Unless you are a casual observer of the world of poker – or have been living under a rock for the past seven weeks – the greatest day in poker is set to kick off at noon (Pacific Time) at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. That’s right, it is time for the 43rd Annual WSOP $10,000 Championship Event, a two week battle that will look to crown the next World Champion of the game.
The allure of the WSOP Main Event (as many like to call it) is roughly akin to that of the moth to the proverbial flame. Through its 43 year history, the Championship Event is the only tournament that has seen increases in its player numbers. On only four occasions – in 1992, 2007 (following the enactment of the UIGEA), 2009 and last year (following “Black Friday”) has the tournament failed to draw more entrants than the previous year. This year, there are obstacles, but we’ll talk more about that in a moment.
Last year’s tournament drew in a robust 6865 player field and, once the final table was determined, proved to be a seminal moment not only in WSOP history but also the history of the game. The nine men who gathered in late 2011 for the “November Nine” created the most international final table in the history of the game. The United States, England, and Ireland had been there before, but citizens of the Ukraine, Germany, the Czech Republic and Belize achieved their countries’ first ever WSOP Main Event final table.
It would turn out to be an outstanding final table as well. After starting the final table in seventh place, Germany’s Pius Heinz would put on a display of poker that drove him to the top of the ladder once he, Ben Lamb and Martin Staszko worked their way to the final three. Although the eventual 2011 WSOP Player of the Year Lamb was an early casualty of the three handed play, Staszko and Heinz battled it out for over six hours before Heinz was able to put away the Czech, taking home the WSOP bracelet and an $8.7 million payday.
Heinz is back in Las Vegas to defend his World Championship, something that hasn’t happened since the 1980s when Johnny Chan was able to take his two WSOP Main Event victories in 1987 and 1988. What the field will look like when Heinz takes to the felt is something that has been debated in the poker world all summer long.
While last year’s outpouring of support for the WSOP Championship Event was strong, many pundits believe that it was one of the aftereffects of the “Black Friday” indictments from April of last year. Players, flush with their cash outs from PokerStars (one of the three indicted companies by the U. S. Department of Justice), decided to take their shot at poker biggest prize. This year, however, there have been some ominous signs.
Although many non-Hold’em tournaments have seen increases in their player numbers, the fields for the Hold’em events have been break-even in some cases and falling short of their 2011 numbers in the rest. Only the last $1000 event of this year’s WSOP was truly impressive, drawing in over 4600 players, and there is thought that this may carry over to the Championship Event.
There hasn’t been an influx of cash in the poker economy since PokerStars’ payments to U. S. players last year, leaving many players who want to be a part of poker’s biggest party potentially on the outside looking in. This is, however, the Main Event; with the plethora of satellites that have been running through the WSOP preliminary schedule (not to mention the international online sites who will be sending their players), I personally believe that this year’s field for the Championship Event will eclipse last year’s numbers (the third largest WSOP Main Event, by the way) and may actually even break the 7500 player mark, making it the biggest WSOP Main Event since 2006.
Alas, we will have to wait a bit before we see if this plays out. Day 1A hits the felt today, with Days 1B and 1C following on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday will see the survivors from Day 1A and 1B return to the tables, while Day 1C will be back in action on Wednesday. The field will not come together until Day Three on Thursday and will work its way down to the “October Nine” (remember, this year’s final table has been moved up due to Election Day in the United States) on July 16.
It’s Christmas, New Year’s, the Fourth of July and Halloween wrapped up in one big package. It’s the day that all poker players, whether playing or not, look forward to on the calendar each year. With that, let’s cut the chatter and get to business – the 2012 World Series of Poker Championship Event is ready for action!
