For the second year, 888poker will be the official sponsor of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). This sponsorship deal gives 888 Holdings rights to run official online WSOP satellite tournaments. 888 also holds advertising rights and the ability to run 2016 WSOP promotions from its renowned online poker room. WSOP step tournaments will run online at 888poker twenty-four hours a day.
Last year, 888 received a lot of attention by sending 128 sponsored players to the WSOP Main Event. One of those players happened to be 2015 WSOP Champion Joe McKeehen, who won the event for over seven million dollars.
Another success story from last year’s 888-sponsored satellites was Tommy Yates, a bar owner from Greece. He managed to turn a one penny buy-in step satellite into a thirteen thousand dollar WSOP package. Yates took the trip to the WSOP in Las Vegas, NV and was able to cash the tournament for around nineteen thousand dollars and a 486th place finish.
Itai Pazner, Senior Vice President at 888 Holdings, made a statement referring to Yates’ success as well as his enthusiasm for his company’s future WSOP involvement:
“The World Series of Poker is the pinnacle of the poker calendar and during the Main Event the eyes of the poker world are on the action in Las Vegas.
In 2015 we made dreams come true for Tommy Yates and renewing our partnership will help to get more 888 players from all over the world to the WSOP again this year. The sponsorship is fantastic for the 888poker brand, for 888 players and for the poker community more generally.”
888 Poker-themed live WSOP events
Not only will the step tournaments be running all the time online, but the buy-ins for the satellites start out at a penny. There will also be a live 888-sponsored event at the WSOP: the Crazy Eights tournament. The buy-in for this No-Limit Hold’em tournament is you guessed it – 888 dollars.
The Crazy Eights tournaments has a guaranteed first place prize of 888,888 dollars and is a WSOP bracelet event.
WSOP.com 2016 Main Event qualifiers
So far only two final step tournaments on WSOP.com have been announced: the 25 Seat Scramble and the 2016 WSOP Main Event Qualifier.
The Scramble is WSOP.com’s largest Main Event qualifier this year. The Scramble is a No-Limit Hold’em tournament that has a buy-in of two hundred dollars. The event guarantees 25 seats for the 2016 Main Event. The tournament is at 1:00 pm on July 9, and will have step tournament qualifiers beginning soon.
The 2016 Main Event Qualifier will run every Sunday as the WSOP approaches. This two hundred dollar buy-in tournament allows players to compete for a Main Event seat. This qualifier allows rebuys for the first two hours of the tournament.
During the Sunday qualifiers, players can also choose to participate in a ten dollar add-on tournament. These tournaments will have a guaranteed first-place prize of one thousand dollars in WSOP tournament buy-in chips.
