It’s been almost a month since the last news about the World Series of Poker. The last thing that the poker players heard was that it was “too early to make a decision.”

On Sunday night, the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) officially came to an end when Argentina's Damian Salas, a practicing lawyer back home, defeated Joseph Hebert in a heads-up finale to win $1 million, a coveted gold bracelet, and the title of WSOP Main Event champion. Last year, the World Series of Poker celebrated its 50 th anniversary in style with some special events to boot. So, WSOP 2020 will be the 51 st iteration of the world’s best-known and best-loved poker event. Apr 20, 2020 WSOP Europe, hosted at King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, remains on the calendar for the Fall 2020. All announced dates, times and events are subject to change. About the World Series of Poker.

However, at that point, it indeed seemed like way too early to do it. The coronavirus did not seem like a dangerous threat to the industry, although the majority of live events were canceled throughout the world.

At the time we’ve last heard from the WSOP officials, there were about 6,000 confirmed cases in the US. At the moment of writing this text, the number of confirmed cases increased to 600,000, with more than 25,000 with a lethal outcome.

So, at this point, there are three possible scenarios that could happen with WSOP 2020, and we still haven’t heard even the slightest hint about any one of them taking place.

Cancel the Tournament

One scenario is to completely cancel the 2020 WSOP. It would mean that the next WSOP will take place in 2021. Therefore, everyone hoping to see the most important poker event take place this year would be utterly disappointed in this case.

However, this is the least likely scenario to happen. Simply put, too much money is in the game, and expectations are way too high among poker players to cancel the festival completely.

Gregory Chochon, Director of WSOP, stated in a podcast, however, that no options are out of the question.

Postpone the Festival

The other option is to postpone the entire festival. In that case, it would probably take place a couple of months later. Instead of taking place during the late spring/early summer, it could actually happen during fall.

However, postponing the festival also comes with certain downsides. Namely, many live poker tourneys have already been postponed, so it would be very difficult to respect everyone’s schedule.

Simply put, when there’s a WSOP tournament going on, there aren’t many festivals around the globe during that period.

Hold the Festival Online

The final option is to stick to the announced date but to completely go online. This will not be the same experience as going to Las Vegas to play poker, but it’s the next best thing.

Yet, the biggest obstacle on the way to realizing one such project is definitely law. Although more than 70% of players who go to Rio each year are Americans, there still hundreds of players coming from all parts of the world.

They might not be able to access the online poker version of the WSOP if there are some kind of restrictions in their country. In other words, there might be difficulties along the way, but WSOP organizers were able to work miracles in the past. But they would definitely have an ace up their sleeve to allow everyone in the world to take part in the online version of the festival.

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Next stop: King’s Casino

The final table of the “International Bracket” of the 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event on GGPoker has been determined, with nine of the original 674 players still standing. Leading the way is Brazil’s Brunno Botteon with 10,317,743 chips. Nobody is within 4,000,000 of him.

So ends the online portion of the Main Event on the international side (I apologize to those who don’t live in the United States for such US-centric terminology, but that’s what the WSOP and GGPoker are using). From here, the final table moves to King’s Casino in Rozvadvov, Czech Republic on the German border on December 15.

The WSOP and the players are going to have to scramble to make travel arrangements, as all nine players are from different countries, a few of which are not remotely close to the Czech Republic. Two players live in South America and one lives in China. Fortunately, the Czech Repubic is centrally located in Europe, but even the players from Spain and Portugal have a bit of a trek coming up.

All remaining players must also take COVID-19 tests before the live final table. If a player tests positive, he is not permitted to play and will receive the minimum payout still available (so if one out of the nine tests positive, that player will receive ninth place money).

Wsop Europe 2020 Results

Still aiming for Vegas

The winner of the King’s Casino final table will travel to Las Vegas and take on the winner of the U.S. Bracket at the Rio – the normal home of the World Series of Poker – on December 28. The winner of that heads-up match will receive an additional $1 million and be declared the 2020 WSOP Main Event champ.

Almost every at the International Bracket final table is known to some extent in the poker world. Of note is Damian Salas, currently in third place, who finished seventh in the 2017 Main Event.

Wsop Europe 2020 Dates

The tournament had three starting flights, with Day 1A taking place last Sunday, November 29. Participants in Day 1B and Day 1C had to wait until this past weekend to give it a go. Day 1A attracted 246 players, Day 1B drew 171 entries and Day 1C just edged out the first flight, bringing in 257 players. Normally at the World Series of Poker, Day 1C blows the other two starting flights away, because of the scheduling, but since this is online, players didn’t really need to worry about timing, just which day was most convenient for them. And since this is the WSOP Main Event, it is a freezeout, just like always.

2020 WSOP Main Event “International Bracket” – Final Table Chip Counts

Wsop Europe 2020 Main Event

1. Brunno Botteon – 10,317,743
2. Manuel “robocup” Ruivo – 6,213,759
3. Damian Salas – 5,653,528
4. Fullbabyfull – 4,232,560
5. Hannes “BlackFortuna” Speiser – 3,515,744
6. Dominykas “MickeyMouse” Mikolaitis – 3,165,440
7. Ramon “Ritza” Miquel Munoz – 3,035,940
8. Peiyuan “fish3098” Sun – 2,185,676
9. Stoyan “UncleToni” Obreshkov – 2,119,610