WSOP Seniors Event: History and Criteria for Participants

The Brief History of the WSOP Seniors Events

The inaugural WSOP Seniors event, named The Seniors’ Championship, took place during the 32nd World Series of Poker in 2001.
It had a $1,000 buy-in with a $75 fee, attracted 340 entries, and generated a $340,000 prize pool. The first-ever “senior winner” was U.S. professional player Jay Heimowitz, who claimed his sixth bracelet and a $115,430 prize. Unfortunately, the Internet didn’t preserve photos from this event, so we’ve chosen a more recent picture.

For the next 13 years, the WSOP Seniors No Limit Hold’em Championship with a $1,000 buy-in was the only event exclusively for “older” players on the WSOP schedule.
For three consecutive years, it attracted 340, 396, and 378 entries, but after the Moneymaker Boom, the field grew significantly — from 519 entries in 2004 to 4,425 in 2014.

In 2006, U.S. female poker player Clare Miller from Alamogordo became the first woman to win this type of event. She outlasted a field of 1,184 entries to earn her first and only WSOP bracelet along with a $247,814 prize.

The popularity of the event was so strong that organizers decided to add another tournament, this time with a higher minimum age requirement.
The first $1,000 Super Seniors No Limit Hold’em was held at WSOP 2015. It was open only to players aged 65 or older, drew 1,533 entries, and created a $1,379,700 prize pool. The winner was U.S. poker player Jon Andlovec, who used his $262,220 prize for his daughter’s wedding.

In 2016 and 2017, this event followed the same rules and was won both times by U.S. poker pro James Moore. At WSOP 2016, he beat a field of 1,476 entries to win $230,626, then repeated his success at WSOP 2017, this time defeating 1,750 players to win $259,230.

From 2018, the minimum age for participation in the Super Seniors event was lowered to 60 years.
In 2024, WSOP expanded its offering for older players even further by adding the $5,000 Seniors High Roller No-Limit Hold’em to the schedule.
This event differed from the classic Seniors only in terms of the buy-in. It attracted 680 entries, generated a $3,128,000 prize pool, and was won by U.S. poker player Mark Checkwicz, who earned his first bracelet and $573,876 — funds he said would help his wife retire sooner.

What Age Is Required for the WSOP Seniors Event

• In the WSOP Seniors Championship, only players aged 50 years or older are eligible to participate.
• In the WSOP Super Seniors event, the minimum age is 60 years.
• In the WSOP Seniors High Roller, the age restriction is the same as the Seniors Championship — only players 50 years or older can register and play.

If you plan to enter any of these events, you’ll need to bring valid ID or a passport to confirm your age.

Winners of the WSOP Seniors Championship

Winners of the WSOP Super Seniors Event