2007 World Series of Poker

The 2007 World Series of Poker began it's 38th year on June 1st. And with 55 tournament events, (an increase of 9 over last years 46), not only will more gold and diamond bracelets be handed out to more champions, but the prize pool money payouts will be redistributed in all events. This will give more to the players that make it to the money levels verses what they received in 2006. But the overall numbers of players that will enter has it's share of controversy due to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which was passed into law by President George Bush II in October 2006. When you factor in that PartyPoker is the sponsor of this years WSOP, and that the compliance date of the UIGEA is somewhere around the time of the Main Event in July, this should be the most exciting WSOP ever held.

One thing that has been exciting is the addition of the new events to the lineup. Of those games, one will be Event 51 played on July 1 called SHOE. SHOE is another multi-game tournament which combines Stud, Hold'em, Omaha and Stud 8 all played as limit games. The SHOE event will also maintain the four game spread structure through the final table. Other multi-game tournaments are Event 5 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better, Event 16 and 26 which are HORSE events with lower buyins of $2500 and $5000 respectively. HORSE which combined Hold'em (both Limit and No-Limit), Omaha, Razz, Stud and Stud Eight or Better, was the biggest attention draw of the 2006 WSOP outside of the Main Event with WSOP champion David "Chip" Reese as its winner.

Another first is that the bracelets given out to event champions will be the most elegant and expensive in the history of the WSOP. CORUM, now the official timepiece of the WSOP, has created fifty-three of the bracelets that are studded with 53 diamonds apiece. The Main Event winner will receive a bracelet featuring 136 grams of 18-carat white gold set with 120 diamonds. The winner of the $50,000 buy-in HORSE tournament (Event 39) and the Ladies Championship tournament (Event 17) will have bracelets sporting black diamonds in them. Also welcome is the new payout schedule revisions. This enables players who make the money, but not the final table to receive a larger slice of the prize pool than in 2006. For example, according to Harrah's the 2006 Main Event would have paid $22,266 for 873rd through 775th places, up from the range of $14,605 to $15,512. And the Main Event winner would have been paid $10,028,715, down from $12 million, with the runner up receiving $5,442,769, compared with $6,105,900. Plus there are charity tournaments such as "Ante Up For Africa" organized by Annie Duke and actor/player Don Cheadle to raise awareness for Darfur survivors.

One of the more interesting points of this years WSOP is having PartyPoker.net as the official sponsor of the tournament series. Harrah's has been dead serious about not having any connection to online poker or online gambling and has gone so far as to not let any online poker rooms register their WSOP Main Event satellite winners into any of their tournaments including the Main Event. Online poker rooms have gone to placing the registration fees into the player's account and letting the player make the decision to register if they so choose. PartyPoker.net has no online wagering on it, so being a purely fun only poker room Harrah's has allowed it. Others still see it as brand name advertising for PartyGaming, owners of PartyPoker.com.

Also the ambition of having two tournament events a day has not been without it's side effects. For instance, the number of signups for Event #3 No-Limit Hold'em reached 2,998 players which broke all records for all WSOP tournaments outside of the Main Event. But players, even those who pre-registered and stood in line at 6:00 a.m., had to wait for hours before being seated. Add final tables taking place, two to three bracelet events being played, satellite tournaments, late starts and cash games all happening at the same time and you have lots of chaos and unhappy players. One issue that Harrah's quickly solved were the new card decks brought into use. Players immediately complained and they were phased out of use by the second day of the WSOP, and there was a town hall meeting with the WSOP, the United States Playing Card Company and the players concerning ideas on future card development ideas. Another concern is the "Pavilion" room which is a tent behind the RIO set up for tournament overflow. It has been deemed so unstable in high winds that many players and dealers said they were terrified to be in the structure for tournament play.

Well with the largest poker tournament in the world, there are bound to be some problems and Harrah's is highly committed not to let any issue keep the WSOP tournaments from taking place. So look forward to more records being set, more big money won and more excitement from the RIO in Las Vegas, Nevada.