Guest Post – Tuscaloosa Johnny | Poker From The Rail

Guest Post – Tuscaloosa Johnny

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

Stu Ungar won the 1997 WSoP Main Event at the outdoor final table

The final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event has played itself out over the last two days and we have a new champion. It was a unique situation where we had 4 months between hands from 10 handed to the final table but that’s just one twist the WSoP overlords have come up with in the history of this event.

On the eve of ESPN broadcasting the final table action, blogger “Tuscaloosa” Johnny takes a look at some of the other interesting changes they’ve attempted with the WSoP and how they worked out.

World Series of Poker innovations have been hit and miss
By “Tuscaloosa” Johnny Kampis

The move by Harrah’s to delay the final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event by four months in an effort to generate more publicity has seemed to fallen flat. Time will tell how successful the decision has been, but we certainly haven’t seen the November Nine on Letterman reading Top 10 lists this summer. Perhaps the lack of media buzz has been due to many other more newsworthy and pressing topics over the last several months taking over newspaper and television coverage (the election, economy and Olympics certainly come to mind), but I believe the lack of buzz could have been expected. Poker is still mainly a niche activity, despite its overall popularity. The people who love it eat up all news about it, but those who only see it as an enjoyable hobby aren’t going to go out of their way to seek information about the November Nine.

This controversial decision by Harrah’s is certainly not the only major overhaul of the WSOP over the years. Let’s take a look at how well some of the other changes have been received.

More after the jump

Birth of a tournament
It’s well know that the first WSOP wasn’t even what we call a tournament today. A handful of players put up their own money and played cash games for several days. Johnny Moss won the first one in 1970 by popular vote (after players were told they couldn’t vote for themselves). Observers were bored so the Binions had to find a way to make it a contest. “Amarillo” Slim Preston had the idea to make the WSOP a freezeout, where players would begin with a fixed amount of chips and could not rebuy. This format in which the players battled until only one remained was adopted in 1971. Moss beat a field of six others to win again and the tournament format was born. Who knew then that this would be such a HIT that the WSOP would have nearly 9,000 players in its main event 25 years later?

A cheaper way in
Eric Drache, tournament director for the WSOP for much of its early history, started the first satellites in the early 80s when he convinced a table full of players to each risk the $1,000 they had on a cash table to play a freezeout for a WSOP seat. This was the greatest innovation for increasing the numbers of players at the WSOP as it later spawned the numerous online satellites we now play today. It’s estimated that more than half, if not three quarters, of players who now play in the main event get in by satellites in some shape or form. Drache’s big HIT made the WSOP more of an open tournament, where more recreational players entered. Tom McEvoy became the first winner who got in via satellite in 1983.

The silver anniversary
The 1994 event was the 25th, or silver, anniversary of the WSOP and the Horseshoe decided to give the champion his weight in silver in addition to the $1 million grand prize. Not surprisingly, Jack Binion was rooting for the small Stu Ungar to win it, but he was out on the first day. Russ Hamilton had been filling his gut with steak dinners during the tournament and during the weigh-in prior to the final table clocked in at 330 lbs. Hamilton ended up winning the tournament and $28,512 worth of silver bars. It was a cute gimmick of its time and certainly paid dividends for Hamilton, but similar giveaways haven’t really been introduced since. The silver giveaway was neither HIT nor MISS.

The sweltering heat
To spice things up, the 1997 final table was played in Fremont Street, under the canopy in the 98 degree heat. A pane of Plexiglas was needed to keep the board cards from blowing away and commemorative coins minted for the event were used to hold down players’ hole cards. Players suffered through the final table, which was historic for being Ungar’s third and final win. Otherwise, this innovation was a big MISS and was not repeated.

Back to Binion’s
The 2005 WSOP was the first to be held away from the world famous Binion’s Horseshoe after Harrah’s purchased the rights to the tournament and moved it across town to its Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino. Although there were kinks in Harrah’s maiden voyage with the property, the WSOP went well and few observers could imagine the hordes of people fitting into the Horseshoe had the event been held there that year. The plan (supposedly helped by a little arm twisting by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman) was to play the final three tables of the main event back in Benny’s Bullpen at the Horseshoe. So, like it or not, the final 27 players spent the last two days in Binion’s and Joe Hachem was the ultimate winner. The move was a MISS because hardly anyone wanted to return to the old stomping grounds to conclude the event after spending the past month in the spacious Amazon ballroom at the Rio.

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