Has WSOP gotten too big?

[kenberman]

the WSOP starts on July 28th this year. it ends August 10, nearly 2 weeks later.

this is going to dissuade a lot of people from coming. a lot of people only get 2 weeks vacation for the year, and they would have accept the possibility of using all of it for this event.

[duma]

http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/2006wsop.asp

2006 ME Schedule

28-Jul-06 Fri 12 Noon Day 1A 2000 play down to 800
29-Jul-06 Sat 12 Noon Day 1B 2000 play down to 800
30-Jul-06 Sun 12 Noon Day 1C 2000 play down to 800
31-Jul-06 Mon 12 Noon Day 1D 2000 play down to 800
01-Aug-06 Tue 12 noon A + B 1600 to 700
02-Aug-06 Wed 12 noon C + D 1600 to 700
03-Aug-06 Thu Day off for main event
04-Aug-06 Fri 12 noon ABCD Play 1400 down to 600
05-Aug-06 Sat 12 noon Play 600 down to 300
06-Aug-06 Sun 12 noon Play 300 down to 150
07-Aug-06 Mon 12 noon Play 150 down to 60
08-Aug-06 Tue 12 noon Play 60 down to 27
09-Aug-06 Wed 12 noon Play 27 down to 9
10-Aug-06 Thu 12 noon Final Table

[duma]

what you're suggesting sounds good for a Tournament of Champions. All previous braclet winners can eneter. the WSOP Circuit events would act as qualifiers to this TOC (Toyota Points leaderboard top 250 or so). field could have 1000 or so players.

[Zetack]

[ QUOTE ]
the WSOP starts on July 28th this year. it ends August 10, nearly 2 weeks later.

this is going to dissuade a lot of people from coming. a lot of people only get 2 weeks vacation for the year, and they would have accept the possibility of using all of it for this event.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're going to have to use all two weeks of your vacation to playin the ME I think you can tell your job to go shove it.

--Zetack

[Farfenugen]

There is nothing like the WSOP ME and I think we as poker players should want the huge fields. The buzz surrounding the tournament feeds the poker boom. The huge field creates a lot of excitement. I love it the way it is. Surely it has changed from when it first started. I say it changed for the better.

[jstnrgrs]

I think the tournament should be open to anyone who wants to play, that's what's so great about it. There are other tournaments for only stars.

I do think the field is to large. The way to make it larger is to increase the buy-in. I think they should auction off the seats in a way that everyone pays the 250th highest bid (if 250 players is what you want). This would allow anyone to enter, but would make to tournament more managable.

Any guesses on what the buy-in would end up being if this system were used?

[drewjustdrew]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
the WSOP starts on July 28th this year. it ends August 10, nearly 2 weeks later.

this is going to dissuade a lot of people from coming. a lot of people only get 2 weeks vacation for the year, and they would have accept the possibility of using all of it for this event.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're going to have to use all two weeks of your vacation to playin the ME I think you can tell your job to go shove it.

--Zetack

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the key here is that people should be "in-the-money" by the end of the first week, so they can feel good about requesting the emergency 2nd week off.

I think the answer would be a 'World Series of Poker Invitational' where the Organizers match the buy-in and limit the field to bracelet winners, and selected others. They could make it clear itsa a PR event, getting all the faces in one tourney together without static, and at the same time leave the main event as is. Seems like a best of both worlds solution. Of course, this sounds an awful lot like the TOC...

[lonn19]

No matter how you run it, I don't think one tournament could decide who the best player in the world is. Luck does play a part. Anything can happen during that given week.

[BS Yee]

WSOP is just a tournament which was able to grab the title "World Champion" at a time when no one cared.

It is the biggest and most prestigious event to win, if you have to win a tournment. Much like Andy North (in golf) only winning three tournaments in his life, two of them being the US Open.

The size of the WSOP will always depend upon (1) market forces (players wanting to play) and (2) the greed of Harrah's.

Harrah's looks at this as a hugely profitable venture balanced against resource constraints. The resources they have to balance are the physical facilities and labor/manpower staffing.

IMHO, the big issue for them is staffing. You need to hire enough dealers for 200 tables and try to keep the tables full from roughly noon to midnight, or at least when you have players there. Dealers from the other casinos will pick up shifts at the WSOP but there is a finite number of dealers available to work Noonish to late night. As the main tournaments break down, the cash games, daily tournaments, and all the other satellites fill in the empty tables. To keep 200 tables full, you need at least 300 dealers plus some swing shifts to keep everything running (forgive me but I don't know how long dealer shifts are - it varies from casino to casino).

For them to expand above 8000 players in 2007 and beyond, they have several options. (1) Go from four Day 1's to six Day 1's, etc. Unlikely because I don't think you can keep up the player census if the tournament lasts more than two weeks. (2) Open up a second auxillary poker room at the Rio to handle a bigger field. Possible but there is a huge cost involved in constructing a secure poker room that you would only be using for a few days. Of course you can use it if, like last year, the $1500 NL buy in filled every single seat and then some. If the capacity of 200 tables is not enough, then it could make sense to do this. Of couse you need a flexible labor force to be able to handle the bubble of dealers needed for the few days where every single table is filled. (3) Create and farm out Day 1's to the other Harrah's properties. Much like the old Bob Hope open where it was a 90 hole tournament but you played four different courses and the cut was made at the final 18 holes, you can use the conference facilities at Caesar's, Paris, whereever and work the field down that way until you can get them in one room. Again, physical costs and labor costs are the constricting factors.