The WSOP... Where the Sun Never Sets
News of the new WSOP APAC series inspired a couple of different conversations. One involved speculation about the likelihood of players participating in the earlier Aussie Millions in January making another trip to the Crown Casino in Australia in April. But another concerned what the rapidly increasing number of WSOP bracelets being awarded might be doing to the value of each.
Earlier this week the WSOP announced the addition of a new series of bracelet events to take place in April 2013 in Australia. With the annual summer series in Las Vegas, the WSOP Europe series now in France, and WSOP-Circuit events happening throughout America and even in South Africa, the WSOP "empire" has certainly expanded its reach to become a truly "world" series of poker.
Five WSOP gold bracelets will be awarded at the Crown Casino in Melbourne next spring at the new "WSOP APAC" (WSOP Asia Pacific). That means if the World Series of Poker and World Series of Poker Europe follow similar schedules next year, a whopping 74 bracelets will be won during the calendar year.
The 2012 WSOP in Las Vegas begins just over three weeks from now -- on Sunday, May 27 -- with the schedule featuring a record-breaking 61 bracelet events. A 62nd bracelet will be awarded to the winner of the WSOP National Championship scheduled just before the Main Event in July, then seven more bracelets will be won at the WSOPE in Cannes, France in September, making a total of 69 awarded in 2012.
That total means the WSOP will be passing a notable milestone this summer when the 1,000th bracelet is won. Heading into 2012, there have been 959 bracelet winners. Barring schedule shifts or other oddities, then, the person who wins Event No. 41, a $3,000 no-limit hold'em event, on Sunday, June 24 will be claiming the 1,000th bracelet.
A couple of points of clarification for trivia fans...
The WSOP didn't actually begin awarding bracelets until 1976, although as far as official record-keeping goes, all who won events prior to that date are still considered "bracelet winners." Also, there were five "mixed doubles" events (from 1979 to 1983) -- that is, events in which a single bracelet was won by two players. (Incidentally, a "doubles" tournament will be staged at the WSOP this summer, although it is designated a non-bracelet event.)
The announcement of the new WSOP APAC series inspired a couple of different conversations in the poker community. One involved speculation about the likelihood of players participating in the earlier Aussie Millions in January making another trip to the Crown Casino in Australia in April. But another concerned what the rapidly increasing number of WSOP bracelets being awarded might be doing to the value of each.
Big Events or a Traveling Road Show?
On this week's Casino City Gang podcast, Vin Narayanan and Aaron Todd discussed the new WSOP APAC series, with their conversation quickly turning to talk about how the significance of winning a WSOP bracelet has changed markedly over recent years.
"I think we just have to realize that the idea of the WSOP bracelet is evolving and it's changing," said Todd. "There are going to be 100 bracelets a year awarded at some point.... It won't be long before they have one in South America, then they'll have one in Antartica, and everywhere."
Narayanan responded by voicing a note of dismay about the change Todd described.
"The WSOP... there used to be a romance about it," said Narayanan. "The best players in the world would travel to Las Vegas, gather altogether in the same place and duke it out to find out who the best poker player in the world is.... But if you've got a big event in France and a big event in Australia and then a big event in Las Vegas... this becomes a traveling road show."
They went on to affirm that while the Las Vegas-based WSOP "will always be the marquee event," the overall value of winning a bracelet has nonetheless been diminished, with Todd suggesting it has now become necessary to win at least two WSOP bracelets for a player to be considered "great."
The Draw of the Bracelet
Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz discussed the WSOP APAC as well on this week's episode of the Two Plus Two Pokercast. (By the way, I was invited on as a guest this week to talk briefly about the passing of Amarillo Slim Preston -- for those interested in hearing me, I come on a little after the 1:20 mark.)
Johnson and Schwartz didn't sound as concerned about the addition of still more bracelet events, but rather focused on whether the WSOP APAC might "cannibalize" the Aussie Millions to some extent -- i.e., force players to choose one or the other.
"Will players travel all that way not once but twice to play in two different series in four months?" wondered Johnson. Schwartz shared Johnson's doubts, but added a salient point regarding what might be a primary draw for some players to participate in the new WSOP APAC.
"They do have bracelets," said Schwartz.
In other words, while there may be more bracelets than ever being awarded, winning one still means quite a lot to many players.
Just Another Tour?
Finally, Barry Carter also weighed in on the issue this week with an editorial on the PokerStrategy site asking "Do We Want More WSOP Events?" In his piece, Carter picked up on WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart's reference in the press release to an intention "to establish the worldwide grand slam of poker" -- the implication being that the WSOP may soon add still another series to the calendar.
"Some would say that an oversaturation of these events devalues the bracelets," notes Carter. However, he believes "that any 'devaluing' of WSOP bracelets has happened already."
Indeed, if you look back at that table the addition of five more bracelets in 2013 would represent a relatively small-percentage jump compared to what we have already seen happen between 2004 and 2011 when the number of bracelet winners doubled.
Carter is concerned, though, that further expansion of the WSOP "would turn the WSOP from a 'World Cup of Poker' into just another tour and a rival to the EPT & WPT." In other words -- not unlike what the Casino City Gang guys were saying -- by changing the WSOP from a single series into a kind of ongoing tour, the WSOP might lose its much-deserved special place in the poker world.
Carter remains enthusiastic about the WSOP APAC, however, and concludes on a note of cautious optimism. "I just hope the WSOP can commit to a steady, gradual, global expansion and maintain what is special and unique about the World Series of Poker, rather than becoming just another poker tour," writes Carter.
It definitely appears as though "global expansion" is among the WSOP's priorities at present. And monitoring the fortunes of tournament poker's most recognizable "empire" as it continues to grow will no doubt prove most interesting to follow.