WSOP is now a joke

The World Seres of Poker has officially become a joke. It's now more of a lottery than a serous poker tournament. No matter how good you are, it's impossible for skill to outshine luck in a field of 7000 opponents. I'm not saying that the winner is going to be a total donk, but it has grown to the point that the winner will be the one who runs the best, rather than the one who plays the best.

The biggest problem is the 10k entry fee. 10k just isn't that much money anymore -- especially these days. It's a pittance to the many online poker sites that run. They hand out hundreds of seats each, for a total of thousands combined. 10k also isn't enough to prevent well-heeled amateurs from investing their own money into taking a shot. The WSOP was originally supposed to be a showcase of the best, but it has grown into an uncontrollable monster.

Most people will agree that 100k is still a lot of money. You don't scoff at 100k. You hear that someone loses 10k, it's not a huge deal. If they lose 100k, you almost want to call them a suicide counselor. While it's easy to picture average shlubs forking over 10k for a shot at the WSOP, few would ever dream of risking 100 large for the same thing.

If the entry fee for WSOP was 100k, we'd see the following differences:

1) There would be a much higher concentration of top pros, and fewer amateurs. Many pros have the 100k to put up to enter, and they feel they are good enough to risk the money. The 100k cost is too high and prohibitive for most non-pros to want to risk.

2) There will be far fewer entrants overall. This will take away a lot of the pure luck factor, and it will run more like a normal-sized tournament.

3) The online qualifiers will be reduced by 1/10th. The winners of online satellites will likely be better players, as the requirements to win will be more difficult.

4) It will be more exciting to the general public, knowing that each entrant has paid 100 large to participate.

Who agrees with me here?

I agree that it is turning into a full field of amateurs. All of this is from the broadcasting of all these poker shows and all of the online sites that tell you it is easy money to win while playing poker. A lot of these amateurs think that they can actually win the WSOP, and I guess it is becoming more of a reality. The Main Event will never go to a 100k buy-in. That is just a ridiculous amount of money. Maybe they should raise the buy-in, but only to maybe 20k.

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cky12 - PokerStars
cky12 - FullTilt

My Poker Journal

Yeah you are correct about the assholes betting their 10k blindly. That is why I like the WPT (World Poker Tour) as their entry fees go from 10k to the 25k final at Bellagio. In my opinion the entry fee should go up but it is a huge loss to people when they lose with a 100k buy-in. I would think a 50k buy-in would take out a big amount of the field and actually make it a reasonable tournament for the best poker player in the world instead of the best on the world poker tour. When internet sites give out seats, it is a shame. If people don't go to vegas to register, book a plain flight, and book a hotel, why send them? That is making people immatate Greg Raymer and Chris Money maker as the "Cinderela Story". Lastly the pros still do float among the amateaurs like Dan Harrington making Back to Bacl final tables, but the turn of the cards change everything.

It will be interesting to see what they do about this.

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Why do you think poker has become so popular? Because of WSOP and WPT and the idea that an amateur can play with the pros. That's why it should not be a 100k entry fee.

tvaal is right...the WSOP is a big draw because of the amateures winning seats online and the proven fact that they can win it!

Saltzman is also correct...so what needs to be done is to have another tournament with the higher buy-in for the pro's....even higher than the WPT!

Actually i think a better way would be to qualify by placing well in a series of other smaller tournaments and accumulating enough points (work up a ladder) to play in the big leagues.

It was fun that you can win a tourney and out of nowhere find yourself in the WSOP, but thats over now, the boat is getting over crowded and lets be real, amatures are getting lucky. When you have too many people in any one tourney, the luck half of the pivit starts to weigh more.

I dont know about you guys but I hate slots, i like to be in control. Poker needs to form into a system like golf, basketball, and everything else that has stood the test of time. It cant stay an open range that we have today. Its just like the west, only a matter of time.

They have a tour just for the pros don't they? PPT or something.

Your right Cowboy, maybe it should be something like professional golf where you have to qualify in a number of smaller tournaments and earn points to qualify for the "big one"...today's WSOP is becoming more like the "Freerolls" that we always complain about...and it is like a freeroll since most entrys did not pay the $10,000 for the seat...they won it, so what do they have to lose and will take chances freely since the seat cost is not out of their pocket.

However with that being said, we do still need todays type of WSOP to keep the enthusiasm at the pace that it is now at!...there needs to be 2 major tournaments.

I agree with most everything just have a few questions.
Are you sure 10 k isnt alot?
How many amateures that get in do you think may be better than the pros if given the chance?
Wil 50 or 100k make it better players?
Or will it make it wealthier players?
If its 100k wouldnt it look more inviting for the wealthy to invest in someone to play?
Isnt this suppose to be a game anyone can play ?Isnt that part of the draw?The pros started somewhere as well.
So doesnt this give someone who may have the skill neccessary a chance
to play a game they couldnt because life,family or responsibility got in the way?

If youre the best youre gonna win,if not,youre gonna lose....isnt that like every dog has his day?


Put me on the course with a pro golfer,Ill lose to any of them on any day
ok maybe on minatue golf ..but I still wouldnt like my chances.

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