It seems like players have an incessant stream of complaints about Harrah's. Combine that with the grind of tournament after tournament and it's easy to become a bit jaded covering this poker monstrosity called the WSOP (I think you can hear the growing angst in our pro blogs). In an earlier post, I talked about some of the reasons why I both love and hate tournament poker, but today I have been reminded of everything that's great about the WSOP.
I drove to the airport last night to pick up a friend who will be playing in his first series. His excitement was contagious, and was a welcome reminder of what makes the World Series of Poker so special.
Anyone can win a bracelet.
By anyone, I mean players like Ciaran O’Leary of Seattle, WA. According to the Hendon Mob database, he has a lifetime cash total of $727,012. Which came in one event—the first of several $1,500 No-Limit Holdem WSOP tournaments. O’Leary’s first place finish has become a common theme at the 2007 WSOP.
Take Jason Warner from Vancouver, for instance. He won the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event 12. Warner now has exactly one cash.
David Stucke has also cashed one time. For a bracelet in Event 27, another $1,500 No-Limit Holdem tournament.
Dan Baruch’s (winner of the $1,500 NL Shootout) total cashes: One.
Mike Spegal defeated Gavin Smith heads-up in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem event. He also has—you guessed it—one cash.
On the eve of every $1,500 holdem event, you can find a registration line of dream-chasers winding it’s way outside of the Amazon room. Eavesdropping on their phone calls to a buddy from the home game reveals everything that’s wonderful about the World Series of Poker:
“Yeah, I’m still standing in line…oh, wow, you won’t believe this. I just saw The Grinder. Yeah, he was talking to Erick Lindgren…wow…@#$!…they could be at my table.”
Over the next few hours, those phone calls will begin to slightly change in tone as they gain confidence along with their chips. “Dude, I just doubled up with aces! I’ve got like, I don’t know, forty thousand now! We’re almost in the money…” After winning a few races and making it through Day 1, the dreams begin to fade as reality sets in.
Anyone can win a bracelet.
Looking for a pro at the beginning of a Day 2 field in one of these events is akin to playing “Where’s Waldo?”; familiar faces are hard to find in a sea of newcomers. There’s plenty of fish still swimming in this sea; I witness an open-push of thirty big blinds with pocket eights and an overcall by ace-jack. The winner of the hand is irrelevant as they are both just trying to make their first cash The Big One.
It’s unfortunate that the new blind structure make luck play even more of a role than normal at this stage. Unfortunate for the post-flop pros, that is. Luck levels the playing field even more for the player who went from asking Chris Ferguson for his autograph to wishing Jesus well after sending him to the rail.
For everything that Harrah’s has done wrong, they have made one of the world’s greatest games easily accessible to the everyman. I understand why some pros argue that churning out bracelets at an assembly line pace actually detracts from their value. But try telling that to Jason Warner. Or David Stucke. Or Ciarin O’Leary. Imagine what that final phone call to the home-game buddy must have sounded like to them…
