With two WSOP cashes already in the bank this year to go with two last year, Allen Kessler is a well known face on the poker circuit. What he may be better known for, among us media types, is his 'always ready with a quote' personality. So I couldn't pass this story up, even though I might be accused here of sloppy seconds.
The HORSE event is a very tricky beast to structure. With the five rotating events the blind and betting structure can be just fine in one event and then be totally out of whack in the next. The problem is that Hold'em and Omaha have a flop and you see 71% or 78% of your total hand after just one round of betting. In the Stud and Razz events you have five rounds of betting with a single card addition in each of the last four rounds.
So Allen was upset when in the $50,000 HORSE event, the players found themselves with an average stack of 115K in a new Razz round with a 1K ante and 4K/8K blinds. One called down hand is (1+4+4+8+8+8=33K) or a third of your stack; toss in two raises and its half your stack; and if you cap a round of two, you are all-in. Allen's point was that the change from Hold'em (H)and Omaha (O) to three straight seven card drawn games (R,S,E) had turned the pretigious $50,000 event into a crap shoot. He was suggesting that a full round of no betting/blind increases should be considered in such a major event. Interesting point, worth considering perhaps?
Well apparently not because Allen had given this commentary to another poker media site and although they put it up, it was removed within a few hours. Freedom of the Press at the World Series seems to depend on who is signing your check.
