Two Big PLO Tournaments, One Weekend, Zero Easy Answers

PLO players face a $4,720 question this weekend: play both the WSOP's PLO Mystery Bounty and BetMGM's PLO Championship, or pick one and sweat the other from the rail?

WSOP Event #65 — the $2,720 PLO Mystery Bounty — fires Day 2 on July 4 at 1:00 p.m. PT with a $2M guarantee. Less than 24 hours later, BetMGM's $2,000 PLO Championship kicks off on July 5 at noon PT carrying a $1M guarantee of its own.

Two PLO events totaling $3M in guarantees, separated by fewer than 24 hours, competing for the same player pool.

The Scheduling Collision

The timing is brutal. If Day 2 of Event #65 runs deep — and a $2M-guaranteed PLO mystery bounty will run deep — survivors could be grinding past midnight on the Fourth of July. That leaves roughly 12 hours before BetMGM's championship shuffles up.

For PLO specialists who traveled to Las Vegas specifically for these spots, skipping either one feels like leaving equity on the table. The buy-ins are close enough ($2,720 vs. $2,000) that bankroll isn't the differentiator. Fatigue is.

What to Watch For

The real tell will be field size at the BetMGM event. If the WSOP mystery bounty chews through a big Day 2 field on July 4, expect some familiar faces to be absent from the PLO Championship on July 5 — either because they're still alive or because they busted at 3 a.m. and chose sleep over four-card poker.

BetMGM set the guarantee at $1M. That number only works if they're confident the WSOP runoff doesn't cannibalize their field. Either they know something about pre-registration we don't, or they're willing to put up overlay to make a statement.

Three million in combined PLO guarantees across one weekend. The only losers are the players who wanted to play both and have to settle for one.

BetMGM's PLO Championship fires July 5 at noon PT.