special? Probably not. The second benefit is you’ve actually learned the game. The more you play the better you get. When you finally do win a WSOP qualifier you will be better able to actually have an immersive experience.