The World Series of Poker released their much-anticipated official 2025 schedule on Monday. There was much reaction to the schedule, including to the new events and the new structures. A lot of changes came thanks to the new ownership of the WSOP by GGPoker.
But there was one tournament where the structure remained unchanged: the WSOP Main Event. This was not expected to generate much controversy considering all of the other changes. However, the Main Event became the largest talking point of the schedule release thanks to Phill Hellmuth’s decision to skip the event entirely.
Phil Hellmuth Reacts to Main Event
The 17-time WSOP bracelet winner took to X to record his reaction. He said that the Main Event’s lengthy structure should be changed and, as a form of protest, he does not intend to play it this year.
Hellmuth wrote the following post on X that now has over a million impressions: “I am not playing the WSOP Main Event. It has become an endurance contest. I truly believe that 80% of the players want changes made to the Main Event.
“12 hour days, or longer, for 6-7 days in a row, is brutal and disproportionately affects older players.”
He went on to explain how the long grueling days adversely affects older players and gives younger players an unfair advantage. The majority of players who have made deep runs in the Main Event in recent years have mostly been in their 20s and 30s.
This sparked a massive debate on social media among the poker world as the Main Event became the center of it all. This is far from the only controversy that has been on Hellmuth’s plate recently, as his co-owned poker club in Texas disqualified known poker cheat Ali Imsirovic.
It is worth noting that Hellmuth has not had much success in the Main Event in recent years, so the grueling multi-day structure has not directly affected him yet. The 1989 winner of the event, has not cashed in it since 2015 and has rarely made it past Day 2 in the decade since then.
Support For Hellmuth
There were many who agreed with Hellmuth about how grueling the Main Event has become over the years. Professional poker player Christina Gollins pointed out that it is not only an age issue as multiple 12 hour plus days is not easy for anyone, regardless of age.
Another prominent name who certainly knows how to play poker who agreed with Hellmuth was ten-time bracelet winner and longtime WSOP legend Erik Seidel, who agreed with Hellmuth that it should not be an endurance contest.
There were multiple other players and poker media who chimed in in favor of Hellmuth’s side of the argument including bracelet winner Faraz Jaka, just to name one.
Disagreement and Criticism of Hellmuth
There were also many on the other side who believed Hellmuth was being too self-centered and threatening to ruin the structure of the Main Event for self-interest.
Two-time bracelet winner Ben Lamb, who has also made two very deep runs in the Main Event in his career, including a 3rd place finish in 2010, disagreed with Hellmuth and pointed out the flaws of Hellmuth’s argument.
While Lamb focused on the poker side of the argument to disagree with Hellmuth, there were many who had a more cynical view and attacked Helmuth personally by saying that he only cared about himself in this critique of the Main Event. There were some who took issue with him threatening to not play the tournament months in advance of the WSOP.
Potential Alternatives and Solutions
The idea of re-structuring the WSOP Main Event is a big deal in the poker world as it has long been considered the #1 poker tournament in the world each year. In many ways it is the poker equivalent to the “Super Bowl” and something every player dreams of playing.
For many this debate kind of generated out of thing air as it has not been much of a talking point before Hellmuth’s comments.
While the structures of many events in recent years have changed drastically, the Main Event has remained steadfast in its two-hour levels and has remained committed to providing a deep and slow structure for the $10,000 NLH championship event.
So what is the answer? Some of the suggestions to adjust the Main Event structure include things like adding extra off days or lowering the amount of levels played per day.
The most extreme change would be to reduce the length of the levels which would mess with the long-standing vaunted structure. With GGPoker now at the helm owning the WSOP, big chances such as that are not to be written off as a possibility and could be on the near horizon.