The 55th annual World Series of Poker has begun at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

Vegas Golden Knights champion Jonathan Marchessault kicked off the event, delivering the ceremonial “Shuffle Up and Deal.” The Conn Smythe Trophy winner participated in his first competitive poker tournament, joined by last year’s $12.1 million WSOP Main Event champion Daniel Weinman and other Main Event champions.

“While I’d rather still be on the ice fighting for a championship, sitting down to give it a shot in my first competitive poker tournament against WSOP legends is a nice consolation. The WSOP holds a special place in Las Vegas history and I am so glad I could come out and be a part of it today,” Marchessault said.

The Champions Reunion No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout had a buy-in of $5,000. It also had a unique twist, in which any player who knocked out a previous Main Event champion earned a guaranteed spot in the Main Event, with all previous Main Event champions given free entry.

“What a way to start out the 2024 World Series of Poker as we aim for our biggest and best series ever, following the record-setting summer that took place last year,” WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said.

The 2024 event will run from May 28 until July 17 and the Main Event will begin on July 3. The WSOP aims to surpass its record from 2023 when it attracted 214,641 participants from more than 114 countries.

Earlier in the week, WSOP and Caesars announced the launch of the newly rebranded WSOP Online platform, previously known as WSOP.com. In addition to offering many new features, the platform will allow players from Michigan, Nevada and New Jersey to play against each other online, making history as the first U.S. poker operator to combine player pools across states.

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