Misconception

[Walter Pullis]

I have a friend who is watching the WSOP on ESPN for the first time. I explained to him about the ME at the WSOP and he was frankly surprised. This is what he thought:

1. To play in the ME, he thought that you had to win another tournament. either B&M or online. Why he thought that the thousands of entrants whould all have won a tournament I don't know, but that is what he thought.
2. He thought that the Iveys and Hellmuths were invited, i.e. it was a freeroll for them.
3. He was amazed that all you had to do was bring $10K to
Vegas to get into the ME. "So any rich guy could bring money and get lucky"

Now I know that no one on this site believes any of this, I wonder how many casual fans do?

How is it at all far-fetched for a casual observer to think any of these thoughts???

Funny thing is, everything he stated should be the norm.

[Gomez22]

Until I informed many of my friends about the prelim events, they never had a clue that there WERE prelim events. They all thought the WSOP was just ONE SINGLE big tourney, and had a hell of a time understanding any concept beyond that.

[Rasputin]

[ QUOTE ]
Until I informed many of my friends about the prelim events, they never had a clue that there WERE prelim events. They all thought the WSOP was just ONE SINGLE big tourney, and had a hell of a time understanding any concept beyond that.

[/ QUOTE ]

My wife still thinks that preliminary events are how you get into the main event.

She also doesn't seem to understand the difference between the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour

[kleos]

[ QUOTE ]
She also doesn't seem to understand the difference between the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour

[/ QUOTE ]
didn't read the 'also' correctly.

[miajag81]

When I first started "following" poker, I was under the impression that the preliminary events were merely qualifiers to the main event. I think a lot of casual observers believe that to be true.

[ QUOTE ]
1. To play in the ME, he thought that you had to win another tournament. either B&M or online. Why he thought that the thousands of entrants whould all have won a tournament I don't know, but that is what he thought.


[/ QUOTE ]Seems to me that lots of players get in through a satellite. And, those that get in through a satellite and do well are mentioned a lot during the broadcasts. Doesn't seem at all strange to me that someone thinks everyone (or nearly everyone) wins their way into the main event.

[mts]

what the hell lol

does your friend pass this kind of judgement on everything?

i mean, if you have no idea, how can you possibly guess how it works. Keep an open mind yo

[Quicksilvre]

[ QUOTE ]
Doesn't seem at all strange to me that someone thinks everyone (or nearly everyone) wins their way into the main event.


[/ QUOTE ]

At this point, almost everyone does get in via satellite.

For a while I didn't know that there were preliminary events too, mostly because I read a John Scarne book that underscored how the WSOP went from a side-game festival in 1970 to a freezeout NLHE tournament in 1971. He didn't mention that there were other events too (even back then), so when I first picked up Play Poker Like the Pros, I was quite startled to see that Phil Hellmuth had seven--at the time--bracelets. Then, I flipped open the book and saw the appendix with all of the WSOP prelim events.

Most major news organizations only bring up the WSOP when they're talking about the Main Event.

So really, mostly anyone that doesn't follow poker more than likely thinks the WSOP is one event.