 With the 2008 World Series of Poker now less than three months away, it is time to speculate what the future holds for this largest of all poker tournaments.
Certainly the WSOP managers seems to have settled at around 55 events a year, at least a $10,000 tournament for each major game. They also seem committed to having bracelets within the grasp of as many players as they can, with the low end buy-in of $1,500 or just a win in a $165 single table satellite.
Each year the tournament structures are reconsidered and improved. So the questions arises:
"What could they do next?"
How about moving the WSOP away from the Rio in Las Vegas.
We know the Series will be at the Rio this year (2008) and next (2009), those plans are in the books and the convention space has been set aside, but what about after that.
Well the Rio is one of several properties that many investment onlookers feel may well be sold off by the new owners of Harrah's Entertainment. There is always talk that WSOP staff want the tournament on the Las Vegas Strip, if only to keep more of the cash game action in the room. Most night during the summer WSOP months the "big games" have moved from the Rio back to Bellagio and other strip properties.
So what are the rumors about the location for the 2010 World Series of Poker:
a) Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, using lots of convention space;
b) Multiple properties on the strip, all centrally located. This would allowed the really huge registrants events to run more smoothly with multiple Days Ones, as needed;
c) Rotate the WORLD Series of Poker internationally with the first complete WSOP schedule outside of the USA being held in 2011 in Spain.
 Sequestrium: a tent-like structure erected in the middle of the 2007 World Series of Poker main tournament room. The purpose of the edifice was to isolate the final table players of a tournament in order to provide security and fairness to the play while the action is being webcast with hole card cameras by Bluff Media. The webcast was on approximately a one hour delay. The isolation of the players was deemed necessary in order to prevent hole card information from being relayed to the players either in real time or with a short delay, which would create an unfair advantage to the player or players receiving the information.
WSOP Commissioner Jeffery Pollack has called the use of the Sequestrium “an experiment” and he has promised that if it was found not to be in the best interest of the World Series and the players, it would be abandoned for next year. The “experiment” was one of several innovations that Harrah’s has attempted to bring wider coverage of the WSOP and to broaden the fan base. According to WSOP staff, the purpose of the Sequestrium was to allow poker fans not in Las Vegas to see several WSOP final tables in nearly real time and to see them in their unedited entirety with hole card cameras and professional commentary. To see the 17 final tables that were webcast, you had to subscribe to a WSOP webcast package for $49.95.
 The hottest prop bet since last October has been:
"How many entrants will there be in the 2007 WSOP Main Event?"
The high or low answer is based on how online sites are handling their internet qualifiers. We all know that well over half of the field in the last two years of the WSOP $10K Main Event were online qualifers. We also know that Harrah's has had an evolving policy on how to enforce their ban on the online poker sites actually paying for those qualifiers.
While Harrah's will officially say that they have not taken "third party" payments for the last two year, the reality on the ground at the Rio tournament cash cage was very different. When one nice lady comes to the sign-up window over a hundred times with a different player each time and $10,000 in cash; I think her job is clear. Or when a third party corporation "not affliated with any online site" deposits hundreds of thousands of dollars for individual buy-ins... well, same conclusion.
But this year is indeed different. Because of the UIGEA legislation, Harrah's is not accepting third party registrations, or at least they are attempting not to. We will see how this plays out on the ground at the registration windows this summer. But some online sites have thrown up their hands at the continuing hassle of getting players into the Big Show. Some are going to send a representative with cash to Las Vegas, many others have cut back on their qualiying tournaments and some have finally decided just to give the players $10,000 and let them decided whether or not to actually go to the Series at all.
PokerStars has taken this last option after
"Working tirelessly for several months in an attempt to directly buy-in PokerStars' World Series qualifiers to the Main Event."
This, of course, leads to the question: "How many of these players with $10,000 in their hands are actually going to the World Series?"
The Duh! answer is--"not many!"
Full text of the PokerStars 'cash' letter to WSOP qualifers after the break.
When you follow the business of poker and of gaming in the larger picture, the names most often heard in the U.S. are Harrah's (HET)
and MGM Mirage (MGM)
and finally Boyd Gaming (BYD)
These are the big names on the current scene and big competitors, right? Well maybe not....
Borgata Hotel, Casino and Spa in Atlantic City – a joint venture between Boyd Gaming and MGM Mirage – has unveiled the first phase of a new $325M hotel called The Water Club at Borgata.
Including an 83-table Poker room and a 90-seat online Racebook facility.
The facility is due to be completed in the latter half of 2007.
 There's been a lot of talk about how big -- or small -- the next World Series main event field will be. Pokerati ran a poll a couple weeks ago to set the over/under at 4,001. And here at PokerBlog, the Shrink reports on a European betting line that anticipates a similar number. Harrah's, however, is being a bit more optimistic ... telling potential vendors at the Gaming Expo (which runs in an adjacent ballroom during the first days of the main event) to expect another record year, with "nearly 10,000" buy-ins. (See page 7.)
Pat the Tablemaker, however, isn't quite buyin' it. He suspects they are more likely trying to justify nearly doubling the price of booth space -- which may or may not be an attempt to compensate for a reduced presence from major online poker sites. Regardless, the questionable numbers have at least some of the "mom and pop" poker bizzers wondering if the 2007 WSOP will be worth their while:
 Two private equity firms (Apollo Management Group and The Texas Pacific Group) raised their initial $15.05 billion bid for Harrah's up to $15.5 billion. More here.
Apparently Harrah's rejection of the initial bid was cited for the sweetened deal - and there was predictably no mention of the shareholder lawsuit filed earlier in the week.
Another interesting sidenote to the takeover story is that Harrah's had a "poison pill" provision to prevent hostile takeovers - which coincidently expired on October 5th.
 In addition to all the Harrah's big business going down, there were some other parts of the casino behemoth's story that might have been missed. Check out this Yahoo!/Reuters photo essay on Harrah's (and read the captions). Two days before the Senate approved the Safe Ports Act (with a horse-racing carveout), Harrah's was awared Pennsylvania's first slot-machine licenses for the Harrah's Casino and Racetrack in Chester, Pa. (photo #9). Photo #10 is above, and it suggests Harrah's knows a thing about placing wagers on screens and the horse-race business, which claims to absolutely rely on online-betting for its existence.
(Hmm, interesting because Harrah's knows a thing or two about poker, too ... and its online power.)
Last week's $15 billion bid for Harrah's sent the stock soaring, taking along other casino stocks. Friday, that trend started to reverse as Harrah's was downgraded by Moody's and S&P. There was also a lot of concern about what looked like obvious insider trading just prior to the bid.
This from AP writer Michelle Chapman:
Later in the week, speculation on unusual swings in the trading options and derivative debt instruments in Harrah's prior to the bid confirmation Monday raised suspicions among some insider trading experts. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Harrah's and the Chicago Board Options Exchange all declined to comment on the matter.
CHICAGO - Unusual options activity pegged to the shares of Harrah's Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:HET) ahead of the announcement of a buyout offer for the gambling operator is raising eyebrows among some market options players.
Harrah's Entertainment, the world's biggest casino operator, on Monday said it had received a $15.1 billion buyout offer from private equity firms Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group (TPG.UL), sending its shares higher.
But last week, there was already "unconfirmed chatter across options trading desks regarding a leverage buyout on Harrah's".
There was unusual call activity in Harrah's in the days preceding news of a possible deal.
"We suspect that someone had insider knowledge of a possible takeout of Harrah's Entertainment before the news," said one insider.
Investors often buy calls hoping to profit from a rise in the stock. And when they speculate on a possible takeover, they typically turn to calls with strike prices above the current stock price because they can put the least amount of money at risk and realize the highest return if the acquisition does occur.
Right now the big poker action is taking place in 1) New Jersey -- where tough contenders are fighting for big money in the U.S. Poker Championship; 2) Aruba -- where most of the top pros are enjoying big potentially televised action; and 3) Tunica -- for the WSOP Circuit. While following some of the Tunica action here on PokerBlog, I'm getting more and more confirmation that the regional, local nature of the Lake Tahoe event was not an anomaly. That's what the WSOP Circuit is apparently all about ... "biggish" events for local bad-asses that also give a taste of the WSOP to area small-timers with a few well-decorated pros dropping in to work on their games and take a stab at a little extra bling.
Anyhow, here are a few leftover pics from the WSOP at Harveys Lake Tahoe:
With a 14 percent vig, all players got a free meal, alternating each day between pizza and hot dogs. Doesn't look too different from a Texas underground shindig.
LAKE TAHOE, NV--The hotel Jen had some trouble checking into was, of course, Harrah's Atlantic City. Made me think of this photo she recently took, which really speaks for itself in so many ways (particularly since they are charging $2 a bottle for one of these at the Starbuck's here):
Thursday Aug 24th..Now how long has it been since I was in the box?
You would think as much trouble as we had working with Harrahs this wsop, they could get something right..Where is Our Money...I havent even received the check that most dealers got Aug 10th for our hourly rate.
And so its easy to assume I havent received my check for the two weeks I dealt the main event..
I talked to some dealer friends some have checks,which most say are short downs...most doesnt.
So I guess Harrahs made plenty interest off our money,just as they did the players..
And before you ask..Yes I filled out all the exit forms,etc before I left,just as I was asked so I would get my checks more quickly, as was told.
You would think such a huge company would have a payroll dept. that knew what they were doing..
Shortly after we returned from dinner break, one table asked for the floor and inquired about how long we'd be playing tonight. They were told we'd play five levels, down through half of level 16 (2,000/4,000/500). The players were upset, as we were in level 14 and past the 600 players Harrah's had originally planned to play down to. Unhappy with the answer from the floor, the table requested to speak to tournament director Jack Effel. He confirmed to the table that yes, they would be playing one and a half more levels, or about three more hours. Players at the surrounding tables overhead the news and also became upset, and soon began chanting "600! 600! 600!"
I spoke with Effel to confirm the ruling and he emphasized two things - one, that the tournament rules state Harrah's can change the tournament structure at any time, and two, that without playing as many levels as possible now, we'll be facing a day four that takes two days, day five taking three, and so on.
I understand the player's complaints, but I also understand where Effel is coming from. The tournament structure was planned with x number of players participating, and therefore x number of chips in play. With that number exceeded, it's important to play down as much as we can every day to keep the blinds somewhat relative to the chip stacks. If we call it an early night on day three, we run the risk of having a final table that literally takes days. As Effel said, blinds of 40,000/80,000 won't mean too much to stacks over ten million. (They'd have an M of around 47).
Of course, sitting in the media room, I'm hearing now that we're playing one level more (taking us through 15) and hearing that we're playing one and half more (taking us through half of 16). Offer subject to change without notice.
Daniel's table was about to break and everyone had racked their chips. Daniel had in the range of 150,000 chips in 7 racks with a good amount of black chips. Just when I was wondering how he was going to carry all of those, a floor person in a white suit came to his side and the chips went crashing down on the table. He immediately accused her of causing the spill, and she immediately denied it while helping him rack them back up again. Daniel has moved to table 57. Boy oh boy is this going to make for a good video cast tomorrow!
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