The news that US players are no longer able to play online poker and that accounts are currently frozen is clearly bad for everyone involved in the industry, but what can we expect to see now?:
Online Marketing – It doesn’t look good for forums, poker podcasts, affiliate sites and anything that pretty much relies on two or three main sites as sources of income. I guess these types of income could be replaced by non-poker advertising for products likely to appeal to the poker player market, but with a potential reduction in traffic this might be a hard sell.
Player Sponsorship – Apparently Viffer was a couple of days away from signing a big deal with PokerStars. I wonder what will happen to all the ‘paid’ pros at FTP and Stars? The Red Pros at FTP have fairly basic rakeback type deals they they’ll simply lose out on those, but some of the deals must be fully contracted, monthly payment deals. I think we’ll see a few more players getting dropped.
Poker on TV – The PokerStars Big Game, Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker. The TV shows that bring poker to the mainstream on TV are on the whole sponsored by Stars and FTP. These shows were a key way for these sites to market to an audience that they don’t have access to via traditional marketing and advertising activity. I’m interested to see what happens to these now.
Live Poker - It seems likley that there will be an increase in live play in the US, but the WSOP should be interesting this year, as online sites were a common route to the Main Event. We could see a field of 5,500 or less this year. There may also be a knock on effect on the prelims if money in online accounts remains frozen. Many players would have been cashing that out to play this year.
Non US players - I think we'll continue to see a strong market, especially on Stars. Even tonight, the Daily Ninety Grand is running on Stars, with full guarantee, 2,244 players and a $112k prizepool. The Sunday Million has had $500k dropped from it’s guarantee (to $1m) but things seem about as normal as they could be, given the circumstances.
In all this is difficult to speculate on how long (if ever) it will take to get US players back online, but will people keep sponsorship deals, TV shows, training sites and other activity in operation in the hope that if they keep going they’ll be around and ready for a second poker boom if poker gets legalised?
Party Poker looks to be in good shape now. That $300m or whatever they paid to the US government doesn't look so bad now...
Showing posts with label WSOP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WSOP. Show all posts
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
WSOP Stories
With the WSOP Main Event well under way I thought I'd share some of my favourite stories so far:
Phil Hellmuth's Entrance was pretty ridiculus. He's going to have to die soon because there is no way he can keep topping this year after year. I'd like to put him in touch with Naseem Hamed about using a magic carpet to get him to his seat next year.
Everyone winning multiple bracelets (Ivey, Parker, Lisandro (3!) and Mueller) is also something I'm a big fan of. I know the some of the fields for this win weren't that big, but I think it goes some way to showing that poker is a game of skill, and not a complete lottery.
Ivey winning his bracelet prop bet. You guys were mental to bet against him when he's motivated. I wonder if he'll get action next year?
Tales of terrible play. People checking the nuts behind (a few of these) and a couple where people were confused (sometimes in epic pots) when the chips get pulled their way when they hold 88 on a 855 board vs 85 or similar. Poker is alive and well in 2009, even in $10,000 buy-in events...
WSOP Standings on the official site. You mean the USA are winning the most events with the most cashes in a 'world series' held in America with fields populated by 90% Americans? Wow.
Phil Hellmuth's Entrance was pretty ridiculus. He's going to have to die soon because there is no way he can keep topping this year after year. I'd like to put him in touch with Naseem Hamed about using a magic carpet to get him to his seat next year.
Everyone winning multiple bracelets (Ivey, Parker, Lisandro (3!) and Mueller) is also something I'm a big fan of. I know the some of the fields for this win weren't that big, but I think it goes some way to showing that poker is a game of skill, and not a complete lottery.
Ivey winning his bracelet prop bet. You guys were mental to bet against him when he's motivated. I wonder if he'll get action next year?
Tales of terrible play. People checking the nuts behind (a few of these) and a couple where people were confused (sometimes in epic pots) when the chips get pulled their way when they hold 88 on a 855 board vs 85 or similar. Poker is alive and well in 2009, even in $10,000 buy-in events...
WSOP Standings on the official site. You mean the USA are winning the most events with the most cashes in a 'world series' held in America with fields populated by 90% Americans? Wow.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
WSOP Taxes
Sometimes I hate living in the UK. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things I love about this amazing and unique country, but from time to time I get annoyed with the weather, the way the country is run or a number of other random annoyances.
It's easy to just see the negatives, but it's important that you don't take the positives for granted. One of these is that I don't have to pay tax on my poker winnings. This suits me for two reasons, the first is that obviously I make more money, but the second is that I'm lazy when it comes to things like record keeping and form filling. So with the news about the taxes due by the players at the Final Table of the WSOP, I'm very grateful for the tax laws on gambling in my home nation.
It's been widely reported so I won't go into too much detail, but overall the players who made at FT this year potentially face an average tax bill of over 42%. There are some changes as the winner Peter Easgate moved to the UK during the break (one definate advantage of the FT delay for him, that's for sure) but the overall result is that all of the players are paying at least some taxes on their winnings.
Had Eastage not moved he would have been in line to pay 72.77% of his winnings, some $6.6 million, straight to Denmark's tax agency. That's a pretty sick rake.
It's easy to just see the negatives, but it's important that you don't take the positives for granted. One of these is that I don't have to pay tax on my poker winnings. This suits me for two reasons, the first is that obviously I make more money, but the second is that I'm lazy when it comes to things like record keeping and form filling. So with the news about the taxes due by the players at the Final Table of the WSOP, I'm very grateful for the tax laws on gambling in my home nation.
It's been widely reported so I won't go into too much detail, but overall the players who made at FT this year potentially face an average tax bill of over 42%. There are some changes as the winner Peter Easgate moved to the UK during the break (one definate advantage of the FT delay for him, that's for sure) but the overall result is that all of the players are paying at least some taxes on their winnings.
Had Eastage not moved he would have been in line to pay 72.77% of his winnings, some $6.6 million, straight to Denmark's tax agency. That's a pretty sick rake.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Where are the November Nine?
I'm not sure what Harrahs/ESPN's plans were to hype up the WSOP final table, but it doesn't seem to be working.
As we approach the end of September I honestly can't name any of the players at the final table. Perhaps that would have been different if the gorgeous and highly marketable Tiffany Michelle had made the table, or either Helmuth or Matasow had managed to run a bit deeper.
I think if they are going to generate the hype they need to pull this off they need to start now. As for making it a global event, I haven't even seen anywhere it's being shown here in the UK. I guess we'll have to wait for re-runs on some random entertainment channel in 2010 or something.
I hope I'll be proved wrong and when the WSOP programmes start to air they pick up a significant amount of interest. This should be a great chance for poker to get an influx of new players to the game, and help improve the profile of poker as a game where peoples dreams can be realised.
On that note, the WCOOP Main Event final table featured a microstakes tournie player who won a $5200 seat in a depositors freeroll. He wasn't able to unregister so played, made the final table and ended up dealing for over $800k with a shot at making over $1 million if he won. If you're going to run good for once of your life, I'm pretty sure that's the time to do it...
Edit: Sods law, after I posted this I fire up Stars and see they are doing a big promo called The Million Dollar Men which involves the 6 PokerStars players at the final table of the WSOP.
Trust Stars to succeed where others have failed.
As we approach the end of September I honestly can't name any of the players at the final table. Perhaps that would have been different if the gorgeous and highly marketable Tiffany Michelle had made the table, or either Helmuth or Matasow had managed to run a bit deeper.
I think if they are going to generate the hype they need to pull this off they need to start now. As for making it a global event, I haven't even seen anywhere it's being shown here in the UK. I guess we'll have to wait for re-runs on some random entertainment channel in 2010 or something.
I hope I'll be proved wrong and when the WSOP programmes start to air they pick up a significant amount of interest. This should be a great chance for poker to get an influx of new players to the game, and help improve the profile of poker as a game where peoples dreams can be realised.
On that note, the WCOOP Main Event final table featured a microstakes tournie player who won a $5200 seat in a depositors freeroll. He wasn't able to unregister so played, made the final table and ended up dealing for over $800k with a shot at making over $1 million if he won. If you're going to run good for once of your life, I'm pretty sure that's the time to do it...
Edit: Sods law, after I posted this I fire up Stars and see they are doing a big promo called The Million Dollar Men which involves the 6 PokerStars players at the final table of the WSOP.
Trust Stars to succeed where others have failed.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
WSOP Final Table Delay
As some of you may have heard, Harrahs/ESPN are looking at delaying the Final Table of the WSOP by 3 months. The idea is that they would then have the time to follow the players around, build a back story and make the FT more of a global sporting event than it is now.
Some of the main reactions to this are quite funny:
- OMG What if someone dies in that 3 months
- People will collude and do deals
- People will get trained/coached by pros for a % of their winnings
Although I think all of these points are valid, I don't think any would be that big of a deal.
It's possible someone dies during the WSOP while they still have chips anyway. I realise that this is more likely given a 3 month gap in which to croak, but it's still not something that would be a major concern.
As for the training, I think you would be surprised how little you can teach some people in 3 months. I think the better professional players (if any) who make it would suffer a bit as the level of competition would increase, and naturally there will be more information available on them than the randoms who make it to the FT. However, the dynamics of the tournament can change at any time, so much of what they might learn could change in an instant. They suddenly find themselves short, or double through twice and a few players bust early and leave him 5 handed with a huge chip lead.
I don't think it's possible to practice all of those eventualities, so I still think the player who can adapt and draw on his own experiences will still have an edge.
There are some benefits for the players however. They will fill the poker media for 3 months prior to the big day. Their faces will be on the front of magazines, Stars and FTP will sponsor the non-sponsored players and they'll generally get a lot of exposure that they wouldn't otherwise, because normally we only know who makes the FT the day before. I can't even name the people who busted 6th or 7th in previous years, but I definitely would be able to if I got 3 months of them in interviews/magazines/websites.
After saying all this, I still think it's a bad idea. Harrahs are trying to hold on to a TV audience that is losing momentum. There is a lot of poker on TV these days and not enough people to watch it all. It's difficult as a producer of these shows, because fast paced action with vibrant well known pros is what the majority of poker programme viewers want. Only a minority want to see interesting well thought out hands with detailed analysis. When you're trying to appeal to a wide market you don't want to confuse them by saying that 'He floated the flop so that he could shove over the top of any turn card that was unlikely to have hit villains range'
If they want to appeal to the wider audience then this 3 month gap is the way to go.
I have a solution that probably helps both parties though. It's actually really simple.
Run the WSOP episodes DURING the WSOP. It's a long enough event, with 4 starting days you have plenty of time to edit a story together. Then it might be worth having a day or two gap before the final 18 start. That way they can catch up on the action, show the story so far and still keep the players happy. Play down to 9, break for a couple of days to air the last lot of highlights from the final two tables and build some excitement. Do some bios on the players, market the hell out of the final table then screen it live with a reasonable delay.
As long as they remain smart with which hands they show from the earlier tables I don't think this would be a bad idea at all. It keeps it close to the original format and nobody is going to get whacked to improve the equity of someone else at the table.
Some of the main reactions to this are quite funny:
- OMG What if someone dies in that 3 months
- People will collude and do deals
- People will get trained/coached by pros for a % of their winnings
Although I think all of these points are valid, I don't think any would be that big of a deal.
It's possible someone dies during the WSOP while they still have chips anyway. I realise that this is more likely given a 3 month gap in which to croak, but it's still not something that would be a major concern.
As for the training, I think you would be surprised how little you can teach some people in 3 months. I think the better professional players (if any) who make it would suffer a bit as the level of competition would increase, and naturally there will be more information available on them than the randoms who make it to the FT. However, the dynamics of the tournament can change at any time, so much of what they might learn could change in an instant. They suddenly find themselves short, or double through twice and a few players bust early and leave him 5 handed with a huge chip lead.
I don't think it's possible to practice all of those eventualities, so I still think the player who can adapt and draw on his own experiences will still have an edge.
There are some benefits for the players however. They will fill the poker media for 3 months prior to the big day. Their faces will be on the front of magazines, Stars and FTP will sponsor the non-sponsored players and they'll generally get a lot of exposure that they wouldn't otherwise, because normally we only know who makes the FT the day before. I can't even name the people who busted 6th or 7th in previous years, but I definitely would be able to if I got 3 months of them in interviews/magazines/websites.
After saying all this, I still think it's a bad idea. Harrahs are trying to hold on to a TV audience that is losing momentum. There is a lot of poker on TV these days and not enough people to watch it all. It's difficult as a producer of these shows, because fast paced action with vibrant well known pros is what the majority of poker programme viewers want. Only a minority want to see interesting well thought out hands with detailed analysis. When you're trying to appeal to a wide market you don't want to confuse them by saying that 'He floated the flop so that he could shove over the top of any turn card that was unlikely to have hit villains range'
If they want to appeal to the wider audience then this 3 month gap is the way to go.
I have a solution that probably helps both parties though. It's actually really simple.
Run the WSOP episodes DURING the WSOP. It's a long enough event, with 4 starting days you have plenty of time to edit a story together. Then it might be worth having a day or two gap before the final 18 start. That way they can catch up on the action, show the story so far and still keep the players happy. Play down to 9, break for a couple of days to air the last lot of highlights from the final two tables and build some excitement. Do some bios on the players, market the hell out of the final table then screen it live with a reasonable delay.
As long as they remain smart with which hands they show from the earlier tables I don't think this would be a bad idea at all. It keeps it close to the original format and nobody is going to get whacked to improve the equity of someone else at the table.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Time!
I haven't been able to play much over the last couple of weeks. Work has been really busy and unfortunately that's only going to get worse. I have also been busy at the weekend so my playing time has been severely limited.
Not being able to play tournies has been killer. I have trouble motivating myself to play cash ring and SNG's, managing to post just 3,000 hands of $200 NL 6-max and about 50 SNG's in two weeks.
I'm desperate for WSOP sats to start on Stars and FTP to give me something to focus on. I probably used up my luck by winning two seats last year, but I'm definitely going to make an effort to play lots of sats this year and try to get myself out to Vegas again.
I did manage to get a live tournie in last night. There was a disappointingly low turnout of 80 runners, but it was a rebuy, so at least the prizepool was half-decent.
I made the FT with a little above average stack and busted in 5th when, after shovebotting for a while, I got called light when I had AQ and got sucked out on. I picked up $800 for my efforts though, so i can't really complain.
Not being able to play tournies has been killer. I have trouble motivating myself to play cash ring and SNG's, managing to post just 3,000 hands of $200 NL 6-max and about 50 SNG's in two weeks.
I'm desperate for WSOP sats to start on Stars and FTP to give me something to focus on. I probably used up my luck by winning two seats last year, but I'm definitely going to make an effort to play lots of sats this year and try to get myself out to Vegas again.
I did manage to get a live tournie in last night. There was a disappointingly low turnout of 80 runners, but it was a rebuy, so at least the prizepool was half-decent.
I made the FT with a little above average stack and busted in 5th when, after shovebotting for a while, I got called light when I had AQ and got sucked out on. I picked up $800 for my efforts though, so i can't really complain.
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