Mike Sexton's Thoughts On The Wsop

[Texter 0]

PL: Do you think the WSOP is getting TOO big? MS: I do think it's too big. I think the Main Event needs to go up to at least $25,000, which should at least thin to field back down to...5,000 players? That gets you to a manageable level in terms of staff and time, but the way it's growing, I can't see them being able to operate next year. You can't expect poker players who want to play in the big event at the World Series of Poker to take 2 weeks off to play. They've got families, they've got jobs - it's just not going to happen. Yes it's the World Championship and all that, but you have to think of people who can't be gone that long. So you're going to have to trim the field to expedite the tournament by a few days.

from Mike Sexton InterviewI totally agree, this year's Main Event was a total zoo.

[....Ian.... 0]

25K seems like it would be a good

[leftygolfer 7]

good read. thanks.

[Robert Melendez 0]

I've always thought they needed to raise the buyin. Definitely. Maybe even 50k.How much would 10k in 1971 be worth 35 years later?

[dna4ever 2]

I've always thought they needed to raise the buyin. Definitely. Maybe even 50k.How much would 10k in 1971 be worth 35 years later?

According to one online inflation calculator ...What cost $10000 in 1971 would cost $47572.36 in 2005. Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2005 and 1971,they would cost you $10000 and $2102.06 respectively.

[psujohn 0]

A change to 25K or 50K would make a lot of sense but WSOP and ESPN seem to revel in the fact that it's the largest tournament ever every year.As for people needing to take off two weeks ... well boo hoo. Since there are multiple day ones and multiple day twos they could easily switch it up to something like Monday Day 1a, Tuesday Day 1b, Wednesday Day 2ab, Thursday Day 1c, Friday Day 1d, Saturday Day 2cd. And people could go out for two days and come back the next week if they were still in it. Most won't need to worry about taking off more than two or three days that way.

[Money022 0]

Increasing the buy-in would be a very reasonable way to trim the field. I'm not sure I would even want to play an event with a field as deep as it was this year.

[Jordan 1]

I think they should up the buy in too. Now everyone don't get your panties in a knot.Make it 25-50k.- Jordan

[matt21sz 0]

Virtually every aspect of our financial lives is affected by inflation. I don't see how a buy-in to a poker tournament should be any different. With a raised buy-in of 25K, you will still probably see fields in the 4000-5000 range, which is still huge. Payouts would not be as deep, but the money at the top of the pay scale would be just as significant.This would also be a partial solution to Harrah's being unable to provide a 100% trained staff for this year's WSOP.

[Naked_Cowboy 0]

At 25k, it's still going to be the biggest tournament in the world, and the prize pool probably won't even shrink.

[Willing 2 Die 0]

IF the WPT championship is a 25k buy-in, then i don't see why the main event cannot be.

[Dratj 0]

I think they should up the buy in too. Now everyone don't get your panties in a knot.Make it 25-50k.- Jordan

I concur. Allen Cunningham only got 3.6 mil for wading through more than 8000 people whereas Raymer got 5 mil for only wading through 2500. Just doesn't seem fair. The field has to go down because whoever wins the ME is just the luckiest guy that week. I would even say up the buy in to 50 K. That would be more in line with inflation as noted in a earlier post. You can still have a 10k event, it just won't be the ME.

[quadaces 0]

If they really want to limit the field the only way to do it is limit the number of online qualifiers. Even at 25K there will still be a ton of people playing the $4 +.40 qualifiers and working through all the different levels to make it there.

[NoxKo 0]

If they really want to limit the field the only way to do it is limit the number of online qualifiers.

They have no way to eliminate the online qualifiers. How someone gets their money is out of their control. 10 friends in a home game could each put in 1k and the winner would get the money for the ME.

[weakdraw 0]

I think they should stick with the 10k buyin.. The more players = More Media = Good for pokerHarrahs should just use 1 or 2 casinos more besides Rio, so the event wont drag out forever

[DinkyDonuts 0]

I have no idea of the percentage, but I imagine a significant number of the players in the last few years have gained entry through satellites. Increasing the buy-in will likely just result in more supersatellites. How many players did Party and PS send this year? Any statistics on how many entrants actually paid their way in?

[grocery_mony 8]

I didnt agree with raising the buyin this year but after 8600 people playing this year and deffinatlt more than 10k next its time has come. The arguement that it takes too long with so many entrants is deffinatly true. it almost took 2 weeks this year from day1a starting on a friday and the final table starting on thursday almost 2 weeks later. With the cost of hotels and food ect the cost to participate is very signigant as is. 25k sounds right but i wouldnt argue if they went all the way up to 50k. They better make up there mind soon because qualifiers will be up and running before you know it.

[RuntCake 0]

I personally don't think raising the buy in will make that much of a difference. Especially if they stick with the $1 = 1 chip rule. WPT Legens of Poker upped their traditional $5,000 buy in to 10K this year and while the field shrunk, it only did so by 20-30%. Meaning, almost as many people with a bigger prize pool. If your complaint is the number of people, that kills it.Also, the WSOP ME has a much bigger draw than any other tournament from offsite and website contests and satellites. If you upped the stakes, the supposed "internet fish" aren't going to stop swimming, they are just going to have to win through a few more levels or pay bigger satellite fees to "spawn". I think Harrah's could fix this in two ways:1. Actually pay what they say to dealers and treat them fairly. This will keep the tournament moving steadily, minimize mistakes and insure a huge pool of availible manpower.2. Use multiple venues running simultainiously instead of staggering the days. I'm sure in today's technological world, you can figure out a way to keep the leaderboard updated between venues and they can plan better with chip management. You have the biggest event in the world...plan for it.Since this could go on forever, I'll just post a link to an article I wrote about this a little while back. Let's let it evolve, not add drastic changes. Enjoy:http://lifesabluff.com/deal-with-it/

[NoSup4U 0]

I have no idea of the percentage, but I imagine a significant number of the players in the last few years have gained entry through satellites. Increasing the buy-in will likely just result in more supersatellites. How many players did Party and PS send this year? Any statistics on how many entrants actually paid their way in?

According to this month's Cardplayer, slightly less than 20% of the field came from PokerStars alone. I'm going off memory here but I think it was 1800+.So thats just PokerStars. Its hard to imagine more than 30% of the field NOT coming from the internet sites. And even at that, many of those people don't necessarily have to buy in. They satellite in through B&M casinos, home games, whatever. Lets say its 10% just flat paying their way in for $10K. Thats 900 people. Thats a lot of people to pony up $10K.Regarding the OP's post: I would hate to see the buyin go up, only because I don't want to waste time satelliting in when I could just buy in for $10K. If it were $25K, I wouldn't even be able to consider just tossing that away for a shot, I'd have to play my way in. (not saying I just have $10K around to buy in or whatever, but you get my point. Thats a lot more managable than 25K.) I like the massive field. Its the coolest thing ever to me. If you want a $25K event, you have a few of them to choose from. But there's only 1 super massive sick crazy disgustingly large field a year, and I personally like it just for all the madness that goes on.Mark

[Stylin_Fish 0]

Raise buy in + Lower number of satellites = Problem solved.

[Big Mike Watters 0]

Pokerstars also only sent like 50 people to the WPT Championship too...and that was a 25K buy in.I've always wondered why they can send 1800 to the ME, but much much much less to the WPT ME...with the same promotional engine and player base...

[DUSTINFLYZ172 0]

I think we should do the opposite. Change the buy-in to say, $50.00. Then nobody would care, and the crowd would thin out! After all, who wants to play in a $50.00 tourney with a bunch of donks? After everyone leaves, change it back to $10,000! Then only the 'good' players will be there. We can watch Johnny Chan, Phil Hulmustassshole and Dolly at the final table. Ratings will soar!$50.00 ME. It is the next logical step.Dustin

[gkunit20 1]

We all know Chip Reese won the real ME this year.But yes, they should make the buy in 30k or so.

[blakheart 3]

raising the buyin will have little effect. More venues with day ones at differnet locations will cut down the overall time.

[albasuna 0]

For sure raise the buy in 25k-100k. But most importantly Harrahs needs to get their minds of the GREEN [money] and start thinking about protecting the prostege of this tournament and work their asses off. I want them to handle this tournament not like anyother... they probably aren't even honored to hold such an event... its all about the money.-You may 100k buy in is a little excessive but by all means this is the even to crown the "champion" in golf you don't just crown some random golfer it should be someone who has good enough skill. -The large field is pretty cool and all... but this is THE EVENT...