2011 WSOP Just Days Away

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 27 May 2011 / Leave a Comment

The WSOP Media Guide offers much to satisfy trivia buffs, and in a way all of these figures do together help further the impression that the WSOP really does resemble a sporting event.

Hard to believe, but it's just a few days until the first hands of the 2011 World Series of Poker will be dealt at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. On Tuesday, May 31 the $500 buy-in Casino Employees no-limit hold'em event kicks off (Event No. 1), then later that day begins the first round of matches in the $25,000 Heads-Up NLHE Championship (Event No. 2).

Recently the "Official Media Guide" for the 42nd Annual World Series of Poker became available, a 77-page document packed with all sorts of information and trivia that will be of great use to those of us covering the WSOP. The Media Guide is a bit like a program for a sporting event (minus the glossy action shots), and is available to anyone -- not just credentialed media -- over on the WSOP site.

This year will mark the fourth time I've gone out to help cover the WSOP for PokerNews. The last three years I've been there from start to finish, meaning I've been there in Vegas from late May until mid-July, spending much of that time at the Rio jotting down hands and racing back and forth to my laptop to report on the action. This time I won't be there for the very start, but will instead be enjoying some family time before I head out in mid-June. I'll then be there through the end of this summer's action, right up until the newest version of the "November Nine" is determined on July 19th.

Each summer before I head out to Vegas, I always print out the Media Guide and keep a copy with me while on site. Certain sections I will end up referencing constantly throughout my time there, particularly the lengthy schedule of events that fills up the first pages of the guide.

Looking over the schedule, you can see at a glance just how busy things become at the WSOP. By next Friday (one week from today), there will be six different events going on all on the same day, and indeed there will generally be 4-6 events happening each day right up until the start of the Main Event on July 7th.

A section detailing ESPN's schedule is included, with all of the dates and times of the network's planned-for coverage of the WSOP Main Event Rematches, the aforementioned $25K Heads-Up NLHE event (Event No. 2), the $50K Poker Players Championship (Event No. 55), and the Main Event (Event No. 58). Those edited shows will start airing in late July and continue weekly right up until the "November Nine" resume play.

The guide also includes the schedules for ESPN's "live" streaming of events (on TV and over the web) which will enable viewers at home to watch the action either on a five-minute delay (without hole cards) or a 30-minute delay (with hole cards). The highlight there will be coverage of the entire final week of the Main Event in July. The WSOP also plans to provide a live stream of 55 different final tables this summer, too -- that is, every single one except the two ESPN will already be showing (Events No. 2 and No. 55).

Other sections cover various details regarding the staging of the WSOP and particular events, as well as numerous statistics and facts about the 2010 WSOP as well as records from the first 41 years of the Series. The WSOP Media Guide offers much to satisfy trivia buffs, and in a way all of these figures do together help further the impression that the WSOP really does resemble a sporting event.

A couple of numbers that will get a lot of scrutiny this summer will be the total number entering all 58 events as well as the total playing in the ME. One can find in the Media Guide evidence of the incredible growth occurring at the WSOP over the last decade, with the total entrants having increased every year since 2003, and that Main Event total also having exploded upwards to its peak in 2006 and again having enjoyed a significant jump last year.

Many are wondering, of course, whether "Black Friday" and its various consequences will negatively impact such growth at the WSOP this year, including whether Full Tilt Poker's continued delay in allowing American players to cash out may impede some from being able to participate. You can count on close attention being paid to the turnouts for the initial events over the first couple of weeks, with lots of speculation about how those early numbers may be indicative of what comes later.

Looking elsewhere in the Media Guide, one can find the all-time bracelet leaderboard, still topped by Phil Hellmuth with 11. There's also the all-time WSOP money list, which 2006 Main Event winner Jamie Gold continues to lead with $12,073,694. That list is interesting, though a bit skewed with the top six spots all occupied by recent ME winners and all but a handful of the top 25 filled by recent ME final tablists.

Hellmuth leads a couple of other lists with the most all-time WSOP cashes (79) and most all-time final tables (40). He'll likely preserve his lead in the former, with Men Nguyen well behind in second with 70 cashes. Men Nguyen has 39 WSOP final tables, though, and T.J. Cloutier 38, so that record could be challenged.

Berry Johnston has the most Main Event cashes with 10, with Humberto Brenes next with eight. Doyle Brunson and Jesse Alto are listed as tied for the most WSOP Main Event final tables with five each. I believe Brunson might technically have six (1972, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983), although the WSOP might not be counting that first one, as only eight players participated in the ME that year. Interestingly, only 37 players have made two WSOP Main Event final tables.

There's much else here, including information about this year's World Series of Europe schedule, to be held in Cannes, France this October where seven different bracelet events are scheduled as well as details regarding the process for voting for this year's Poker Hall of Fame. There are also lists for most cashes without a WSOP bracelet, the top players ranked by decade, a list of women who have won bracelets, multiple bracelet winners, famous WSOP hands, celebrities who have played in the WSOP, and more information about sponsor Jack Link's Beef Jerky than you'd ever dreamed existed.

Near the end come pages covering media guidelines which include a couple of new rules regarding "tournament access" (no talking to players; no standing at a table for more than five minutes). There are also pages near the end sharing what the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino has to offer in the way of restaurants and other accommodations.

While I'm glad to have a little extra respite before heading out to Vegas this summer, reading through the Media Guide has gotten me almost wishing I was going out sooner. Still, with the comprehensive coverage all over the web -- including the WSOP's live streaming of all of those final tables -- it will be easy enough to keep up with all of the action from home during these first couple of weeks.

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