The next WSOP Development

[Jinx230]

What do you all think the next major change will be in the WSOP? My guess, based on countless complaints from pros, is that there will be higher buy-in events. If pros wanna play against smaller, better fields, the prices of events will have to go up, because no amateurs will be able to afford them. I can definitely see a $50,000 event in the near future. Plus, I guarantee TV ratings for such an event would be astronomical.

Share and discuss what you think may happen.

[sdplayerb]

aren't they already astronomical?
when you hear it is a 6,500 person event for $60 million in prize pool, that gets people plenty excited.
also the event is shown like 4 months after it is done.

I agree it should be moved up. It won't be $50K, more likely in the $25K range. The lay person just sees it is on tv, and watches. which is great. But the buyin amount won't have a big effect.
If anything ratings will start to go down next year as poker will not stay this hot forever.

It won't go fully downhill, but just not this hot.

SD

[toots]

They'll probably eliminate all events that aren't NLHE.

They've almost done that already, but this year, there are still two or three odd events that they haven't picked off yet.

[yoadrians]

[ QUOTE ]
They'll probably eliminate all events that aren't NLHE.

They've almost done that already, but this year, there are still two or three odd events that they haven't picked off yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Frankly, I don't see the WSOP EVER getting rid of the Omaha and Stud events. Not gonna happen. Nope.

To each their own ...

[KneeCo]

[ QUOTE ]
I can definitely see a $50,000 event in the near future. Plus, I guarantee TV ratings for such an event would be astronomical.

[/ QUOTE ]

TV ratings have nothing to do with the buy-in, the only way money effects TV ratings is with respect to the size of the prize pool. Hence, a 10k buy with a 7+ million $ first prize will garner a lot more interest from a casual tv viewer than a 50k event with a smaller prize pool.

Now. If you're saying the prize pool will also be bigger, than the field would still have to be huge.

[otnemem]

[ QUOTE ]
If pros wanna play against smaller, better fields, the prices of events will have to go up, because no amateurs will be able to afford them.

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO it's flawed thinking to assume that pros want to play against smaller, better fields. And also, I don't think that money equates to ability. Remember, there will always be rich fish and qualifiers to these top tier events.

[slickpoppa]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If pros wanna play against smaller, better fields, the prices of events will have to go up, because no amateurs will be able to afford them.

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO it's flawed thinking to assume that pros want to play against smaller, better fields. And also, I don't think that money equates to ability. Remember, there will always be rich fish and qualifiers to these top tier events.

[/ QUOTE ]

The pros don't want to play in really small, tough fields, but I don't think they want to play in gigantic fields either. There must be some kind of balance between fishiness, variance, and prestige. The EV of this years tournament will be as big as ever for the pros, but the variance will also be huge. The original purpose of the WSOP was for it to be the highest stakes tournament of the year where the pros could fight it out to prove who is the best. Of course any torunament is not going to be a great metric of who the best player is. But now the WSOP is starting to lose its exclusiveness. IMO the buy-in should definitely be increased. When you take into account inflation, 10K from 30 years ago is worth almost 50K today. Nowadays there is so much money flowing into poker that playing in the WSOP does not mean as much as it used to be. I think that the Main Event will ultimately suffer if some of the riff-raff aren't cleared out.

[Rasputin]

The only way to get more people to play--and more people means more money--is to multiply the number of Day 1s and have them at different times. Day 1 at Harrah's in AC in May, Day 1 at Harrah's in Reno a week later, et cetera.

[pipster]

What if they made the WSOP like the PGA Tour? Where you either had to get in by qualifying at specific tourneys (maybe there are like 20 around the country at 10K buy-ins that the top 10 get freerolls to the WSOP) and there are exemptions if you reach a WPT final table, or similiar type of thing. Make the prize pool huge but the entry limited. That would be ideal for the pros and generate enormous prestige just to be in the thing.

[GreywolfNYC]

The main event, imho, is going to be a total crapshoot. Here's an interesting piece from Cardplayer.com that talks about the $5000 buy-in NLHE event and how it differs from the others.
link