Changes at the 2009 WSOP
Harrah’s held their pre-WSOP conference call yesterday where they fielded question from the media and told them of some of the upcoming events and changes at the World Series of Poker. Some of these changes are great, while other actually have me a little pissed off right now.
Of course, most everyone knows about the $40,000 40th Anniversary Event that will kick off the WSOP. I think this is a cool event to hold to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of poker’s “Granddaddy of them all.” The pros will clearly come out in force to try and take down this bracelet. It would be funny if Phil Hellmuth could make the final table of this event. If he could somehow pull down this event, his ego would go beyond the stratosphere.
A non-bracelet event that I think was a great idea by Harrah’s is a Champions Invitational. Essentially, all the past WSOP Main Event winners will be invited to take part of this event. They will battle for the “Binion Cup” and a brand new car. Of course, this will be a small field, but it will be a great gathering of all-time greats. It will also be a nice contrast of styles to see the Doyle Brunson’s and Amarillo Slim’s of the world take on Jerry Yang, Peter Eastgate, and the like.
One of the major changes that have really annoyed me is regarding the change of programming for ESPN’s World Series of Poker broadcasts. They have announced that this year, they will only cover 4 events from the WSOP, and they will all be NL Holdem events. First, I think this is a travesty. No Omaha, no stud, and most conspicuously, no $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.
So what will they show for the four events? They will show the Main Event and the $40,000 NL Event for half of their offerings. Neither of these are surprises as fans of the game will want to see this. The third and fourth events they are showing happen to be non-bracelet events. The third of four events is the Champions Invitational. I can understand why they would air this event. It will be a great gathering of poker legend and should make for some interesting television.
However, I do not agree with the last event trumping other events on the schedule. The last event of the four that ESPN will show is the Ante Up for Africa charity event. Why this gets priority over other events is beyond me. Granted, I understand giving it some airtime. It is a great cause and I support those that want to back it. However, I don’t agree with taking other events off the air and replacing it with this.
The Main Event will have expanded coverage. Take some of that expanded coverage and give it to the charity event. That would make a nice story I think. I do not agree with taking off Omaha and I especially do not agree with taking off the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.
Jeffrey Pollack told the crowd that the decision to not air anything but NL was because the games did not have the same ratings. Of course they do not have the same ratings. Most people only play Holdem. However, that does not mean totally alienating one market. Also, not all Holdem players are solely Holdem players. Some of them are mixed players. Personally, I enjoy the non-holdem events much more than the Holdem events. In some cases, you can learn more from watching the non-holdem events than you can the Holdem as with Holdem, a lot of what they show are shovefests many times.
Another point that was covered at the phone conference was the Player Code of Conduct. I agree with having a code of conduct for players. I think that it is a long overdue step by Harrah’s. I work each year for a summer camp and we have a code of conduct for our kids and our leaders. If they do not follow it, they receive discipline up to expulsion from the camp. A major event such as the World Series of Poker needs rules to govern behavior. I think this is a fantastic step.
It’s now less than a month away from the WSOP. I plan to be out there for a while, but haven’t made up my mind if I will be there at the beginning or not. History will be made, and with any luck, maybe I will be a part of it.
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