Poker News

John Caldwell

Alas, the final card has fallen, and the 2007 World Series of Poker is in our rear view mirror. Some thoughts as I reflect on my seven weeks at the Rio.

Jerry Yang: The latest to wear the title of World Champ will be an interesting ride for the poker world. How long has it been since the world poker champion was a father of six who thanked God several times in his acceptance speech? How about never. Yang presents a type of champion that poker has never seen. Given the legal battle to be fought over the next year or two (or five) over the issue of regulation of online poker, it may do the poker world some good to have what seems to be a conservative family man as its champion.

ESPN: After years of working on the formula, ESPN really hits their stride with the final-table-becomesone- hour-episode formula. All Norm and Lon discussion aside, the episodes thus far of the 2007 WSOP have turned final tables that didn’t seem that exciting in person into well-paced, entertaining television. With the size of the fields these days, showing final tables bereft of any real names can be a big challenge, but so far so good in 2007. Judging from the amount of cameras and ESPN personnel we had to wade through during the Main Event, the coverage of the big one should be better than ever this come the fall.

Harrah’s/WSOP: The World Series of Poker is quite simply a completely different animal today than it was even as recently as three years ago. While growing pains are apparent, the problems that plagued the series in 2005 and 2006 seem to have been worked out to a large degree. A few thoughts….

Tournament staff: On balance, the tournament staff, floor people, and dealers, did a good job in 2007. While the process of how decisions are made on the floor still needs work, the events flowed so smoothly. Given the sheer mass of humanity in the Amazon Room every day, you have to give tournament staff high marks. Five or six terrible floor decisions among hundreds of correct decisions need to be put in perspective. Running six poker tournaments a day is a big challenge, and I have to give credit where credit is due-the tournament staff had their hearts in the right place, and worked their butts off this year.

Marketing: While some players may goof on the fact that there was an official peanut, and an official chocolate of the WSOP this year, mainstream sponsor deals are starting to creep into the WSOP. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see a Fed Ex, or a Mercedes banner hanging from the rafters in a few years. Deals like this are essential to the further growth of poker into the mainstream. Embrace the peanut.

Tournament structures: The structures, most notably in the limit events need significant improvement. No event with the prestige of the WSOP should have a situation where the average stack has 8.5 bigbets, and we’re still 50 spots from the money.

Overall, I would say the WSOP should be about the players, and I would hope that all decisions made in running this tournament always have this idea as a mantra. If the goal is building a bigger, better beast than the prior year’s beast, I suppose Harrah’s succeeded. See you in 2008.

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