[toc]The World Series of Poker (WSOP) and 888 Poker are partnering for the third consecutive year, once again making 888 the exclusive international satellite provider for the world’s most prominent poker tournament series.
The deal is similar in scope to past deals and also includes an option to extend the deal into the 2018 event.
888 Poker once again aims to qualify 100s of players
During 888 Poker’s first year as a the exclusive outside online satellite provider for the series, the site qualified 128 players to the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event.
The site also sponsored eventual champion Joe McKeehen.
Last year, the site sent over 250 Main Event qualifiers. Two of them, Fernando Pons and Griffin Benger, even went on to make the November Nine.
Aside from the WSOP.com satellites being offered in New Jersey and Nevada, the 888 satellites are the only way to earn an online seat.
Says WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart:
“WSOP is delighted to have renewed our agreement with 888poker for the third year running.
We’ve seen 888poker really up the stakes in the past few years, with a refreshing new online and offline approach which aims to give the power back to the players.”
“Our extended partnership with the WSOP is a testament to our increasingly dominant position in the industry and our longstanding commitment to making poker more exciting and accessible for players around the world,” says senior vice president and head of B2C at 888 Holdings, Itai Pazner.
Partnership will also feature Crazy Eights event and Kara Scott
In 2016, the partnership between 888 and WSOP decided to celebrate with an $888 buy-in Crazy Eights bracelet event.
The eight-handed tournament had a guaranteed first-place prize of $888,888. The event featured four flights and re-entry options. The tournament generated a total of 6,761 entries with Hung Le taking home the bracelet.
Kara Scott will be back on the small screen as the sideline reporter for the ESPN coverage of the WSOP alongside Norman Chad and Lon McEachern. Scott signed with 888 Poker as an ambassador in 2016 and will be promoting the company this summer as well in addition to her hosting duties.
2017 will be most online-centric WSOP in history
The upcoming WSOP should not only see new record numbers of 888 qualifiers, it will also feature the most online bracelet events in the Las Vegas series’ lengthy history.
After introducing the first-ever online bracelet during the 2015 WSOP and repeating the event last year, WSOP is expanding the online component of the series to three bracelet events with buy-ins of $333, $1,000, and $3,333.
Unlike the past two years where Day 1 of the event was played online and the final table was played out live on the following day, all of these tournaments will be one-day, online-only events.
They will all award an official gold bracelet to the winner.
WSOP.com will play host to the online events, but 888 is even involved in these tournaments. The WSOP.com client is run on 888 software and the two companies’ partnership extends beyond just the summer series.
888 Poker step satellites are already underway. The buy-ins for the lowest step of these online tournaments is just one cent. The other price points on the step ladder are:
- $.10
- $1
- $5
- $30
- $160
WSOP.com online satellites are already underway as well in New Jersey and Nevada. Buy-ins for these tournaments range from $10 to $30.
