New Structures for 2007 WSOP Tournaments

Harrah’s has changed both the starting chip stacks and blind structures for the events in the 2007 World Series of Poker.  Not all events have been adjusted in the same manner, though. 

In every event, players will start with double the chips as the buy-in.  So, for the $10,000 Main Event, the starting stack will be $20,000.  For a $1,500 it will be $3,000, for a $5,000 event it will be $10,000, and so on and so forth.  Last year, starting stacks equaled the buy-in, except for the $1,000 events, which started with $1,500 in chips. 

In the Main Event, the blinds will, for the most part, be twice as large as last year in comparable levels, essentially making for the same structure.  There are a few differences, however, which should accelerate eliminations a bit in the final days of the tournament.  An example of a minor change would be the removal of the $150/$300 and $250/$500 blinds in favor of $100/$200 and $200/$400 (the latter will be used for two levels back-to-back, with a $50 ante tacked on to the second go-round). 

A more major change is deep into the tournament, past the fortieth level.  Antes will start jumping quite considerably, from $400,000 to two rounds of $500,000, then on to $1 million when the blinds are only $3 million/$6 million. 

The levels will have the same running time as last year, 120 minutes. 

The H.O.R.S.E. event will be changed in a manner opposite the main event.  Blinds and antes will start higher in comparison to the chip stacks compared to last year, most likely with the purpose of actually getting a few people knocked out within the first couple days, as opposed to last year, where it seemingly took a week (exaggeration) to even lose one player.  Once the tournament is deep (again, around the fortieth level), the blind and ante increases slow, rewarding those who have done well with more of a chance to use their skill to make plays. 

Stud players will end up getting more room to play than last year, while limit hold’em participants will get about the same amount of play.  Other no-limit and pot-limit events will stay pretty true to last year, as well (adjusted to the new chip stacks), with the opening blinds just slightly higher.

Originally published March 26, 2007