It’s On: $1 Million Poker Event At 2014 WSOP Likely To Award $20 Million Top Prize

It’s official. The $1 million buy-in event at the WSOP will return next summer.

According to a press release, the WSOP announced that the 2014 “Big One for One Drop” will take place from June 29 to July 1, 2014. The final table will be hosted at Caesars Palace.

The event debuted in 2012, with Antonio Esfandiari taking home the $18 million first-place prize.

Guy Laliberté, the event’s organizer, told Card Player shortly after the 2012 ‘One Drop’ had ended:

“So good for ‘One Drop,’ so good for poker. I think this is where poker is now. It’s a question of working together as a community to make it happen. Since the [economic] crisis everything went down…Black Friday has been difficult here for poker, but I think this has been a great year for poker with such an event.”

The founder of Cirque du Soleil got his wish for another seven-figure tournament.

“It was a terrific inaugural event in 2012 with One Drop raising nearly $5.3 million from the Big One event,” Laliberté said in a statement. “There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure access to water for all. I have no doubt that the poker community will once again live up to its reputation for generosity by helping to transform lives sustainably.”

There will be no rake or house fees, as $111,111 of each buy-in will be taken out as a charitable donation. Thus, $888,889 goes directly into the prize pool.

While the 2012 event allowed for just 48 players, next year will have a cap of 56 and operates on a first-come, first-serve basis. Each table is eight-handed.

That all means that the winner will likely walk away with more than $20 million.

“This event quickly established itself as special and unique and for that reason we chose to make it an every other year affair,” Mitch Garber, Caesars Interactive Entertainment’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “But we can’t wait to host it again in 2014 and continue to use this vehicle to impact the planet through One Drop’s platform.”

Most Viewed Articles