/ Editor / 09 August 2007 / Leave a comment

All these negative theories about the WSOP Europe have to stop! Poker Player Magazine's editor Dave Woods is happy to stick his neck out.

Being negative about something is easy. You get to look smart before the event. And if you're proved wrong you get to bask in the success you had no part in. It's a win-win philosophy, but it's also cowardly and ultimately self-defeating. Optimism is much harder to maintain.
As a lifelong Coventry City supporter I know this all too well. At the start of every season, at 2.59pm (or 7.59pm on the two occasions we're on TV), I'm full of adrenaline and expecation. And pretty much without fail, come 3.02pm (or 3.13pm if we've been drawn against a lower division team in a cup), those feelings are shattered on the field of nightmares. But still I carry on, with hope in my heart. And win or lose, I (generally) take a big positive from the whole experience.
I'm feeling the same stirrings with poker at the moment. I desperately want the UK to be seen as a world force, and I want to be able to watch or even play in world-class events without having to travel economy for 11 hours. So, when Harrah's announced it was going to bring the WSOP to Europe, I was made up. I still am. And I'm still confident that it's going to be a success, although it seems a lot of people disagree. Some have hidden (and not so) hidden agendas, but a lot of people seem to have been sucked into thinking it's a bad idea. Why? Here are some of the arguments I've heard over the past couple of months.

1. It devalues the bracelet
Well, let's put this in perspective. 55 bracelets have just been awarded - mainly to American players - in the recent WSOP in Vegas. If you think the bracelet is being devalued by the number out there, three more isn't going to make a difference. What the WSOPE is doing is giving us home advantage for the first time. Whatever you think of Vegas, slogging it in the desert heat for six weeks is a real feat of endurance. And we're used to it. Getting the Americans over to the UK for two or three weeks should deliver the same culture shock and swing things back in our favour for once. If you want to talk about whether 58 bracelets devalues the WSOP as a whole that's a different argument.

2. US players aren't going to want to travel
There's obviously more than a fair amount of truth in this statement seeing as only around 20% of American citizens possess a passport and 16%* think that Tokyo is in Europe. However a long list of the biggest pros in the world are already signed up. Whether this is through sponsor pressure, curiosity, a desire to win as many bracelets as is humanly possible, or a bid to make a name in a European market that's still got sponsor's money floating around is irrelevant.
Keeping them coming back next year and the year after might be harder but it's up to Harrah's to treat everyone right and run a professional show. And it's investing too much money in this to leave things to chance.
(*An educated guess, but I'd be willing to take money on it.)

3. It's impractical - how can you run a single tournament across three different venues that have no experience of big-money poker events?
Have you been to the Rio? Walking from my room, through the gaming floor, and down to the Amazon Room is akin to walking from Marble Arch to Leicester Square, with the added risk of losing $100 on Blackjack.
I really can't see this being a problem. You're not going to be asked to vacate the big blind to get in a taxi and join a table on the other side of London. It might throw up issues that wouldn't arise in a single venue but I'm sure Harrah's will have things under control. And as for the venues themselves, they might be considered quaint, but they're still preferable to the aircraft hanger in Vegas (and its associated annexes).

4. It's never going to sell out
Well that remains to be seen. I hope it does, but even if it doesn't it's still going to be the biggest tournament held in London. The timing's not been perfect and people - especially Betfair as the newly announced sponsor - haven't had as much time as they might have wanted to prepare, but that's something that won't apply next year when everyone will have a full 12 months to get the infrastructure in place.

So that's me nailing my colours to the mast. I confidently say that the WSOPE will be successful. In fact we're going through hell on the magazine to make sure that PokerPlayer brings you the results on the newsstand just five days after the winner has been unveiled. And if I'm wrong? I'm more than happy to sit in stocks in Leicester Square for a weekend. I'll even provide the eggs.

Dave Woods is Editor-in-chief of PokerPlayer magazine. You can subscribe and get the very latest poker news at www.pokerplayermagazine.co.uk.

For more info on the WSOP Europe and how to qualify online see - https://www.betfairpoker.com/wsope

Tags: Dave Woods, Poker Player