One of the most talked about events for the upcoming World Series of Poker is the $1 Million buy-in event, which will not only be a gold bracelet event, but it will give the winner a platinum bracelet when all is said and done. The talks of this event have became more and more in-depth over the past few months, and the main thing surrounding the event is that it could potentially be the largest first place pay day for the winner of any poker tournament in history. The event currently has 22 players confirmed for it, and is called the “Big One for One Drop”.
The name comes from the charitable organization called One Drop, who will receive one ninth of the players’ buy-in’s to go towards the charity ($111,111). The remainder of the buy-in will go straight into the prize pool, and there is no rake taken from it either. The idea was started thanks to Guy Laliberte, who is not only the Chairman of the organization, but is also the founder of Cirque du Soleil. The organization was created to help solve the problem of a lack of access to clean water for close to a billion people.
Out of the 22 players who have confirmed, the first two to do so are well known poker pros Jonathan Duhamel and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Both made their announcement at this past years’ November Nine, and Duhamel stated that out of any of the winnings that he takes from the event, that he will donate an additional 5% to One Drop. This number, 22, is exactly the number that was needed to be confirmed in order for the tournament to be an official bracelet event, and the tournament will work a bit differently than other events. Instead of the top 10% making the cash, the top 20% of players will make money, and the field will cap at 48 total players.
As far as the players who will be joining Duhamel and Grospellier, you’ll find names like Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius, Johnny Chan, Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan, Laliberte, Phil Ruffin, Bobby Baldwin, Tony G, Dan Shake, and Andy Beal. There will also be qualifiers from satellites such as the Loto-Quebec satellite, the European satellite, and the Caesars satellite, as well as a seat awarded for the Montreal Group.