Poker News

Jonathan Raab

It’s difficult to predict just how successful the forthcoming WSOP in Europe will be. The schedule, which features just three bracelets events, has been much criticised, not only for the small number of events that are taking place, but also for the high cost of the buy-ins. Nevertheless, the Harrah’s PR machine is talking a good game, claiming that many of the top North American players have committed to attending the events, which take place at three London casinos from September 6-;16.

The event sponsor is Betfair, the British betting exchange website and at the time of this writing, the favourite on their “How Many Entrants?” market is over 700 runners, trading at as low as 5-to-4. Given that the maximum capacity for the event is just 750, it would seem that most of Betfair’s punters are expecting this to be a roaring success.

If there are indeed going to be over 700 runners, this is dependent on a couple of factors. First, a large number of Americans would have to travel over, as there are simply not enough British poker players who have deep enough pockets to stump-up the ?10,000 ($20,000) entry fee. Second, a lot of European players would also have to make the journey to London. In my humble opinion, there are a number of reasons why neither of these is likely to happen. There will undoubtedly be quite a few Americans and Europeans taking part, but probably not hundreds of each. Americans may well be put off by the poor supporting events-;a ?2,500 ($5,000) H.O.R.S.E and a ?5,000 ($10,000) Omaha.

They may also be dissuaded by the poor exchange rate, as it currently costs $2 to purchase just one British pound. Those who are not put off by either of these factors may simply not want to risk such an expense with no guarantees on the prize pools. As for the top European players, well, they have just faced a massive hike in the cost of entry to the fourth season of the European Poker Tour (EPT), which will have started just a couple of weeks prior to the WSOP in Europe. Many of these players may instead decide to keep their powder dry for the rest of the EPT events. The rumours doing the rounds are that Betfair paid in excess of ?10m ($20m) to be the sponsor of the WSOP for three years and that up to $1.5m of that is being used in the first year to pay for the entries and expenses of over 100 top US players. How many other North American pros would be keen to dip into their own pockets to pay the entry fee and expenses themselves, in the knowledge that the majority of their Atlantic hopping brethren are having all that taken care of?

Is the lure of a piece of gold jewelry enough to entice anyone other than the Brat and his bracelet collecting pals to come and play? Do they even regard these as “proper” WSOP bracelets or are they just too modest to turn down a free trip to London with a couple of high stakes poker tournaments thrown in?

Forthose who do make the trip over for the ?10,000 main event but don’t fancy the H.O.R.S.E or Omaha offerings, there is a ?1,000 no-limit Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) event taking place in Plymouth at the same time. For anyone who wants to experience the flavour (yes, that is how we spell the word over here) of a real British poker tournament, this may provide an adventurous alternative. Unlike the WSOP, the GUKPT features added prize money by the sponsor. Email me to reserve a seat.

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