My Thoughts on Postponing the WSOP Final Table

First of all, let's get the facts right. This year Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has changed the WSOP Main Event schedule as follows:

Instead of playing over two weeks in July (starting with Day 1a on July 3 and ending at Day 7 on July 14), those who make the final table will be asked to come back and finish during two days in November (November 9-10).

Harrah's stated reason for this is: "This will allow the final table to be shown on Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and give the broadcaster time to generate publicity that will maximize the audience."

According to Harrah's this will benefit the players, because of both the additional coverage and because players will have more time to "shop around" for sponsors.

To be honest I don't think this makes any sense at all. This changes the whole dynamic of final-table play. During those months you can completely change your style of play in order to tailor it to the exact composition of the final table.

For example: If, let's say, some construction worker from Iowa (who won his entry online) is getting lucky for a few days and is catching cards like a madman and makes it to the final table, he now has plenty of time to hire a seasoned pro for xx% of his winnings to give him some extra training that will surely improve his skills.

The WSOP Main Event winner is usually not the best player based on pure poker skill.

He may then end up higher on the money ladder than he normally would have. And his skill level will be completely different than it was when the final table should have been played in July.

There is also a psychological factor: you can easily hire a mental coach to help make you as well-prepared as possible for the final table, while normally the final-table play is just a matter of not giving up and absolute determination to win.

The winner is usually not the best player based on pure poker skill, but the player who is able to stay focused longer than the others. Of course you are very nervous when you make it to a final table of the WSOP, but so are the others.

He or she who can control those nerves best will have the best shot at winning. This important part of the game is now almost eliminated for commercial reasons.

Then there are other factors that need to be considered:

How about collusion? I can imagine that when that same construction worker from Iowa is reasonably short on chips the other, perhaps more experienced, players now agree to leave each other alone in their attempts to bust the poor short stack.

In a regular tournament structure this can also happen, but in those cases it's out of "mutual understanding," and not because those plans have been discussed over the last couple of months.

Whether it really happens or not is in my opinion not relevant; it could happen, and that's more than enough reason to not postpone the final table.

Collusion is one thing, but how about just cold-blooded cheating? I mean: Of course you can work out a whole plan full of signs and tells with your buddy, but what are the odds you two both end up on the same table at any stage of the tournament, let alone on the final table?

Now you have almost three months to work out a whole scheme. Again: I don't think it will really happen, but it could. The new schedule is at least potentially damaging to the integrity of the game.

The pot of gold at the end of the four-month rainbow.

The whole idea is so absurd, how would the fans react if the final quarter of the Super Bowl played out two months later, just to build up the suspense?

Is it all bad?

Well, there are a couple of ways that players and the poker community at large may benefit.

The most obvious, of course, is that final-table players have plenty of time to find the best sponsor deals and to do interviews, workshops, etc. Due to the whole media circus around the WSOP, a lot of people will be interested in poker (again) and it will definitely bring new players to the (virtual) tables.

This whole structure will also be very interesting for non-poker related businesses, which will potentially result in more sponsorships, which in turn will generate more media attention for poker. The sport will become more and more professional.

But isn't that just the beauty of poker? Poker is more or less the only sport where prize money is generated by the players themselves. That makes poker the sport that it is.

When you bust out of a tournament, you are not only no longer contending for the prize money, you also lost your buy-in. So losing hurts. And that is the whole principle of the game, the reason why bluffing makes sense: If you call and lose, it hurts.

So altogether I really think this is a bad idea, seriously damaging the heart and soul (and integrity) of the game for commercial reasons.

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

More blogs from 888.com pro Steve Wong:

• My Killer Poker Tip: Learn More Games
• The Players I Respect Most
• How I Started in Poker
• Traveling Around the Globe Part 3