How to Improve the World Series of Poker

After some time for reflection during priod following the WSOP, let’s look at how the World Series of Poker might improve itself next year.

Make it a spectator sport:
I’m not sure just what they should do, but the WSOP needs to make the final event more audience friendly. The current ESPN soundstage at the Rio does not allow an audience to see anything. Whether some sort of arena seating is the answer, or an arena coupled with Diamond vision monitors to show the hands held by the participants would help. While you’d have to shield the players from comments by the audience, that could probably be accomplished by using clear Lucite walls, or by creating some sort of a white noise barrier between the spectators and players.

More HORSE events:
Keep the $50,000 HORSE event and add some others. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t have HORSE events for lesser buy-ins too. It’s popular, and makes sense if for no other reason than to fight the trend to nothing but hold’em in these tournaments.

Eliminate duplicative events:
With more HORSE events on the schedule, it would make it possible to eliminate duplicative events. There’s no reason why there should ever be more than one event of the same game and same buy-in at the WSOP. I’d like to see only one $1,500 buy-in no-limit tournament, for example, so the winner could at least claim exclusivity as that year’s champion in that event at that given buy-in. There’s only one $50,000 HORSE event and only one $10,000 no-limit hold’em event. The same should be true for all WSOP events.

Have a $10,000 buy-in event for each form of poker played at the WSOP
While they’re at it, the WSOP should consider holding a $10,000 buy-in event for each game played at the WSOP. This would up the prestige factor and perhaps bring back some interest in those forms of poker that are being obviated by the concentration on Texas hold’em. A $10,000 buy-in event each week or so at the series would also keep interest up during those lagging middle weeks, when things are a lot quieter than they are at the beginning and the end of the WSOP.

Add a heads-up event
Why not add a double elimination heads-up event, with either a $10,000 or $50,000 buy in to keep the entries down to 256, and certainly no more than 512. A double elimination format, like the college world series, would reduce the element of luck to some degree, and allow someone who loses in an early round to play his way back into contention through the losers’ bracket and perhaps even win the tournament.

Show some leadership
I would hope the WSOP would show the leadership required to make this event the major tournament series for all of poker, and not fall prey to becoming the World Series of Hold’em. If you think that can’t happen, take a look the upcoming California State Poker Championship at the Commerce Casino. It runs from September 5-24, and will be an all hold’em tournament.

I don’t want to see many of the other forms of poker dry up and blow away, and I’m hoping the WSOP will help keep all the current forms of poker alive, and even bring back some of the moribund games, such as five card draw and five-card stud, just for a little variety in what’s becoming a monotonous march of hold’em games across the poker landscape.