How To Qualify For The WSOP

Summary: The annual WSOP is up and coming and captures the imagination of all once more. Unlike many other professional sports, you don't have to be a poker pro, or even a very good player to sign up. 2005 and 2006 WSOP winners Joe Hachem and Jaime Gold have also proven that unknown poker players can win the WSOP as well. Here are the avenues for entering the World Series of Poker 1. Direct Buy-In For USD10,000 you can buy your seat at the WSOP. This is how the 2005 WSOP w...

The annual WSOP is up and coming and captures the imagination of all once more. Unlike many other professional sports, you don't have to be a poker pro, or even a very good player to sign up. 2005 and 2006 WSOP winners Joe Hachem and Jaime Gold have also proven that unknown poker players can win the WSOP as well. Here are the avenues for entering the World Series of Poker 1. Direct Buy-In For USD10,000 you can buy your seat at the WSOP. This is how the 2005 WSOP winner Joseph Hachem entered the event. Most sensible folks would pay that kind of money of course, and indeed, you would not bearing in mind there are noticeably cheaper alternatives to entering. 2. Direct Online Qualifier The various online poker rooms offer direct online WSOP quaifiers with buy-ins ranging from $100 to $1000. Depending on how many players enter, a certain amount of seats to the WSOP will be given away. As such, the higher the price of the buy-in to these direct online qualifiers, the fewer players you will have to beat to get to the WSOP. Jaime Gold entered the WSOP via this route. 3. Multi-Rung Online Qualifiers If $100 is a bit steep for you, then you have the option of entering "pre" WSOP satellites which provide entrance to direct WSOP satellites as prizes. These usually range in price from $1 to $40. Again, the higher the price the greater your chances of winning a WSOP seat. 2003 WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker won his seat by winning a $40 pre-satellite and then winning the direct satellite. Conclusion If you were serious about entering the WSOP, you may want to set aside a decent amount of cash from your bankroll and enter several direct WSOP satellites. Your chances are much better and it will take the pressure off if you know that you have x amount of buyins available should your current WSOP attempt fail. The online qualifiers are also good because, rather than paying USD10,000 to find out that you are out of your league at the WSOP, the online qualifiers gives you an opportunity to determine how you stack up against other opponents. Just about every major poker room offers WSOP satellites. As it gets closer to the next WSOP, poker sites will start promoting the tournaments more heavily.