Fans of the World Series of Poker will be disappointed that the promised end of the November Nine is not a return to the ways of old, but rather a rescheduling due to the 2012 elections. The WSOP 2012 Main Event final table will be moved up a week, making it the “Very late October Nine,” which we suppose just doesn’t have the same ring to it. There’s still a substantial delay between the final table play and the rest of the tournament, and there’s no telling if we’ll see a return of the November Nine in years when the United States isn’t holding presidential elections. All of this seems a little misleading, especially after the WSOP let their Twitter followers to believe that they could expect a real change with their Tuesday tweet: “A few hints on WSOP schedule coming tomorrow…you won’t find the November Nine returning.”
Fans have been speaking out since continuous play in the WSOP stopped back in 2008, and loud criticism coupled with the added pressure on poker tournaments to maintain the public’s interest in the wake of Black Friday was thought to be enough to return the schedule to its previous format, but apparently not. The 2012 WSOP will break for 14 weeks instead of 15, a change that does little to allay the concerns of players and spectators and comes off as more than a little patronizing.
Like the 2011 WSOP, next year’s Main Event final table will also be aired on a 15-minute delay. One of the starting days of the Main Event has been dropped from the lineup, along with the scheduled day off. The folks in charge of scheduling the WSOP aren’t making any friendds with decisions like these. Many poker pros will have been playing consistently throughout the tournament, and the scheduled break has long been a way for them to get their bearings and catch up on missed sleep so that they can bring their A game. Chances are, many players will be annoyed at the implication that poker should evolve into a stamina-based sport.
Lots of new events have been added to the 2012 World Series of Poker Schedule, including some new bracelet events: $3,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em/PLO Tournament, $5,000 Mix Max No Limit Hold’em Tournament, $2,500 4-Handed No Limit Hold’em Tournament, $1,500 Ante-Only No Limit Hold’em Tournament, and the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop Platinum Bracelet Tournament.
The One Drop Tournament is one of the most significant changes to the WSOP lineup, as it will potentially offer the biggest prize in poker history. There are 48 seats open for this incredibly high-stakes game for charity ($111,111 of each $1,000,000 buy-in will go to raising awareness about lack of drinkable water in large parts of the world). If the seats fill up, the first place winner will be looking at over $17 million in prize money, while second place will walk away with $9 million– both are amounts larger than Pius Heinz, the 2011 Main Event winner, earned during his victory. It will be interesting to see how this shift in prize money also shifts the attention of the players and viewers– if it takes too much attention away from the Main Event, that 14 week wait is going to seem even more cumbersome.
Stay tuned as Max Poker Bonus brings you more WSOP updates as they become available.