Bigger Than Ever: 2010 WSOP Kicks Off Today
Poker News 
/ Short-Stacked Shamus / 28 May 2010 / Leave a comment
The 2010 World Series of Poker begins today. For the next 51 days -- through July 17 -- the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino will be the center of the poker universe, with thousands upon thousands of poker players all gathering to compete for the much coveted 57 bracelets that will be awarded this year.
Play begins today with the lowest buy-in event of the Series, followed later by the highest buy-in event. Event No. 1, the $500 Casino Employees Event, a no-limit hold'em tourney, will kick things off at noon today. Last year this one attracted 866 players, all workers at casinos from around the world.
Then later this afternoon will come the much-anticipated Event No. 2, the $50,000 buy-in Poker Player's Championship, an 8-game mixed event combining limit hold'em, Omaha/8, razz, stud, stud/8, no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, and 2-7 triple draw that will eventually culminate with a no-limit hold'em final table. All anticipate a small but formidable field comprised of poker's elite to compete in that one. With the final table scheduled to be televised on ESPN later this summer, this one may attract as many as 130-140 players willing to pay the steep price for a shot at one of the more prestigious titles in poker.
This will be my third summer helping cover the Series for PokerNews. I took a brief tour of the Rio yesterday, where for the time being all was relatively serene. A few pros had already arrived and could be spotted also roaming the halls, getting the lay of the land. Media were starting to gather as well, picking up their credentials and getting an early look-see at the two massive ballrooms which for many will serve as their home away from home for the next seven-plus weeks.
This year the huge Grand Pavilion ballroom will be utilized in addition to the (also big) Amazon Room throughout the Series. The Amazon Room -- at 38,000 square feet -- will be accommodating about 100 tables this year. That's fewer than in the past, as they've dedicated more space to the area where the final tables will occur, while also adding a second media press box.
Meanwhile, the 58,000-square foot Pavilion Room is also packed with tables, most of which will be devoted to the WSOP (with a section reserved for cash games, too). The Pavilion room is located next to the Amazon, and was previously the location for the annual expo that usually coincided with the beginning of the Main Event.
I spoke briefly yesterday with Seth Palansky, the WSOP Communications Director, and he told me that as of now there will be 257 tables set up in the Pavilion. Most of the 57 events are scheduled as three-day tournaments (a few are four or five), and the Pavilion Room will usually be where the first days will begin. Then, once the fields get smaller, days two through the tourneys' conclusions will take place in the Amazon.
Also, following a tradition begun last year, there will be daily bracelet ceremonies each afternoon from May 30 through July 5 at 2:20 p.m. to honor the previous day's winners. Those will be held in the Pavilion Room as well.
That picture above, showing only part of the Pavilion Room, hardly conveys the sheer immensity of the space. In fact, 58,000 square feet is almost exactly the equivalent of an American football field -- 100 yards long, plus two 10-yard end zones, and a little over 50 yards wide.
Seems somehow fitting that the world's biggest poker series -- it's Super Bowl, so to speak -- will be partially played out in a football field-sized room.
Yesterday we reporters were walking around the empty tables there in the Pavilion, trying to imagine making that circuit time and time again in our efforts to report on the action. The World Series of Poker is certainly a marathon for players, particularly those intent on playing many events. But it will be a marathon of sorts, too, for media hoping to chronicle all the goings-on there in the cavernous Grand Pavilion. Looks like we'll literally be walking many miles this summer!
Some of those making the trek with me yesterday -- and whom I'll be encountering many times over as we walk back and forth amid the tables this summer -- were among the reporters who recently participated in the two-part "WSOP Bloggers Roundtable" here at Betfair. For the "Roundtable" I asked a dozen different writers -- all veterans of previous WSOPs -- six questions about the upcoming Series and their past experiences covering the largest and most celebrated poker series in the world.
If you haven't read those already, today might be a good day to check them out as a preview of this year's WSOP. Here's Part 1, and here's part 2.
As those reporters all point out, there's a lot to anticipate this year, including many questions to be answered between now and mid-July. What effect (if any) might the final implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act on June 1 have on the Series? How will Annette Obrestad fare at her first WSOP? How will the stars of 2009 -- including multiple bracelet winners Phil Ivey, Jeffrey Lisandro, Greg Mueller, and Brock Parker, and returning Main Event champ Joe Cada -- follow up on their successes in 2010?
Will Phil Hellmuth win a 12th bracelet? Will either Johnny Chan or Doyle Brunson tie Hellmuth by picking up an 11th? In what ways might the absence of WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack (and of a commissioner at all) be felt at this year's Series? Will the "Year of the Woman" trend continue in poker, with women successfully taking down open-field events?
And, of course, new questions -- including some none of us has yet anticipated -- will emerge as play begins.
From its humble beginnings 40 years ago, when just seven players gathered around a single table at Binion's Horseshoe, the World Series of Poker has evolved into a spectacle of immense proportions.
Indeed, as that long walk around the Pavilion ballroom yesterday readily confirmed, when it comes to poker, it clearly doesn't get any bigger than this!
