The World Series of Poker has announced that it will scrap its November Nine concept in 2017, with the Main Event to continue through to its conclusion in July.
The surprise decision comes nine years after the November Nine concept – which saw the final nine players take a four month break before returning in November for the final table – was first introduced in 2008.
Kicking off on 8 July 2017, Main Event will now break for just two days once the final table is reached, with a winner to be crowned on 22 July.
“We found that live poker worked so it makes all the sense in the world to have a two-day delay from a 100-day delay to the final table,” said Seth Palansky, VP of Corporate Communications for Caesars Interactive Entertainment and the WSOP.
The WSOP also announces a key rule change in 2017 in an effort to speed up play, removing the two-minute limit players must allow for before calling the clock on an opponent as well as reducing the time a player has to make a decision once the clock has been called from one minute to 40 seconds.
Held at the Rio in Las Vegas each year, the WSOP is the world’s most prestigious poker tournament series and will this year boast a schedule of 74 events, the first of which kicks off on 31 May.
