why WSOP main event only 10K?

[SoftcoreRevolt]

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maybe even 50K?

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I like 50k. I personally don't like what the ME has turned into. It's a circus now. Rarely seeing more than 2 great players at a single table isn't what I would consider the greatest tournament in the world. Up it to 50k, weed out the idiots and let the good and great players duke it out. Winning that is an accomplishment, not a lottery.

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This is why they now have a Tournament of Champions. the WSOP ME is the biggest tournament on the planet by such a huge margin, why would Harrah's change it.

And I absolutely LAUGH at this notion that the WSOP should be some ULTIMATE PRO TOURNAMENT with a 50K buy in. Why?

Because it is a poker tournament, poker is about making the most money possible, not some Poker Penis Length contest. It is designed to make its owner the most amount of money, and provide the biggest prizes possible. What you suggest does neither.

[Matt Williams]

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Yea, but who's the donkey? The guy w/ nothing to lose calling all in w/ K9o or the pro dumb enough to go all in during the first level of play sitting at a table knowing he's the best player?

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Actually in this case the pro had aces, since when is it bad to get all your money in with aces pre-flop? I don't care how much better you think you are then the field you still need to accumulate a large stack to make it deep in these events.

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Oh OK, I thought you were talking about in general not a specific hand. I thought you meant the pro sensed weakness and moved all in.

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The hand was with Ferguson. Jesus moved all-in and the other guy says, "screw it I only payed 215 to get here I call". Flop came something like K-9-4 and the guy went crazy high fiving everyone. Turn was a Q river was a 4. It was hilarious cause the guy started shouting before he realized that he just got counterfeited.

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Haha, that's awesome! I'll have to check it out on TV.

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And I absolutely LAUGH at this notion that the WSOP should be some ULTIMATE PRO TOURNAMENT with a 50K buy in. Why?

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It would definitely improve the quality.

I blagged a "work" trip to go and cover the WSOP for a UK company this year. Call me naive, but I thought I'd go and see some great poker being played - turns out that I'm a better player than about half the people in the most prestigious poker tourney there is.

There's no doubt that any fool can win a seat in the Main Event, and that devalues the competition, hugely. On the other hand, any fool can win a seat, and that makes poker, as a whole, stronger. No, wait - fishier. You know what I mean.

It saddens me that the Main Event's been devalued so much, but ultimately, who cares? Let the ME serve as a gigantic fish magnet, flooding poker sites with fresh meat, and we can measure ULTIMATE POKER PRESTIGE by the number of gold bracelets a player has. Or, you know, just use common sense, or something.

$10,000 is a good thing.

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I would make an arguement for the WPT Championship being nearly as prestigous and certainly getting closer and closer to that position.

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Your arguement would be very weak.

Compare the name of Chirs Moneymaker to Alan Goehring Compare the name of Greg Raymer to Martin de Knijff.
The prestige of the tournaments they won are the reasons two of them have far greater name recognition.

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My arguement is not weak if you can make the distinction between prestigious and popular; which you appear to not have done. Hulk Hogan is a household name, did that ever make WWE, WWF, et al a prestigious brand? I don't think so. It is popular entertainment but little prestige comes with being a pro wrestler; just popularity.

Also, keep in mind the original post and my response. I wrote "getting closer." Certainly the WSOP has the history behind it but given the cattle-call lottery atmosphere the tournament has become, I feel the WPT Championship is becoming more prestigous -- not as popular but popularity is not the issue.

[NCAces]

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I would make an arguement for the WPT Championship being nearly as prestigous and certainly getting closer and closer to that position.

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Your arguement would be very weak.

Compare the name of Chirs Moneymaker to Alan Goehring Compare the name of Greg Raymer to Martin de Knijff.
The prestige of the tournaments they won are the reasons two of them have far greater name recognition.

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My arguement is not weak if you can make the distinction between prestigious and popular; which you appear to not have done. Hulk Hogan is a household name, did that ever make WWE, WWF, et al a prestigious brand? I don't think so. It is popular entertainment but little prestige comes with being a pro wrestler; just popularity.

Also, keep in mind the original post and my response. I wrote "getting closer." Certainly the WSOP has the history behind it but given the cattle-call lottery atmosphere the tournament has become, I feel the WPT Championship is becoming more prestigous -- not as popular but popularity is not the issue.

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I think you are being a little delusional here. You talk about it becoming a prestigious event as if it will some day compete with the Masters, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, etc. Dude, it is poker, and only a very small group of people follow it like you or I do.

I don't like comparing it to wrestling, because in most circles professional wrestlers are neither prestigious nor popular. You do realize it's fake don't you [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img].

I think poker more favorably compares to the BASS Master Classic, some of the motocross championships, perhaps even the bowling champsionship. These are events that are prestigious within a small group of people who follow the sport/game. The WSOP will never be any more than that because most people just don't care. And there is nothing the WSOP can do to make any of the poker pros popular or prestigious outside a teeny, tiny group of people.

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[darydarling]

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The WSOP will never be any more than that because most people just don't care. And there is nothing the WSOP can do to make any of the poker pros popular or prestigious outside a teeny, tiny group of people.

NCAces

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wow you must be an awesome poker player with the ability to tell the future like that.

[darydarling]

My take on the situation.

More focus should be on the player of the year, the person who wins the most points playing a variety of tournaments.
This person in my opinion is the most well rounded poker player and deserves much more attention.

I think it's okay to leave the $10K buy in what it is, but maybe there should be a % taken out of each buy in for every tournament during the wsop that goes to a "player of the year" pool giving the winner an opportunity to win like two to three million, maybe more.

Put much more focus on this winner, and you will have more entries into other events in order for people to win that title.

The "World Series Champion," has been devalued IMO.

No one can argue that it doesn't take some skill, endurance etc to wade through such a large field to win. But I guess it all depends upon what you want out of the WSOP.

As someoen posted above, they are happy because it brings fish into the game.

Others want it to be a prestigious event like The Masters.

Me I'd like to see a prestigious event. I don't know if bumping it up to $50K will solve the problem entirely, but it could weed out a good portion of the donkeys.

I think it would be funny if semi-pro teams could just buy themselves into the world series of baseball, or the NBA Finals. We seem to be the only "sport" *and I use that term loosely* where an amateur can come sit down and play against a pro without showing proving themselves worthy of being there.

Anyone can have a good day, a good week a good month.

That point is argued day in and day out on these boards that short term results are not indicative of how great a player you are.

So with that in mind, Moneymaker and a few others are no more my "World Champion" than the fish who sucked out on me 5 straight times last night.

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maybe even 50K?

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I like 50k. I personally don't like what the ME has turned into. It's a circus now. Rarely seeing more than 2 great players at a single table isn't what I would consider the greatest tournament in the world. Up it to 50k, weed out the idiots and let the good and great players duke it out. Winning that is an accomplishment, not a lottery.

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This is why they now have a Tournament of Champions. the WSOP ME is the biggest tournament on the planet by such a huge margin, why would Harrah's change it.

And I absolutely LAUGH at this notion that the WSOP should be some ULTIMATE PRO TOURNAMENT with a 50K buy in. Why?

Because it is a poker tournament, poker is about making the most money possible, not some Poker Penis Length contest. It is designed to make its owner the most amount of money, and provide the biggest prizes possible. What you suggest does neither.

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What are you attacking me for? I just said I'd rather see more pros and less donks in what is supposed to be the greatest poker tournament on the planet. Tournament of champions is a STT, that's not exactly equivalent to what I was saying.

I never said it would be in harrah's best interest to change it. Why are you putting words in my mouth?

Finally, maybe poker for you is about making money, but for a lot of people that is not their primary goal. Have you never heard Phil Hellmuth say he would forego the cash prize just for the title/bracelet? I play for the competition and the money. If one or the other was not present I wouldn't be playing poker. Just because you have a difference of opinion or preference does not make you correct and everyone else wrong, and it surely does not deserve to have you going off attacking people for stating their preferences.

[SoftcoreRevolt]

How in the hell could my post be taken as a personal attack. I didn't mention you the poster at all. It replied directly to your post. I also didn't put words in your mouth. You said the WSOP should be changed to a 50K buy in, and I said why it would be stupid for Harrah's to change it based on business, and the fundamental concept of poker which is to make money.

The TOC is not a STT anymore. It is now a 100+ person tournament of the final tablers from the ME, and the points leaders from the WSOP events. So now you have an elite tournament, and the Main Event.

If thinking your idea is silly is a personal attack, well then I suppose the meaning of that term has been changed.

[Matt Williams]

Some of you are forgetting the obvious; it's only prestigious to the Professionals and fans like us. Joe Schmo doesn't give a sh!t, he sees it as an oppurtunity to get on TV and win money in the process. The donkeys didn't watch the WSOP because it was so prestigious, they watched it because they heard a normal guy (Moneymaker) showed up and kicked everyone's ass and it was televised. Raising the buy in to $50K won't do anything. If anything, it will create more interest.