Wsop Millionaire Maker Payout Structure

For 2020, the World Series of Poker will be made up of 85 bracelet events, 31 on WSOP.com and 54 on GG Poker. The events are in tournament format, and every player in a given tournament starts. Geared with luck and excitement, our finalists will compete to win a share of $1,062,500 in cash prizes. All finalists will receive a $1,000 airfare credit, a three-night hotel stay at THE ROW and, one entry into the Millionaire Maker Finale Slot Tournament. Jason DeWitt won the $1,500 buy-in “Millionaire Maker” No-limit Hold ’em tournament at the Rio Convention Center. He defeated Garrett Greer in heads-up play and collected $1,065,403 for the.

Poker players from around the world — Rejoice!

The 49th annual World Series of Poker is underway! Every summer that I arrive back in Las Vegas, countless fond memories come flooding back. I am always so anxious to get back onto the felt at the WSOP.

However, after already playing in a few events this year, I'm reminded of some of the common misconceptions and mistakes that poker novices make while playing at the WSOP.

Many players are so eager to play in a bracelet event they don't consider that they may be playing in a different scenario than what they are accustomed to. I'm not referring to the level of play (which also could be higher than they are used to), but just some fundamental thoughts that novices may be overlooking.

Patience is a Virtue

If you read my previous article, 'Don't Wait at the World Series of Poker', you know that I despise waiting. Thus, the irony is that my first advice when you play at the WSOP is to WAIT!

Wait for the cards and good situations. Don't force the action. Too many amateur players are accustomed to playing in a much faster structure with more starting chips in their home game, local leagues, or nearby casino/card room. Most players also play with shorter time levels, such as 20 minutes per level, and with starting stack commonly in the 10,000 to 20,000 chip-range.

These two factors induce players to take many chances early, including bluffing. Overall, these players feel that with so many starting chips, they can take risks, especially if there's a rebuy.

Even though you have fewer starting chips than you may be used to, you have more time to play at the WSOP.

The situation at the WSOP is completely opposite. Here, the levels are much longer (commonly an hour), but the starting chips are fewer (typically five times the buy-in amount). Therefore, the players have more time to wait, but less room for error, especially at the beginning of the tournament. And since amateur players love to bluff, they can lose incredibly valuable chips early on if they get caught.

Subsequently, these players will try to force the issue and try to get back their lost chips, thus often leading to their elimination. In the end, the players often complain that they don't have enough starting chips at the WSOP.

Let me show you mathematically how this misconception is incorrect. Just after a few hours, due to the lengthy levels at the WSOP, players actually have more big blinds than in your commonly played home game.

Let's use a typical 2018 WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold'em event, such as the Millionaire Maker which starts today, as an example. Players begin with 7,500 starting chips with one-hour levels. I will compare this to a typical home game structure which often starts with 20,000 chips with 20-minute levels.

For comparison and simplicity sake, let's just use the WSOP blind structure for both tournaments (which is most probably much better than the typical home version). Additionally, I assumed that the player maintains his or her starting stack to compare the remaining big blinds. This assumption would seem very concerning since the WSOP structure starts with such a 'small' stack, but you will see below that after a little more than two hours of play, players will prefer the WSOP structure.

As you can see, the home game players have plenty of room during the first two hours. They start out with 400 BBs, while the WSOP 'only' starts with 150 big blinds.

But after only two hours of play, the number of big blinds are equivalent for both tournament structures. After three hours, the WSOP's number of big blinds is twice as large, and four hours in the WSOP's number of big blinds is triple the home game's number of big blinds.

Now, if the home game starts with fewer chips (e.g., 15,000) and shorter levels (e.g., 15 minutes), the situation becomes even more dire for the home game structure.

Therefore, when you sit down to play a WSOP tournament, change your mindset and remain patient. Even though you have fewer starting chips than you may be used to, you have more time to play at the WSOP. You can't force the situations or else you will be out of the tournament quickly.

Be Wary of the Short Stack

Now that I have explained why many novice players may lose chips early, I will now describe a situation that directly results from this.

As some players become short-stacked, they eventually will have to make a stand and shove all in, possibly with a marginal hand. However, other players, with average or big stacks, are so focused on their own game that they do not recognize this short-stack situation.

Players, especially in late position, may raise with a sub-par hand without recognizing that a short-stacked player is behind them.

As with any poker tournament, players will need sometimes to steal blinds and antes in order to survive. Players, especially in late position, may raise with a sub-par hand without recognizing that a short-stacked player is behind them. After a raise, the short stack may decide to shove all in with an average hand.

Since the short stack will not have a significant stack remaining, the original raiser will be forced to call, revealing a weak hand and confirming that he or she was just trying to steal the blinds and antes. Even worse, the player is so embarrassed that he or she folds, basically giving away chips for free.

In summary, players sometimes put themselves in an embarrassing position because they just robotically raise without being observant. So the next time you have a sub-par hand, but are considering raising to steal the blinds and antes, make sure that the players sitting behind you are not very short-stacked, especially from the blinds.

In general, if they have over 10 big blinds, they will have enough chips to fold. But if they have fewer than 10, they may shove their remaining stack with any high card. Thus, you may just want to fold in this situation and save your valuable chips for another hand.

Top 15 Percent Cashing

Everyone's dream is to win a WSOP bracelet. But, if you can't take home the coveted hardware, cashing in a WSOP event is definitely a solid consolation prize. Taking home some money from a WSOP bracelet event is still something to brag about at your home game.

As the event progresses, make sure you remember this different payout structure and play accordingly.

Many of you are accustom to the top 10 percent of the field finishing in the money. However, in 2016, the WSOP changed its payout structure where the top 15 percent of the field is in the money.

Some players don't realize this computation until it is too late. They play too aggressively when they are closer to the money than they realized. Of course, the goal is to win and take home the gold bracelet, but cashing in an event is never a bad thing, especially if you are shorter-stacked and could make the money. As the event progresses, make sure you remember this different payout structure and play accordingly.

Follow Bernard Lee on Twitter and Instagram: @BernardLeePoker.

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Daniel Dvoress was previously one of the best poker players to never win a WSOP bracelet. However, he’s now exited this list after winning the 2020 WSOP $1,500 Millionaire Maker on GGPoker.

The Canadian pro survived a field with 6,299 players to win a gold bracelet and the $1,489,289 top prize. He career live poker tournament winnings have now crossed $15.6 million thanks to this victory.

One Milly Maker Tournament – Two Millionaires

Dvoress isn’t the only player who won seven figures in this event. Caio De Almeida collected $1,072,428 after finishing runner-up.

Not many players earn over $1 million for taking second in a WSOP tournament outside of the Main Event. De Almeida joins a rare club with his $1.07 million payout.

Going back to Dvoress, he had the chip lead going into the final table. He used his experience to keep this advantage and take home the top prize.

On the final hand between he and De Almeida, Dvoress went all-in with K-Q. De Almeida, whose stack was dwindling, called with K-8. Dvoress’ advantage held up, thus giving him the victory.

Here are the results from the 2020 WSOP Millionaire Maker:

1. Daniel Dvoress (Canada) - $1,489,289
2. Caio De Almeida (Brazil) - $1,072,428
3. Anatoly Filatov (Russia) - $772,251
4. Michael Nugent (Canada) - $556,095
5. Alejandro Caridad (Argentina) - $400,412
6. Neville Endo Costa (Brazil) - $288,356
7. Ronny Kaiser (Switzerland) - $207,644
8. Tomasz Cybulski (Poland) - $149,523
9. Aneris Adomkevicius (Lithuania) - $107,671

How This Year’s Millionaire Maker Compares to Previous Years

Due to COVID-19, all of this year’s WSOP tournaments have been hosted online so far. GGPoker is staging the bulk of these events.

They’ve had the honor of running the first-ever online Millionaire Maker. Ever since it debuted in 2013, the Milly Maker has managed to draw huge crowds.

It started with a bang in 2013 after attracting 6,343 players—a record at the time for a non-Main Event tournament. It’s only gotten bigger since then.

The 2019 edition drew 8,809 entries when it was staged live at the Rio Las Vegas. John Gorsuch won this tourney along with a $1,344,930 payout.

Organizers decided to change the payout structure a little bit in 2020. They gave more money to the top finishers, which resulted in two players becoming millionaires (before taxes) this time around. This is the first Millionaire Maker to deliver two seven-figure payouts.

The 6,299 entries in the 2020 WSOP Millionaire Maker is the lowest attendance in the event’s history. But the low attendance is due to the online format and how Americans can’t play at GGPoker.

A Brief Look at Daniel Dvoress’ Poker Career

Daniel Dvoress has quietly become one of the biggest live tournament winners ever. He boasts $15,607,625 in winnings, which ranks 5th among Canadians and 41st all time.

2015 Wsop Payout

Dvoress’ most-recent big accomplishment includes taking first in the 2019 Super High Roller Bowl. He collected a $4,080,000 fortune for winning this $25,000 buy-in event.

2017 Wsop Payout Structure

The Canadian has notched plenty of other sizable cashes to help him reach $15.6 million in earnings. Now, he can finally add a WSOP bracelet to his list of triumphs too.