New WSOP COVID-19 Rule Could Spell Financial Disaster for Poker Players

The World Series of Poker released its 2021 set of rules this week and those covering COVID-19 have caused a huge stir among the poker community, with players liable to lose their buy-ins if the Rio casino decides they are a safety risk…

With last year’s WSOP cancelled due to the pandemic, players have been looking forward to the 2021 edition, due to run from Thursday, September 30th to Tuesday, November 23rd at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

The rules published by the WSOP, however, look set to throw the event into chaos, with Rule 115 stating: “… [Rio] reserves the right to remove any Participant from any WSOP Event at any time prior to or during the WSOP Event, … if Participant is determined by [Rio] in its sole discretion, to have received a positive test result for COVID-19…”
It adds: “… or come into close proximity (within 6 feet for 15 cumulative minutes) of any person who has tested positive for COVID-19…”

And in addition: “…or if Participant refuses to undergo any health and safety screening required by [Rio] to participate in a WSOP Event.”

Controversially, should one of those scenarios arise, the new rules state: “Participant shall not be entitled to any compensation or remuneration of any type other than what Participant had already been awarded prior to being removed from the WSOP Event.”

That was met with ridicule by many Twitter poker fans, Noah Watry first up…

With the rising incidence of the Delta variant in the USA and all manner of problems related to agreeing and enforcing COVID-19 policy at state and local level, the WSOP are of course caught between a rock and a hard place.

As WSOP guru Kevin Mathers pointed out in his replies, when questioned on mask-wearing and vaccination, the rules didn’t specify these but there is “Still plenty of time for the state of Nevada to offer guidance that requires masks and/or vaccinations. That also goes for the WSOP to make their own announcements.”

Vanessa Kade was quick to offer her advice, one of many pointing out that the WSOP will be unworkable and unattractive with such a rule.

The follow-up section of Rule 115 also raised multiple questions: “Further, in the situation where one or more Participants is disqualified pursuant to this Paragraph, [Rio] reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to determine whether to proceed with any WSOP Event as scheduled or to postpone or reschedule a WSOP Event, or any portion of a WSOP Event, to a later date.”

The possibilities are endless for DQs due to positive COVID-19 tests to wreak havoc in this situation, not to mention the likelihood that at any given point there will be multiple people “within 6 feet for 15 cumulative minutes” – including dealers, who regularly rotate and could theoretically infect an entire tournament.

There were several takes on that potential disaster, as seen below:

• “One random positive (that could be false) and you could realistically have to forfeit 80-120 people with dealers and table changes. 800k -1.2mm in players’ money down the drain. This can’t be real”
• “There should be exemptions for those fully vaccinated and/or wearing masks. One positive test could DQ probably 4 full tables. One dealer testing positive could DQ most of a room. Too risky to arbitrarily risk my buyin like this.”
• “So, this pretty much kills the WSOP from happening? If someone tests positive then every player that has been at a table with them has been "within 6 feet of someone that tested positive"? So make Day 2 and get kicked out tourney if you played Day 1 tbl with positive person.”
• “Can you imagine going into day 4 of an event as chip leader for a 500k payout for 1st, you walk in, get tested and they disqualify you and give you 9th place money for 40-50k? #Total Devistation.”

Although Nevada has a mask mandate in place just now, it is less likely to be in place come late September when the WSOP kicks off, while in Nevada itself, only just over 45% of residents – some 1.4million people – have been fully vaccinated as of August 10th.

Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion, has already stated that the fear of contracting COVID-19 and passing it on to his young asthmatic son has forced him to abandon plans to play this year’s WSOP.

Of course, this is a volatile and changing situation and we will keep you up-to-date with all the latest happenings in this story, so remember to check in regularly!