In many ways the changes outlined in the last Bet & Win blog post are a long time coming. The World Series has been seeing diminishing returns on the junior circuit that serves as a lead up to the month long extravaganza in Las Vegas by jumping around casino to casino. First the Ring, then the Bling, is somewhat catchy but they have always lacked a synergy between the two. It’s always looked like what it was, them branding a national poker tour with the World Series of Poker and hoping its cache would sell it. For a time it did and then the Circuit event fell to the wayside like any other independent tournament.
Nowadays those tournaments pop up everywhere and it looks like anybody can slap on a World Series of Poker logo and hope for a turnout. The circuit, per se, also suffered because there was no incentive to travel the circuit except for the poker tournament pros. It’s basically a local or regional tournament and each locale has mostly the same old faces with few traveling to different destinations. Trying to tie the events together is a good idea.
Ty Stewart the Vice-President of the World Series of Poker said as much, “We recognized the WSOP Circuit Events needed a shot in the arm, and we believe we’ve responded with steroids. The new model is exactly what the WSOP is all about, giving poker players of all bankrolls the chance to compete for the kind of fame, fortune, and respect that comes only with a WSOP bracelet and a national television audience.”
We might argue with Stewart’s choice of words. In fact, the Circuit needed steroids and they gave it something less. Lets talk about incentives. The way the field is laid out this may be true for Midwesterners. The can hop from Iowa to Indiana to Chicago in the span of three months. If a player churns out some early results he can chase his dream quite easily. If a few have sustained their success, they might continue to track it, but the following events skip around the country like a pinball. Biloxi to Tahoe to Atlantic City to Tunica back to Atlantic City to San Diego to St. Louis back out to Vegas and finally way back to New Orleans.
Granted you get the concept you can’t mine one area to soon and other events are going on in these places that have to be taken into account, but surely more of an effort could have made to make it a truer circuit. Not only would it help the employees and staff there, it would be a huge boon for anybody who might like to make a six month road trip out of the thing.
More importantly, it’s obvious the Regionals will be weighted more than the other main events, and that’s fair, but Harrahs should refrain from the suggestion that the opportunities are equal no matter the bankroll. And while they didn’t explicitly state that in their PR release they kind of hint to it. To better accomplish that goal, and we realize it’s unrealistic, would be to pair the smaller events with the local championship and precede them. That way they can give away 10k seats to the Regionals and build those events.
So, Biloxi and St. Louis feed to New Orleans (and both should precede it). Atlantic City and Tunica feed to Atlantic City. Casears Palace and Lake Tahoe feed to San Diego. Each of those feeders should precede the event for obvious reasons. Or even better have the events feed the player to the Regional of their choice especially in locales like Tunica and St. Louis that aren’t really close to anything.