Last week, Daniel Negreanu complained about Harrah's 2006 WSOP schedule, noting that "It's the World Series of Poker, not the World Series of Hold'Em."Daniel is worried that Harrah's, with an eye toward the bottom line, is choosing Hold'Em events at the expense of all other forms of poker, like Stud and Omaha. According to Chuck Blount, Daniel is not alone. Chuck spoke with several other top pros, including Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein, who expressed similar concerns.
"The current proposal dilutes the value of a bracelet in no-limit Hold 'Em since there are so many of those available," longtime pro Barry Greenstein said. "We all know that they will get more entries the way they have done (the schedule), but they are not thinking long term. I think they need to keep the uniqueness that the World Series of Poker used to have."
Andy said, "Getting up in the morning to play the same game every day is too much like work." If you know Andy, this is even funnier than it sounds in print.
The schedule change isn't all bad. Chuck observes that there will be a $1000 NLHE event in July that will give amateur players without huge bankrolls (or the ability to qualify online at a place like . . . oh, let's just randomly choose PokerStars ;) the opportunity to try for a WSOP bracelet. However, Harrah's would be wise to listen to the concerns and criticisms of the top tournament pros who have made this game what it is today. The WSOP will always be poker's big dance, but it runs the risk of losing credibility among the best players in the world if Harrah's corporate overlords tune them out in favor of the MBAs.
1. It's good to see this getting made public by other pros too. Maybe something will get done.
Posted at 12:44PM on Nov 8th 2005 by Andrew Hime