Poker Web Watch / Matthew Pitt / 05 February 2009 / Leave a comment

In little over 100 days, the longest-running, most prestigious poker festival on Earth returns to Las Vegas for its 40th year, where for 50 days, the world's best players and thousands of hopefuls will chase their dream of winning a World Series of Poker bracelet and with it, financial security for life.

Last year, the 39th annual WSOP broke all records, going to show that poker was still booming despite the UIGEA ruling from the United States government. In total, 58,270 players from 124 different countries battled it out for a grand total of $180,774,427 in prizes, the greatest sum of money in sport.

With the current global financial situation, it will be interesting to see how affect the WSOP, if at all. Will the festival attract desperate gamblers who are willing to put the last of their money into a poker tournament, hoping to win big or will the majority of players prefer to play the smaller buy-ins and hope to satellite into some of the larger events? Time will tell.

Harrah's, owners of the World Series of Poker brand, are anticipating another bumper turnout for the 40th anniversary of this historical festival. To mark the landmark date, Harrah's have announced there will be a commemorative tournament with a staggering $40,000 entry fee! With a buy-in that steep, it is likely to only attract the biggest names in poker so should be an exciting spectacle for poker fans.

The November Nine idea returns, as expected, meaning that anyone who makes the final table of the $10,000 Main Event will have to wait almost four months before they can finish the tournament and the winner be crowned. Personally, I did not like the idea last year and I am still not a fan now but according to reports, the coverage on ESPN was watched by record crowds so if it is good for the game, I guess I have no choice but to embrace the concept.

Along with the mammoth $40k tournament, there will also be high entry fees in the third annual $50,000 HORSE tournament, with the winner receiving a special bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, and ten $10,000 World Championship Events.

In order to keep the possibility of winning a vast sum of money, and a coveted bracelet, for a relatively small investment, Harrah's will be holding seven $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em events, along with a special $1,000 "stimulus special" that is anticipated to be the largest ever tournament outside the Main Event with an estimated prize pool of $5,000,000!

The most controversial alteration is the removal of the re-buy tournaments after worries that some of the players with huge bankrolls could essentially buy themselves a bracelet. Ironically, one of the players who voted for this change was Daniel Negreanu, who had to finish fourth in one of the rebuy events last year just so he would break even!

Love or loath the changes, there is no arguing that poker fans around the world will be glued to the updates, news, views and gossip as the World Series of Poker crowns 57 champions in 50 days. I for one can hardly contain myself!

Related Stuff

World Series of Poker blog
WSOPE Official Site
Sorel Mizzi's WSOP Prop Bet