My WSOP Schedule and Thoughts
May 29th: $40,000 No Limit Hold’em (Day 2)
May 30th: $40,000 No Limit Hold’em (Day 3)
May 31st: $40,000 No Limit Hold’em (Final Table)
June 1st: 5pm $10,000 7 Card Stud
June 2nd: $10,000 7 Card Stud (Day 2)
June 3rd: $10,000 7 Card Stud (Final Table)
June 4th: 5pm $10,000 Mixed Games
June 5th: 5pm $2500 Limit Hold’em (6 handed)
June 6th: 12pm $5000 No Limit Hold’em
June 7th: 5pm $10,000 Omaha 8
June 8th: $10,000 Omaha 8 (Day 2)
June 9th: 5pm $3000 HORSE
June 10th: 5pm $10,000 2-7 NL Lowball
June 11th: 5pm $2500 Stud 8/Omaha 8
June 12th: 12pm $1500 Limit Hold’em
June 13th: 5pm $10,000 NLH Heads Up
June 14th: 12pm $2500 PLO/PLH
June 15th: 5pm $10,000 Limit Hold’em
June 16th: $10,000 Limit Hold’em (Day 2)
June 17th: 12pm $5000 Pot Limit Omaha
June 18th: 5pm $10,000 Stud 8
June 19th: 12pm $2000 Limit Hold’em
June 20th: 5pm $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha
June 21st: 12pm $5000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
June 21st: 5pm $2500 Mixed Games
June 22nd: DAY OFF
June 23rd: 12pm $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em
June 23rd: 5pm $2500 Omaha 8
June 24: DAY OFF
June 25: DAY OFF
June 26th: $50,000 HORSE
June 27th: $50,000 HORSE (Day 2)
June 28th: $3000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em
June 28th: $1500 Stud 8
June 29th: $2500 2-7 Triple Draw
June 30th: $5000 No Limit Hold’em (6 Max)
July 5th: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Day 1C)
July 8th: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Day 2)
July 10th: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Day 3)
July 11th: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Day 4)
July 12th: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Day 5)
July 13th: $10,000 No LImit Hold’em (Day 6)
July 14th: Play down to 27
July 15th: Play down to 9
Max number of events played: 27
Breakdown by Game:
No Limit Hold’em 7
Mixed Game Events 6
Limit Hold’em 4
Omaha 8 or better 2
2-7 Lowball 2
Pot Limit Omaha 2
Stud 8 or better 2
Pot Limit Hold’em 1
7 Card Stud 1
Rebuy Tournaments: Frankly, rebuy events should have never been a part of a World Championship series event, and what is happening this year is simply fixing that mistake. With a player of the year award on the line, every player that enters an event should have an equal chance at acquiring points and winning a bracelet. Rebuys skew these types of events significantly in the top pros favor. Players like myself, who aren’t concerned with the amount it costs, will simply cash a higher percentage of the time by using an aggressive rebuy strategy.
Don’t get me wrong, I love rebuy events, but they do not belong at the World Series of Poker when bracelets are on the line. I was a strong supporter of this change, despite the fact that rebuy events give me an inherent edge in terms of WSOP success. It’s the right thing to do for poker, and I am genuinely able to separate what is best for me, and what is best for poker, and choose poker.
As for the PLO and 2-7 event, due to the nature of those games, players will be able to simulate rebuys with lamers. You can put your whole bankroll on the table all at once, or you can protect yourself by holding on to your lamers until you feel like you want to put the rest of your chips in play. The triple chance no limit hold’em event will also offer the same opportunity, giving it the feel of a rebuy event, but everyone in the tournament will have an equal number of them. It’s totally fair guys.
$40,000 Buy in: This should be a fun event and could make for good television. It kicks off the WSOP with a bang and the field should be short, but at the same time extremely tough with a compilation of the best online players facing off against the elite tournament players. I don’t think there will be too much dead money in this event and the bracelet will be well deserved. In fact, the skill set required to win this event, which likely will have less than 300 players will be FAR more significant than winning a 3000 player field $1500 event. With each starting table being so much tougher, and play remaining tough throughout, it will be the single most prestigious no limit hold’em event of the year in terms of bragging rights. You can’t fluke this bracelet.
November Nine: It worked so well the first time around, it only makes sense to do it again this year and make it even better. The ratings were WAY up for the quasi-live broadcast and the fan interest for the live event is unparalleled in WSOP history. Never have we seen anything remotely close to what we saw in the packed Penn and Teller theater. The atmosphere was electric!
Tournament Structures: These have not been released or finalized yet, but I want to share my thoughts anyway since this is a topic I’m very passionate about. Here is a simple fact, a fact that should make absolute sense to everyone: the higher the buy in, the more you pay in juice. The higher the buy in, the better the tournament structure should be.
This should be a given! So you shouldn’t be shocked or surprised to see that the $5000 no limit event has a much better structure than the $1500 event. That’s the way it should be across the board. The amount of play in any given tournament should be directly tied to the buy in. So, if you plan on playing the $1500 events, you should expect the structure to have a much faster pace than the $10,000 events.
One more thing: Since the smaller events require faster paced structures, when you devise a structure for the event you must cut corners and speed it up in certain spots. It makes a lot more sense to speed up play in the early stages so that when the big money is being played for, it doesn’t become a crap shoot. If it’s going to be a bit of a crap shoot at any point, then it should be in the early stages. For example, if you had to eliminate the 150-300 level from a $1500 event or the 1500-3000 limit from the event, which will have a more significant impact on the structure? Going from 100-200 to 200-400 is a big jump, but going from 1000-2000 and 2000-4000 at the late stages of an event would make it an absolute crap shoot. If you had to choose, it should seem obvious that omitting levels in the early stages is the best approach.
That is all… I’m going golfing.
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