Not a single event at this year’s World Series of Poker has been completed yet but already plans are being revealed for next year’s series. At a press conference yesterday afternoon it was announced that at the 2012 WSOP there will be a special tournament played that commands a buy-in of one million dollars!
Being billed as The Big One for One Drop, the tournament will be the most expensive tournament in history, dwarfing the A$250,000 event that was played at the Aussie Millions in January. The name stems from the fact that around 11% of the buy-in will go to the charity One Drop, which is a non-government run organisation that pushes for access to water in Third World Countries.
Despite the gargantuan entry fee there have already been 15 players who have confirmed they will be particpating in this ground-breaking event including Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Johnny Chan and two of the major names behind the project, both of whom are billionaires, Treasure Island hotel-casino owner Phil Ruffin and billionaire and Cirque du Soleil founder, Guy Laliberte.
Daniel Negreanu, who in the past has spoken out negatively about these so-called “super high roller” events, said “The tournament would just be enormous,” and that the sheer size of the entry fee would not make a player nervous but would make “you question your sanity.”
One man who is expected to come out of self-enforced retirement for this spectacular event is prominent businessman Andy Beal, a recreational high-stakes poker player who is listed as the 48th richest man in the United States of America. His business prowess aside, Beal is famous for taking on a group of professional poker players calling themselves “The Corporation” in a series of ultra high-stakes heads-up cash games that were immortalised in Michael Craig’s book, “The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King.”
With so many multi-millionaire and billionaire businessmen saying they are going to play I would be very surprised if some of the world’s best poker players did not pool together their bankrolls and send a few of them into battle with the rank amateurs. There are very few poker players who would risk $1,000,000 in a single tournament but there are plenty would would part company with $100,000 to $250,000 as shown in recent high-roller events around the world. Watch this space for any developments and news regarding the first-ever $1,000,000 poker tournament.
