Harrah’s Entertainment has confirmed today that the 2008 WSOP Main Event final table will in fact be delayed. During a media conference call, Harrah’s confirmed the recent rumours which have been one of the hotest topics among poker forums. Although the WSOP schedule is still in effect, the final table event will be placed on hold for a period of 16 weeks and will than reconvene on November the 9th.
This is the first time in the tournaments 39 years that a winner will not be crowned during the course of the regular schedule. The World Series is still planning to kickoff on May 30th, with the main event scheduled to commence on July3rd. Once they have reached the final nine players to make up the final table the tournament will come to a complete halt. Harrah’s along with ESPN will than follow the lives of these nine players over the course of the 16 weeks, in which time they will also be able to hire coaches to help prep them, and as Jeffrey Pollack said today “do things any skilled competitor would do”. Harrah’s will pay each of those nine finalists the 9th place payout prior to leaving the Rio on the 14th of July.
In addition to this, Harrah’s has agreed they will be raising the bar and building the anticipation leading up to the event “It is our hope that this adjustment will add more excitement to what’s already the biggest poker event ever… just like when baseball added the wild card or when NASCAR added the “Chase for the Championship” said ESPN senior producer Jamie Horowitz.
On November the 4th, ESPN will air a one hour special “Final Table Preview”, which will provide the viewing audience with details of how these player’s lives have changed if any and what they have been doing since the tournament was stopped for the break . Than on November the 8th the nine players will again meet at the Rio Hotel and Casino where they will finally sit down and play out the rest of the Main Event, which is expected to come to a close on the 11th and crown the 2008 World Series of Poker champion. Once the winner has been declared you won’t need to wait to view it on ESPN, since they will begin broadcasting the tournament within hours of wrapping up.
The reactions from players have shown mixed feelings towards today’s announcement. Just searching through any of the major poker forums and you will see a heated discussion over whether this is something that will be a positive for the Harrah’s company, or if it is a postive to both the company and players involved. Many agree that it will bring the attention that Harrah’s is anticipating, and while this is true, plenty of players are also complaining about the negatives of holding a delayed final table event. Recent comments from professional players like Greg Raymer and Jamie Gold have surfaced on CardPlayer, with both player’s expressing optimisim and hesitation with today’s news.
Whether players agree or not, it appears Daniel Negreanu who is one of the five members of the WSOP Player Advisory Council (PAC), is all for the change releasing this today on his blog;
“The reason for the three month delay is so that the WSOP broadcast schedule can air both the preliminary events as well as the lead into the final table. That many episodes takes about three months to air. There isn’t time to air all of the main event episodes leading up to the final table so that an “almost live” final table could air immediately after that. The only way to do that is to delay the final table until after the ESPN shows air.”
“Things change. Formats change, tournaments change, sports change. Purists hated the idea of showing your hole cards to a camera, but look at what that’s done for poker. Baseball purists hate inter league play, some hockey fans don’t like the new NHL with less physical play.”
A few other mentionable issues brought up during today’s media call included the prize pool, which is expected to be significantly larger than the previous year’s $24 million. With the delay of the tournament, Harrah’s has guaranteed the funds will be placed into an interest bearing holding account for the entire 16 week period. The pay-per-view broadcast of the final table will no longer be available, instead it is expected that viewers will be able to watch some of the events on ESPN 360.
Additionally, a new code of conduct is scheduled to be released similar to last year’s with a few added restrictions on what will be deemed acceptable. A few of the major issues that are expected to be addressed include cheating and/or collusion, cell phones and “unsportsmanlike conduct”. Player’s will be happy to note, Harrah’s will no longer be using tents.
If your still looking for the best deal to win your seat to the 2008 World Series of Poker, most of the online rooms are in full swing with satellites and qualifiers starting at just a few dollars. Pokerstars is giving away over 1000 Main Event seats, where as Full Tilt is providing players with the chance to win a seat into any event taking place at this year’s WSOP through satellites, qualifiers and a major 100 seat freeroll scheduled for June 13th. The poker room has also guaranteed two players will win a $55K HORSE package which includes your buy-in and accommodations.
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Bodog made their latest signing today when they added Justin Bonomo to their team (better known as ZeeJustin online). Bonomo was regarded as one of the best online players a few years ago until allegations of cheating surfaced. Bonomo responded to the allegations after Party Poker closed six accounts that were all in Bonomo’s name.
