For many players, the idea of taking on the World Series of Poker Main Event is a pipe dream, the wish that will never be fulfilled. The days of Chris Moneymaker qualifying for the $10,000 buy-in event for just $80, a fraction of the entry fee, seem a long time ago.
In reality, they are. It was nearly two decades since ‘The Moneymaker Effect’ changed poker forever. But in 2022, the world is ready for a new hero to come from nowhere. If that player qualifies on GGPoker for this year’s WSOP Main Event, then they could do so for as little as $49.
What Could You Win?
The GGPoker ‘Road to Vegas’ had been launched immediately, so there’s no lead-up time to playing the satellite qualifiers. Whether they will produce another ‘Moneymaker’ moment is debatable, if only o the fact that poker is already such a huge game worldwide. This year, for example, the WSOP Main Event is tipped to welcome ten times the number of players who ponied up $10,000 in 2003, the year Moneymaker won the Main.
The Main Event itself begins on July 3rd, a day before Independence Day, and will see players take to the felt in a tournament that costs $10,000 to enter and last year awarded the winner $8 million. Koray Aldemir became the second German player in a row to win after Hossein Ensan won in 2019 – we’re not counting the ‘Hybrid’ Main Event winner in 2020.
This year’s WSOP Main Event package on GGPoker is bigger than ever before. Playing satellites from as little as $1, players can win a package including the following:
- $10,000 WSOP Main Event 2022 tournament entry
- One week’s accommodation at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas
- $1,200 for travel expenses (must be booked with Main Event Travel)
- Entry into a GGPoker Qualifier Last Longer promotion
- GGPoker merch and unique gifts
- GGPoker Platinum Lounge access for all qualifiers
Kid Poker Can’t Wait for the Summer
Last year, the highest-placed player who qualified from GGPoker was Vasu Amarapu, who finished 13th for a result worth $470,000. He won his package from being a ClubGG member, so it cost him just $49 to sign up and play Stage 1 satellites on GGPoker all month. Amarapu met Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu before playing the Main Event and the Canadian player, who sits in third place on the all-time money list, can’t wait to play the Main Event yet again.
“I’ll be playing the WSOP Main Event again this year,” the six-time WSOP bracelet winner said. “I hope to be joined by hundreds of fellow GGPoker players from every corner of the planet. It’s every poker player’s dream to win the biggest tournament there is; there’s no other poker experience like playing the Main Event!”
With satellites underway already, the chances of anyone in any walk of life playing in the 2022 WSOP Main Event and battling for millions, having risked as little as $49, are getting higher.
Who Has Won the WSOP Main Event Before?
“Only Stu Ungar has won it three times in the freezeout format.”
The WSOP Main Event is a legendary poker tournament and is the most well-known ‘freezeout’ in history, with no rebuys possible. Once you’re out of the Main Event, you can’t re-enter, and that’s been the case since the first iteration of the event in 1971. Some poker legends have picked up the WSOP Main Event title in the past, such as Phil Hellmuth (1989), Joe Cada (2009), and Ryan Riess (2013).
Of the many winners of the title, only Johnny Moss (1970, 1971 & 1974), Doyle Brunson (1976 & 1977), Johnny Chan (1987 & 1988), and Stu Ungar (1980, 1981 & 1998) have won it on multiple occasions. Of those, only Stu Ungar has won it three times in the freezeout format, with Moss’ debut win in 1970 coming by way of a second player vote to decide the champion. After the first round of voting, it was a tie as every man of the six voted for himself!
In recent years, players such as Joe McKeehen (2015), John Cynn (2018), and Hossein Ensan (2019) have won the biggest title to take in the game. Who’ll win it in 2022? We may well be looking at the biggest satellite qualifier percentage ever in the history of the World Series of Poker Main Event.
