WSOP MAIN EVENT BEGINS ON SATURDAY
After more than five weeks of nonstop poker action, the 2014 World Series of Poker is ready for its flagship event. After forty days of building excitement and anticipation, it’s time for the climax of the biggest poker festival in the world. The WSOP Main Event begins Saturday, July 5th, kicking off ten days of competition to determine poker’s next World Champion.

This is a special year for the Main Event. After spending 35 years at Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, the World Series moved to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in 2005. In 2014, to celebrate the WSOP’s tenth year at the Rio, the winner of the Main Event is guaranteed a first-place prize of at least $10,000,000.

Last year, the Main Event attracted 6,352 entrants. It was the eighth largest Main Event in World Series history, and the winner, Ryan Riess of East Lansing, Mich., won his first WSOP bracelet and $8,361,570.

The tournament will be filmed by ESPN, and will air on Sunday evenings beginning on September 28. After 14 episodes over 7 weeks, the final table will air live on ESPN on Monday, November 10th and Tuesday, November 11th. The tradition of playing the final table a few months after the rest of the tournament started in 2008, and has since become a mainstay of the event. Now, becoming a November Niner, one of the skillful and lucky few to play a WSOP Main Event final table in the fall instead of the summer, has become an honor on par with winning a WSOP bracelet.

Previous Main Event champions always have a spotlight on them at the poker table, and it’s never brighter than when they play another WSOP Main Event. In 2013, Carlos Mortensen, the 2001 winner, played the starring role on the Main Event stage, making a deep run and eventually finishing in 10th place. If he had made the final nine, he would have been the first former champion to return to the final table since Dan Harrington—the 1995 Main Event winner—made back-to-back final tables in 2003 and 2004. Previous winners have already enjoyed success this summer. Joe Cada, the 2009 champion, won the second WSOP bracelet of his career. He’s the first former Main Event champion to earn another bracelet since Mortensen won his second in 2003.

This year, the Main Event will feature three starting days. Day 1A begins at noon on Saturday, July 5th. Days 1B and 1C will begin on Sunday and Monday, respectively. Each flight will play 5 two-hour levels, with a 20-minute break after each level and a 90-minute dinner break after level 3. On Tuesday, July 8th, players who bagged chips on Days 1A and 1B will return to the felt to play Day 2, and remaining players from Day 1C will resume play on Wednesday. On Thursday, July 10th, all remaining players will combine into a single field for the first time, and they will continue until reaching the official final table of nine players on Monday, July 14th.

The November Nine then have a three month hiatus to prepare for the biggest final table of their lives. On November 10th and 11th, the final tablists will play down to a winner in the lively and raucous atmosphere of the Rio’s Penn and Teller Theater. They’ll be watched not only by the audience at the Rio, but also by viewers worldwide who will have the opportunity to watch live on ESPN.