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LAS VEGAS -- Today is an historic day for Internet gambling.
For the first time ever, an online poker tournament will be an official bracelet event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Officially 2015 WSOP Event #64, the three-day tourney, whick kicks off at noon local time today, Thursday, July 2, 2015, is a no-limit Texas hold 'em tournament with a buy-in of $1,000.
But instead of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino off Vegas' famed Strip, where the other 67 tournaments of this year's WSOP are being contested, the WSOP's first online poker tourney will be held at the WSOP's official website, WSOP.com.
At least most of the tourney will be.
In actuality, the tournament is a hybrid of online poker and live poker.
According to the WSOP, the event begins online, where anyone physically located within the State of Nevada, one of the few states where online poker has been legalized, can enter.
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After two days of online play, and after the field of participants has been whittled down to six remaining players, play will temporarily be halted so the six finalists can come to the Rio in person and play out the final table live, on Day 3 of the event, which is the holiday the Fourth of July.
Earlier at this year's WSOP, Event #5, a no-limit Texas hold 'em tourney dubbed "The Colossus," that had a $565 buy-in, became the largest live poker tournament ever held, attracting 22,374 participants.
Although the WSOP's first online tourney is also expected to draw a lot of participants, WSOP spokesman Seth Palansky, in an exclusive interview with Gambling 911, said he doesn't think it will approach the number of participants that played in the Colossus.
"The online event will not come close in numbers to Colossus," Palansky said. "We have no idea how to predict how large it will be.
"It is a first-time event, limited to a pool of players inside Nevada and playing on unique I.P. addresses, who have deposited the required buy-in amount of $1,000," he said. "It is unlimited, yes, but is is not a re-entry tournament, so one entry per person."
Nevada isn't the only U.S. state that has legalized online poker--Delaware and New Jersey also have.
So why can't people in Delaware and New Jersey participate in the WSOP online tourney, since residents of those state wouldn't be breaking any laws?
Gambling 911 posed the question to Palansky.
"Anyone in Delaware of New Jersey can participate," Palansky said. "They just have to be in Nevada on WSOP.com.
"The different states have different regulations," he continued. "The regulations are governed by the state. We have a license and right to offer this in Nevada.
"It is illegal for anyone outside Nevada's borders to play. Think of the states as other countries. It's the same everywhere.
"Regulations dictate what is legal inside the borders of the state. It's not us allowing or not allowing. It is us following all gaming regulations in the jurisdiction we're licensed in."
It wasn't that long ago that the WSOP viewed online poker as a pariah, banning Main Event participants from qualifying via online satellite tourneys and severely restricting the patches with online poker room logos that players could wear on their clothing during WSOP matches.
Now, not only have those limitations been lifted, but the WSOP is openly embracing online poker, even holding an historic, official WSOP online poker tournament and awarding a WSOP championship gold bracelet to the winner.
Internet poker, it's like they used to say in that old TV commercial: You've come a long way, baby!
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
