5 Ways to Enjoy the WSOP in 2023 Without Spending $10,000
Paul and I love visiting the World Series of Poker (WSOP) whenever we can. No, we have not laid down $10,000 to play in the Main Event. While that is a bucket list item for us, we imagine fulfilling that dream many years down the road. Instead, we find ways to visit Las Vegas with a much smaller poker budget. You too can visit the WSOP in 2023 without that big buy-in. Vegas is absolutely humming in June, and there are so many ways to have your poker (and other) fun without that big buy in.
We have attended the WSOP in the past in our role as ambassadors for Advanced Poker Training, the poker training site for which we also blog. In 2021, we even managed to spend a month in Las Vegas when the WSOP was held in the fall. But with college tuition for our children as one of our main budget items, we avoid playing tournaments with high buy-ins. Luckily, we have always found numerous lower-stake options during the WSOP, and when we are in Las Vegas we enjoy partaking in as much poker as we (and our bankroll) can stand. Of course, we also love taking in some non-poker entertainment as well.
Low Stakes Tournament Options During the WSOP
There are plenty of options to play well-structured low-stakes tournaments during the WSOP. For the purposes of this article, we define low stakes as anything at or below $300. If you are looking for such a game, here are your top five options:
WSOP in 2023 Offers Daily Deepstacks
Want to experience the fun during the WSOP, but don’t have $1,500+ buy-ins handy? The Daily Deepstacks may be for you. The WSOP holds three Deepstack tournaments each day with buy-ins ranging from $200 (our sweet spot!) up to $400. The three tournaments vary in structure and format. You’ll want to check the schedule to decide which is right for you. The WSOP also offers Seniors (50+) and HORSE Daily Deepstacks once per week. The Deepstacks allow you to take in all of the World Series madness without parting with too much cash. And who knows, you may find Phil Hellmuth or Jonathan Little killing time in the seat next to you!
CardPlayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival V
During the WSOP in 2023, Robbie Strazynski of Cardplayer Lifestyle will be hosting a Mixed Game Festival at Resorts World Las Vegas from July 2nd through 6th. If you are a lover of mixed games, this is the place to be. There will be plenty of low-stakes cash mixed game play along with poker trivia, a scavenger hunt, book signings, and more. One lucky player will even take home a European Poker Tour prize package for EPT Cyprus in October. You can find the schedule and all the details for this fun event here.
- A Poker Road Trip from Boston to Las Vegas
- Map of Poker Rooms in the US
- Poker Tournament Packing List
Summer Poker Series at the Orleans
The Orleans has a Summer Poker Series running from May 29th through July 9th. They recently came out with their schedule, and it looks every bit as good as one would expect. The Orleans boasts that its poker room was voted Best in Vegas by the readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. We always enjoy our visits to the Orleans. Tournament buy-ins start as low as $120 and there are over 100 tournaments on the schedule. The dealers at the Orleans are excellent, even in the midst of the WSOP craziness where anyone who has ever dealt a card in Las Vegas (and many who haven’t) will be employed for the month of June.
The Golden Nugget Grand Poker Series
The Golden Nugget offers a completely different option for low-cost poker in Vegas during the WSOP in 2023. Set in Downtown Vegas, far from the shiny new casinos of the Strip, The Golden Nugget carries an air of old Las Vegas. The area is a bit edgier than the Strip; you can easily imagine the mob bosses and celebrities that populated Downtown Vegas back in the day. The Golden Nugget Grand Poker Series runs from May 30-July 3, features 89 events, and offers over $3 million in guaranteed prize money. Even better, the Grand Poker Series sports a nightly $150 NLH deep stack tournament with a $10,000 guarantee, and a nightly $130 tournament as well. In addition to your standard no-limit hold’em tournaments, the grand includes Mystery Bounty, Pot-Limit Omaha, Big O, Mixed Triple Draw Lowball, Limit 2-7 Lowball, H.O.R.S.E. and Triple Stud tournaments as well.
The atmosphere at the Golden Nugget is generally raucous. This can make for a fun tournament if you are in the right mood. Also, Downtown Las Vegas has to be experienced at least once in a lifetime.
Venetian and Wynn Summer Series
The Venetian and the Wynn each offer Summer Poker Series during the WSOP in 2023 as well. While both tend to be more pricey events, you can find $300 buy-in satellites, and in the case of the Venetian, a few events as well. The Wynn series runs from May 25th through July 19th, while the Venetian’s runs from May 22nd through July 31. If you can hit one of the satellites or cheaper events, both will offer a taste of how the big-bankrolled boys (and girls) play. And who knows, maybe you will get lucky and satellite into a major event!
There are certainly many ways to enjoy Vegas during the WSOP in 2023. If you’re looking to play poker at a reasonable cost, you will find these five options a good bet.
5 Ways to Enjoy the WSOP in 2023 Without Spending $10,000Click To TweetFollowing the WSOP in 2023 From Afar
If you can’t make it to Vegas this summer but want to check out the WSOP action, you can watch much of it on PokerGO. PokerGO offers an extensive live-streaming menu of WSOP final tables. They will be broadcasting daily action from the Main Event at times when CBS is not. PokerGO also has some great original shows. You can read reviews of a number of them over at CardPlayer Lifestyle.
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