The city of Las Vegas is replete with activities for its visitors. Shows, casinos and “other” adult activities abound but, for slightly more than two months in the summer, Sin City becomes the center of the poker universe as the World Series of Poker takes over the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino.
The 43rd renewal of the oldest tournament schedule in the poker world begins today with the traditional starting event for the WSOP, the $500 Casino Employees Event. While an important tournament that salutes the hard-working members of the casino industry, the professionals will truly descend on the desert oasis starting on Monday when Event #2, a $1500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, starts at noon. Over the first week of the schedule, ten tournaments will have been completed or started, including a unique $3000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha event (capped at 512 players), a $5000 “Mixed Max” tournament and a $5000 Seven Card Stud tournament.
This year’s WSOP will feature several innovations to engage professionals and amateurs alike, but there are some questions that could plague the two months of play. Coming after “Black Friday” last year, many poker pundits bemoaned the factor that we could see the smallest Championship Event in history, that the effects of the U. S. government shutdown of the online poker rooms would doom the historic tournament from its preliminaries through the run of the schedule. Instead, the 2011 WSOP proved to be one of the most popular of all time, setting records for player numbers, prize pools and the third largest WSOP Championship Event in history.
Fast forward the clock to this year and some of those same pundits are saying that there will be no ill effects that could alter the WSOP’s march a year removed from “Black Friday.” But a smaller minority believe there are some things to be concerned about.
Last year, many traditionally online players were flush with money from their cash outs at PokerStars and, as a result, decided to step into the WSOP battleground to take their shot. This year, the afterglow of the PokerStars money has faded (for most) and there hasn’t been anything to replace that influx of cash. To point this factor out, those on the pessimistic side of the equation have presented the slip in player fields at many major tournaments on the European Poker Tour and the World Poker Tour (the 152 player WPT Championship event was the smallest since its inception ten years ago) as examples of what may happen to this year’s WSOP.
In my examination, I personally believe this year’s WSOP will, at the minimum, maintain its player numbers and even draw in more contestants for the Championship Event. My reasoning is that this IS the WSOP, the Nirvana that all poker players aspire to. Whether it is playing in a preliminary event or actually stepping into the fray in the Championship Event, it is the dream of any poker player to participate on poker’s grandest stage. While not the most scientific of reasoning, this has always been the draw of the WSOP and will continue to be, regardless of the conditions in the “normal” world.
Of course, there is one event that is getting more focus than perhaps the Championship Event and the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship combined. “The Big One For One Drop,” the million dollar buy in event proposed by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, will be the highest buy in tournament in the history of poker and has already drawn commitments from the biggest players in the game. The estimated payout for the eventual champion (if the tournament hits its 48 player cap) would immediately put that player at or near the top of the all-time money winners list; as such, the entirety of the poker world is waiting for that tournament with bated breath.
But…first things first. Today’s the day that the poker world circles, a combination of Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Mardi Gras, Halloween and the Fourth of July all in one. It is a celebration of the greatness of the game of poker for the entire world to revel in and it welcomes all comers. Today is the day that the 43rd Annual World Series of Poker takes center stage and good luck to all who venture into it!
