World Series of Poker?
The term World Series is one that has been placed on many big sporting events. The biggest, of course, is the Fall classic featured by Major League Baseball. Over the course of the past few years, however, the rise in poker popularity has caused the World Series of Poker Main Event to undertake a drastic transformation.
The first WSOP was won by Johnny Moss. Moss bested six other players for the inaugural championship. Since then, the number of entrants has slowly, but reasonably, grown. Although 80s and mid 90s WSOP winners had to overcome more than six other people, they still only played with a few hundred others…mostly professional. Then, in 2003, an accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the bracelet on ESPN as an amateur playing in his first big game.
Since Moneymaker’s win, the WSOP title has been won by an amateur every year. Every year, a person who has no prior experience playing poker has taken home the big money and the bracelet so coveted by professionals. And that’s not all. The entrant level has increased exponentially, as amateurs all over the country and world throw in their $10,000 in hopes of glory and riches.
But is this really a good thing for poker? Imagine any other game or sport; would they allow pure amateurs to compete for their finest prize? In my opinion, the World Series Main Event bracelet has turned into a joke. Luck has become more of a factor in the game than skill has. A World Series title, which a Main Event win basically is, should be competed for by deserving candidates, not by every yahoo who has $10,000 to burn. A World Series title should mean that you’re the best at poker, not the best at outlasting thousands of others in a six to seven day race to the finish.
Why not allow only those with prior World Series of Poker bracelets in any event (each year there are 40-50) enter? That will cut down the entrant level to the hundreds, where it should be, and ensure that the event is only played by professionals. And all the amateurs can try their luck in other events. That would make the Main Event a real World Series-worthy event.
Filed under: Texas Holdem
