With Day 1a and Day 1b of Event # 2: $565 Colossus II underway, the 2016 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is in full swing. Although the premiere summer poker series officially kicked off on June 1, 2016, the first event is only open to casino employees so the rest of the poker community had to wait until today.
The 47th annual WSOP features 69 events live at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Some feature events include the aforementioned Colossus II, the return of the Monster Stack and Millionaire Maker, a new $888 Crazy Eights 8-Handed No-Limit Holdem event with a guaranteed first-place prize of $888,888, the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop, and of course the $10,000 Main Event. For the full schedule, structures, and event details .
In 2015, Canada had 4,871 total entries across the World Series and it is expected this year may see a decline in Canadian attendance due in large part to the awful exchange rate of the Canadian dollar. Currently a CAD $1.00 is only worth USD $0.70 which makes planning a trip to Vegas quite expensive. On top of that, Canadian players are faced with losing 30% of their winnings to US tax laws.
Canada will still have some of its best and brightest poker stars in action throughout the series though. Last year four bracelets were claimed by Canadians after being shut out in 2014. Sam Greenwood, Daniel Idema, Jonathan Duhamel, and Andre Boyer took home the hardware.
I will predict another four bracelets for Canada in 2016. Look out for Mike Leah, Mike Watson, Shaun Buchanan, Justin Oliver, Eric Place, Alex Livingston, and of course Daniel Negreanu to make deep runs for WSOP gold.
Good luck to all Canadians on their summer adventure in Las Vegas. Stay tuned to Canada Poker for daily WSOP updates and follow your favorite Canadian poker players throughout the series.
