Disappointed with the Tunica WSOP Circuit Schedule
No Limit Holdem is indeed the most popular form of poker on the planet. Everyone loves the rush of going all in and having their hand hold up to win a massive pot. I understand the thrill and the excitement of the game. What I don’t understand is how that many casino’s, including Harrah’s has begun to give so much attention to Holdem that they ignore everything else.
My case in point is the World Series of Poker Circuit Event that will be coming up in January 2009. I just saw the schedule on worldseriesofpoker.com and was highly disappointed. There are 17 events in total and every single one is NL Holdem. When I saw this, my jaw dropped. The Tunica circuit event has always been the largest stop on the circuit tour and has typically had the best spread of games. Usually you could find, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha 8 or Better, Stud 8 or Better, H.O.R.S.E., Limit Holdem, and even NL. I know this for a fact because I would travel down to Tunica to specifically play in those events.
For the last few years, the Circuit was also in competition with the World Poker Tour and their Tunica stop in January for the World Poker Open. After last year’s WPT season, the WPT decided to discontinue the Tunica stop on the tour. As a result, the World Series of Poker is the only game in town.
I don’t know who came up with the schedule this year, but I would like to have a chat with him. I know what the typical response is going to be. It’s going to be something along the line of that NL is the big draw and they are going to spread what is going to bring the most money. One market that they are ignoring is the Omaha market. Tunica is a big PLO and Omaha 8 market, and the fact that neither are being spread will be noticed and probably complained about by the locals.
They are making a huge mistake here in my opinion. When you have an event with non-Holdem games, you draw in the specialist and the mixed games players to your event. What typically happens is that they will also play in one of the NL events around the mixed event. If they don’t, then they will start up interest in a mixed game for the cash game. This produces more rake. Yes, the tournaments do not draw as well, but when you make an event NL only, you ignore a market that will eventually go elsewhere.
Personally, I will not go to the Circuit Event in Tunica unless I work it. I have no reason to. I play NL, but I don’t enjoy it as much as other games. Actually, I am making plans for a tournament set in November in Las Vegas that I have decided to play now that the Tunica circuit is busto for me. Hopefully they will modify their offerings for future events, but as long as their events are predominantly NL, I won be there.