WSOP Event #2 Nightmare

[Jedster]

In 2004, 831 people played the $1,500 WSOP event. It seems safe to say at least 1,300 will play this year. According to poker pages, the final table will be televised at 4pm the following day.

I'm trying to think about whether or not to play this event as it seems likely to be a nightmarishly huge tournament to try and play in a 36 hour period

If 1,300 is the correct number of entries, there will be 2 million chips in play. If you assume that the average stack at a typical final table is about 10x-20x the big blind, then the blinds will probably be somewhere around 4k-8k to 10k-20k. That means the final table will probably be formed around the 18th level.

Harrah's website says play will go until a final table is formed or the 12th level, whichever comes first. If my assumption above is true, then there will be 7 or 8 hours of play on the second day of the event before a final table is formed. Yet pokerpages.com says they plan to televise the FT at 4pm.

I can't imagine the WSOP allowing a $1,500 event to last 3 days and I doubt that ESPN would want to start taping a FT at 11pm. It seems to me the most likely alternative would be to either (a) allow play to continue past the 12th level (a nightmarisihly long evening anyway) or (b) they will either reduce the starting chips or speed up the tournament structure to something more like 40 minute rounds.

Has anybody heard anything about what they plan to do? I hope they've thought this through; obviously the quality of the first event will set the tone for the rest of the WSOP.

[Paul Phillips]

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I hope they've thought this through;

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There are mountains of evidence that they have not. Good luck.

[shaniac]

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mountains of evidence

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Like what?

[Jedster]

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mountains of evidence

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Like what?

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One example -- during one of the preliminary events in the Las Vegas WSOP Circuit, just before play began they announced that the 75-150 level would be eliminated.

In other words, caveat emptor. They can -- and I suspect will -- change the rules.

I guess my hope would be that they'd use 40 minute levels instead of 60 minute levels with bigger jumps between levels.

I actually think if they are going to run a 1,300 person event with such a relatively low buy-in, there's nothing wrong with treating it like a smaller tournament.

On the other hand, if they want to make it a 3 day event, go ahead -- give us more starting chips and one hour rounds.

Just to give some perspective, I played a 76 person tournament yesterday at Bellagio, bubbling. The rounds were 40 minutes long and the blinds started at 25-50 not 25-25. When I bubbled, the tournament was 5 hours long already and probably had another 2 hours or so left in it -- at least.

Now Harrah's is proposing a tournament with lower starting blinds and 50% longer levels. But they expect something on the order of 17x more people, and are willing to take up to 26x more people. There isn't a linear relationship between size of field and length of tournament, but still, I'm having trouble understanding how exactly Event #2 won't be a nightmare.

Did anyone play it last year? What were the experiences then?

[Shaman]

It is going to be a lot worse than you think because there is absolutely no way this thing will start on time.

Here's why. I was one of the first 10 people to register for this event. I went to the tourney people and they told me that registration will take place at the main casino cage. Then I went to the main casino cage and was told that registration will take place at the poker room. So I went back to the pokerroom and argued with the tourney people. And they gave me a registration form that took me forever to fill out. After filling it out, they told me that they cannot accept it, that I should go to the casino cage. So I go to the casino cage and they take forever to process my form because the cage person had to call a supervisor who had to call the tourney people for instructions about what to do.

Finally, I get my receipt and I had no seat assignment (they were going to phone me to notify me of my seat assignment!). To make it worse, these guys were doing everything with a pen not with a computer. Unlike the Mirage tourney which immediately had a printout with all the info in it. I get an OfficeDepot generic receipt with no official Rio letterhead on it (just a weak stamp in the back).

Anyway, there will be a cap of 2,200 entries. I'm showing up at 3 p.m. because that is when the tourney will probably start. I predict the entire casino will freeze once all those hundreds of people line up at the main casino page to sign up for this event, processed by pen using people who have to ask their one and only supervisor for instructions about what to do.

[Teldar]

I was planning on playing in this event as well and had the exact same concern. Also, what really scares me as that the tournament director (from what I can gather and I may be wrong on this point) has NEVER managed a tournament before and now he's starting with the World Series? This makes no sense to me. Why did they get rid of Matt Savage? He seemed to do a good job last year. Does anyone have any insight on this? I expect a lot of problems this year at the WSOP.

[Jedster]

LOL. Sounds brilliant. Actually I assume they will use the same system as they did for the WSOP Circuit tournament. Not that the system was all that much better than the pen and pad you experienced.

First, you get online to buy-in. Then you're told that if you haven't already registered, you have to register first. Huh? I thought buying in was registering? No, registering is about signing away your first born to ESPN. So you get in a different line to do that. Then once you've signed the legalese, you're given a registration card. Then you get back online where you started from and you register for the tournament. But you did get a nice little index card with a printout of your seat assignment.

Whatever the case is, if I do decide to play, I will buy in several days in advance as I suspect the final person to register will get their seat assignment at the 300-600/50 level.

Also, FWIW, I would go back to the Rio if I were you and get your seat assignment on paper. I can just see a dealer hasseling you if you say: but they called me and told me to show up to table 152, seat 11.

[Jedster]

Also, Shaman -- when you were there, did you notice if they were running any single table sats yet? If so, what were the buyin, payout, and structures offered?

Thanks!

[Shaman]

They've been running 1 to 3 one-table satellites per day for the past week and a half. $125 buy-in. Winner gets two $500 chips plus $120 in cash. You can use the $500 chips to buy into events or bigger satellites.

Another thing. To compensate for the 100+ degrees temperature outside, it seems like the Rio is compensating by making it freezing cold inside. Bring a ski jacket to wear on top of your Hawaiian shirt. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Beavis68]

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First, you get online to buy-in. Then you're told that if you haven't already registered, you have to register first. Huh? I thought buying in was registering? No, registering is about signing away your first born to ESPN. So you get in a different line to do that. Then once you've signed the legalese, you're given a registration card. Then you get back online where you started from and you register for the tournament. But you did get a nice little index card with a printout of your seat assignment.


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Online like on the internet? Or do you mean "in line"