2009 World Series of Poker running thread

Shuffle up and deal......

Tomorrow starts the WSOP with the $500 buy-in Casino Employees event (there are some satellites today but the employees event is always the first official event).

The November Nine format for the Main Event will return, which I have mixed feelings about too be honest.

I didn't like it last year, especially since the winner was made known the day before the final table actually aired. That sort of defeated the purpose.

Any other thoughts on the WSOP and the main event structure?

Another discussion -- has the $50,000 HORSE event replaced the main event as the true championship event and is the winner of that event the one who should wear the crown of world champion for a year?

I think one thing will be interesting to watch -- with the economy in the shape that it is in and the poker fad clearly slowing to a crawl, what are the fields going to be like?

 

I believe the HORSE event has superceded the main event as the one the players want to win most.

Of course, they are both incredibly difficult to win, but it just feels like the buy-in, and the caliber of player that has won the event since it's introduction, has elevated HORSE really quickly.

 

Last year's HORSE event was excellent poker - and even more entertaining once Scottie Nguyen got drunk.

The DeMichelle kid who finished second, I actually played at some tables with him a few times when I used to play at Turning Stone regularly. He started as a 1-2 player. He comes off on that episode as a little bit of a whiny bitch but he was a good guy and for a young guy he wasn't a sunglass wearing, know it all prick, which was refreshing.

That being said -- I'd love the main event to have a few interesting pro's, like Ivey, Matusow, Hanson, Hellmuth or Negranau (sp?) make the final table for a change.

 

Agreed on the last point, zag. But I'd settle for just one of those guys.

 

The November Nine is good in theory, but like you said, if the winner is going to be announced the day before anyway, then I think they should go back to the old way, thus preventing players from watching film of each other before the final table.

 

A few points:

I'd guess the HORSE event would be the one players most want to win because winning the Main Event is so impractical. I would think, straight up given a choice, they'd still opt for the Main Event.

But as I'm not a pro poker player, I don't know.

As for the Nov. 9 thing ... can they really get great of information from the TV shows? Sure they might get some insight into a couple key hands, but 99.99 percent of the hands those nine players play are not shown. I would be surprised if enough was revealed to shake the impressions everyone already had.

A more compelling argument to me is that four months later, or whatever, a guy can be an entirely different kind of poker player. You can totally change styles and everything, potentially making the ESPN video even less useful.

 

I'll be interested to see what the combined forces of the economy and the ban on Internet poker does to the ME field this year. I'm thinking it drops again.

 

What exactly is this ban on internet poker? Because I know a lot of people still playing online.

 

Congress passed a new law some time back. It cracked down on banks transfering money to offshore gambling sites. And it limited advertising, which is why all the spots now are for the play-for-free versions of Full Tilt and Poker Stars.

Number if entrants in ME dropped last year due to it.

 

So you're still able to play for money online, but only if the card you use is issued by a bank that allows those transfers?

How many banks are off the list and how many remain?

 

Go to Walgreen's. Get a Visa gift card. Play Internet poker.

Or just get a bank that still allows money transfers, like mine.

 

Yes, it is wierd but my bank allows me to deposit at Ultimate Bet but not Full Tilt.

But you are right, the VISA gift cards make it possible to play internet poker so there is no way to stop it now. And there are so many other "bridge" sites where you deposit money into an account then you can transfer from that account to the poker site.

And did you see they added a "40th anniversery" $40,000 buy-in no limit hold em tournament this year? I think the winner of that will be one of the top pro's because who else has the money to play in that the $50,000 HORSE game.