#300 - The 2008 WSOP Schedule is Out!

Harrah’s released its 2008 World Series of Poker schedule last week. I encourage you to look it over on their website, worldseriesofpoker.com. I generally liked last year’s schedule and this one, in many ways similar, looks good too. But they’ve given us plenty to ponder:

1. Starting (5/30/08) and ending (7/16/08) dates are almost the same as last year. There are 55 events, the same as last year.

2. Final table day is July 16, 2008, so it appears Harrah’s has tabled its idea for broadcasting the final table live sometime in Fall 2008.

3. Harrah’s is going a little heavy on the “championships.” Of course, the Main Event is THE championship, and the $50,000 HORSE signifies a championship – maybe even a more important one than the Main Event. But it has added 7 $10,000 buy-in events designated as “championships”: PLHE (the first event, on May 30), Stud, Heads-Up NLHE, LHE, OEOB, PLO, and a Mixed Event (more on that later). In addition, there is a SEOB $5,000 buy-in “championship” along with the usual $5,000-rebuys No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven and the $5,000-rebuys PLO.

I’m not sure what to make of all these “championships.” They designated several high-buy-in events as “championships” in 2006 but I don’t think anyone paid attention. The $10,000 buy-in will attract notice but I don’t think people really care. For Harrah’s, that’s a GOOD thing. Merely winning ANY bracelet is a huge deal. I can’t imagine thinking that winning the $2,000 LHE bracelet means any less than winning the $10,000 LHE “championship” other than one will probably come with more money.

I think Harrah’s is dealing with a problem that doesn’t exist. If people didn’t think the run-of-the-mill bracelet events were sufficiently important, entries would be down. That’s not the case. Who knows? Maybe by elevating these “championships” they will reduce entries into the lower buy-in non-championship events. I doubt it, but why make some events (beyond the $50,000 HORSE and the Main Event) more important than others?

Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing here, like ESPN is going to be broadcasting just the “championship” events or something like that. Otherwise, it seems like much ado about nothing.

4. One of the championships is called “the Mixed Event.” That will consist of rounds of LHE, NLHE, OEOB, PLO, Stud, Razz, SEOB, and Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw. First, no Badugi? Second, how does this “championship” compare in prestige to the $50,000 HORSE championship? I applaud Harrah’s for being willing to try new things but this one seems a little goofy for me.

What all this gets at is that the World Series of Poker does not operate like a traditional championship. There is one event at the end to designate a “champion” but the only qualification is that you pay $10,000. You don’t have to win your way through or qualify or otherwise survive earlier events to get a seat. Consequently, the previous 53 events have no bearing on the championship. Everyone is fine with this, and has been since 1972.

5. They cut the SHOE, which was one of my final tables last year. Bastards.

6. Event #2, the first $1,500 NLHE event, will have two starting days and run a total of four days. I’m looking at the first four days and seeing $10,000 NLHE, $1,500-gang-bang, and $1,500 PLHE. I might skip the pot-limit events and the mob scene and try to sneak into town for the $5,000 Mixed HE, the night of day four, Monday, June 2.

7. The tent is dead. According to Jeffrey Pollack, “We heard folks loud and clear, and there will be no tents used for tournament play at the 2008 WSOP.” I wonder if that means it will be resurrected for cash games and/or satellites. Or maybe they’ll be filling a sinkhole behind the expressway with water and introducing “gondola tables.”

8. July 2 will feature the second running of Don Cheadle’s and Annie Duke’s ANTE UP FOR AFRICA charity tournament. They raised more than $700,000 at last year’s event.

9. The Take-Out percentages look the same as 2007. I talked with Ty Stewart on a few occasions where he talked about Harrah’s looking for some way to give back to the players. I don’t know what’s happened with that but it appears that impulse hasn’t affected the juice.

10. A couple aspects of the scheduling look truly inspired. First, there are a cluster of $1,500 and $2,000 NLHE events at the end, which I think will get everyone primed for the Main Event. Second, and I don’t think this is an accident, the Razz event will take place on Friday the 13th.

11. If you play every event and rebuy an average number of times (I put this at a total of $26,000 in rebuys), the World Series of Poker will cost $257,500, plus your tab in the Poker Kitchen. If you never rebuy and are NOT a senior female casino employee, it costs you just $229,000. (Incidentally, 2008 is the last year in which I will NOT be eligible to play in the Senior Event. Very mixed feelings about that.) If you skip all the “championships” except the one at the end and also refrain from the $5,000-rebuy events, you can get in for a taut $94,000.

11. My first-draft schedule looks like this:

6/2 - 5 PM - $5,000 Mixed HE
6/4 - Noon - $2,000 NLHE

6/10 – 5 PM - $2,000 LHE
6/11 – 5 PM - $3,000 HORSE
6/13 – 5 PM - $1,500 Razz

6/21 – Noon - $1,500 NLHE
6/22 – 5 PM - $1,500 Mixed HE

6/27 – Noon - $2,000 NLHE
6/28 – Noon - $1,500 NLHE
6/29 – 5 PM - $1,500 HORSE
7/1 – Noon - $1,500 LHE Shootout

And, of course, the Main Event.

That comes out to $23,000, plus the Main Event. Sick as that sounds – I never played more than one event in a World Series of Poker until 2006 and never cashed in an event until 2007 – I’m pretty proud of my restraint and discrimination.

Of course, it could all go out the window come go-time. If I bust out of some events quickly, I may play in others. If I last a long time, that will cancel me out of some. And how I finish in the early events may determine the size of my bankroll for additional later events. Or I might decide that I suck at NLHE and start signing up for Omaha and Stud events. Or Annie Duke or Andy Bloch or Chris Ferguson will say, “Mike, are you going to play in _______?” and then I’ll feel obligated to play.