With the 2025 World Series of Poker tournament schedule expected to drop any day now, it’s time to start getting excited about what summer in Las Vegas holds for those poker players with the time, opportunity and bankrolls to take on the most celebrated poker events of the year.
Check out our ultimate players’ guide to the 2025 WSOP for more background on the series - as well as the full schedule as soon as it’s announced - but for now we want to know which events people are looking forward to the most?
Let us know your thoughts by dropping your answer in the comments below, or head over to Ask The Org where the debate has already begun.
In the meantime, we asked some members of the PokerOrg Player Advisory Board what they always look out for when the WSOP schedule is published.
Which WSOP 2025 events are you most looking forward to playing?
The events I look most forward to are always the big weekend ones. The Monster Stack, the Millionaire Maker, etc. The reason I love those ones is that you get so many home game heroes and dreamers in there with a chance for life-changing money. I remember when I was first coming up, those tournaments were so meaningful and just the chance to have a shot at that kind of money made it that much more exciting.
Outside of those, I always love the 6-max tournaments. So much action and so much deep thinking. It can be hard to go back to full ring after.
I always look forward to the various $5,000 and $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em events. They usually attract large fields for decently large buy-ins.
I always look forward to the very first event, which is the $5K freezeout. For whatever reason I seem to always have a deep-ish run in it - shocking really, since there's only one shot at it.
The other events I never miss are the $1K mystery bounty in the beginning, the Millionaire Maker, the Mini Main, the Ladies, and of course the Main Event. I’ll be out there grinding a full schedule again this year; pray for my health and sanity.
My WSOP experience is 99% cash games, although this year I may fire the Main Event. The problem is, I really don't wear bracelets and already have three Roombas so... What will I spend all those millions on?
I tend to not do well in the events that I’m most looking forward to, so I’ll say that I’m most looking forward to the $250K super high roller!
More reality-based, I tend to play more of the $1,000-$1,500 buy-in tournaments, whether no-limit or mixed. I’d love to see even smaller buy-in mixed tournaments in order to get the field size up. I know there are a lot of $600 no-limits and even some PLOs; it would be great - I’m not expecting it - to have more of these bigger field mixed tournaments as an entry point for more players, at least a couple of them throughout the summer.
In the past I was primarily a player in the great game of PLO events, but with my new found 2-card knowledge I’ll be looking forward to the 6-handed and heads-up events.
I also love seeing everyone who comes to town; the entire town gets popping and cash games go to another level.
The WSOP for me is all about the Main Event. It’s the Mecca of poker. I would trade all my rungood in other tournaments to win that bracelet.
Other than the Main, I’ll be trying to play all the tournaments under a $1,500 buy-in. My favorite is the mystery bounty that guarantees a random bounty will make someone a millionaire. One day I’ll find myself in the mixed game tournaments, but for now that’s my list!
I'm always looking forward to the $3K price point events.
You get a good amount of chips in those events, it's a good structure. At the same time the $3K buy-in price point is small enough where you're still going to get a lot of people who normally play $1Ks throughout the year who are willing to take a stab at it, but it's also small enough where some of the super high roller players aren't necessarily prioritising it. So I just feel like it's a really good bang for your buck in terms of play and skill level, whereas as soon as you jump up to the $5K price point, you start to see a significant jump in terms of skill level.
The other thing I'm really looking forward to is the $25K heads-up. Last year I started working on my heads-up game for the first time in many years and I decided to challenge myself by jumping in there. I got second and had such a fun experience. It's such a unique, fun format to play.
I always look forward to the $1K Tag Team. It's fun teaming up with a friend and the atmosphere is noticeably more lighthearted and lively than other events.
Maybe it's because there's less pressure, since you can always blame your partner for triple-barreling with a suited connector in a five-bet pot and getting hero-called with ace-high when the combo draw bricks out… because that couldn't have been me.
Outside of the Main Event (perennial shoe-in for most anticipated tournament of the year), I’ve always looked forward to playing the Monster Stack, Milly Maker and recently, the mystery bounty events.
I’m also good for donating a few thousand to a mixed game tournament or two every summer. Maybe the mixed Hold’em/PLO, or the NL 2-7 Single Draw.
I love that the WSOP has a whole slate of $1,500 buy-in mixed game bracelet events. For many of us mixed game players, playing in a $10K Championship bracelet event is beyond the boundaries of our bankrolls, but hopping into a $1,500 or two is doable and something special.
I love that they've added a standalone $1,500 Badugi event and have kept it on the schedule for the last couple years. The $1,500 Triple Draw Mix (A-5, 2-7, Badugi) is also something that really gets my juices flowing.
Beyond the bracelet events, every week the WSOP also runs a $250 HORSE event. So if $1,500 buy-ins are a bit much, they've got you covered as well.
I always build my entire summer series schedule around the WSOP mixed game events. I play all of the $1,500 HORSE variants, $2,500 O8 and usually 1 or 2 no-limit events.
What I look forward to the most is seeing friends from around the world that I only get to see during the summer games!
Well, that’s simple: any event with life changing money up top!!!
To be honest, because of self-imposed budget constraints I haven't played a lot of WSOP bracelet events, but I have played numerous Daily Deepstacks events. So for that reason, I’ve always waited until the schedule comes out to pick a few that fit into my price range.
That being said, the only event that is a ‘can’t miss’ for me is the 'Salute to Warriors' event.
There is usually a great slate of lower buy-in tournaments at the end of June, leading up to the Main Event in early July. In 2024 I know I had 8 bracelet events circled over a week and a half, with none of them exceeding $1,000 to enter. That's fantastic value for a recreational player! In particular, the Tag Team event is a blast and the atmosphere in the room is unlike any other.
The Deepstack event gives you a little more room to play in early levels, while the Colossus is so cheap to enter you shouldn't pass up on taking a few flips early, even with the rapid structure.
The Millionaire Maker and the Monster Stack are great fun if you are visiting for an earlier weekend, but if you don't make it down until July, the Hall of Fame bounty event is a ton of fun and gives you a chance to rub elbows with some of the best and most storied players in the history of the game!
I personally have loved the Tag Team event. It’s so much fun! Poker isn’t a team sport, which is why this particular event stands out. There are team mates everywhere railing their partners, it’s so fab!
I have never been able to get to Vegas in time for the Ladies event, but I'm really hoping that this year I can make that happen. I love the $777 event and the Indy-day too… I am really looking forward to chilling in The Org Lounge though! And if I have a good run up to it… then of course… the Main Event!
I only play the Main each year.
Well, Chris, if it ain’t broke…
Will you be playing in Las Vegas this summer? If so, let us know the events you simply can't miss, and head on over to Ask The Org for more discussion.
Additional images courtesy of Joey Ingram/Enrique Ivan Malfavon/WPT
