I used to think that the rich got richer in poker, but I was wrong. Some go broke, some get rich, then broke, some do the cycle for their whole life. What I do know is that the famous get more famous, especially if they were fortunate enough to garner their fame in 2003. It would certainly explain the line-up for the 2010 Tournament of Champions.
As expected, only three tournaments are being televised by ESPN (bigger fields of course increase the chances of 'no name' finals). With just 27 entrants in the Tournament of Champions, the television exposure is potentially worth more than the prize itself. It's probably for this reason that Phil Hellmuth let himself whittle down to just two blinds before bubbling. Just a few minutes in front of the cameras would be worth its weight in gold.
To determine this year's line-up, the public were asked to vote from a list of 521 WSOP bracelet-holders. The list was extensive and included some of the game's hottest assets such as Jason Mercier, JC Tran and Phil Galfond. However, these players were ultimately overlooked in favour of veterans like Howard Lederer, Dan Harrington and Sam Farha, players who were once at the top of their field, but now no longer form a reliable representation of poker in 2010.
A clever strategy had been adopted: democracy where you already know the result. One thing that we often forget is that the majority of poker fans don't know the ins and outs of the game, they don't know that Mericer has won millions at EPTs, or that Galfond is regarded as a master of the online game, they just know what they've seen on TV, a world that is heavily edited towards creating characters and 'personalities', not necessarily identifying the best players in the industry. Considering this, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the line-up was simply the most 'famous' players rather than the most worthy. Maintaining a profile is just as much a skill in poker as what you do with the cards, and some of these guys are experts at it.
I don't blame the TV execs. An all-star cast of 'familiar faces' is what will attract an audience who've learned to laud celebrities. I don't blame the players either for searching for the camera and making themselves heard. This industry has become increasingly competitive, and if it results in the opportunity to play a freeroll with a million dollar prize pool, then I'm not surprised they sing and dance at every opportunity.
It would be arrogant of me to criticize without offering an alternative. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a tournament in which all bracelet winners are involved. Perhaps I might restrict it to post-Rio to eliminate those who won an STT, I don't know, but I think they all deserve the opportunity to compete in a lucrative freeroll, rather than just the most famous. I do think the voting system needs modifying, maybe by restricting the voting to the players themselves, a board of 'poker ambassadors or experts' (perhaps voting on the best players from the last five years), or hey, what about the global media? At least that way Europe might not be so heavily excluded.
I do know that if they maintain the same system for next year, there will be a surprise entrant. With Antonio Esfandiari sneaking in with just five or six thousand votes, there's no reason why a Facebook campaign can't create the necessary amount of votes for someone lower down in the pecking order. Social networks are powerful tools, after all. "Patrick Bruel is a famous actor and singer in France with over 50,000 'friends'," explained French blogger Benjo. "All he'd have to do is send a link to everyone asking them to vote for him and he'd be in the Tournament of Champions."
The main problem with this tournament was that Harrah's tried to work it around the schedule of the players themselves instead of giving it a fixed date. Revolving the tournament around 27 of the game's biggest stars is always going to be an uphill struggle. As a result of clashes with other events, the tournament kept changing its start time. On one day, they even asked all the players to come in to play one level during the dinner break of the Omaha event that Hellmuth was still playing. It was a farce. All the players were contacted, and whilst most made the trip, Joe Hachem was asleep, so it was cancelled. Despite it being a freeroll, the players were understandably pissed off at having to come to the Rio for nothing. Even if Hachem hadn't been enjoying 40 winks, is there really much point in playing for just one hour?
Good intentions or not, you're never going to keep everyone happy, and you can't treat them like kings. The only thing you can do is stick to the proposed schedule, and if someone has decided to play another event, then that's their problem. Not all the participants are as rich as Lederer or Ivey, so I'm sure they won't want to turn their nose up at a one million freeroll and the opportunity for TV exposure.
I must add that the scheduling of this event was a mere blip in what has been a near seamless World Series. If I think back to the calamaties of the Rio's early years, it's incredible how many issues have been ironed out, and I am continually amazed by how easy the staff make organising thousands of poker players look. What's more, they do it with a smile, even when everyone else has that glazed look in their eyes. I've never seen Jack Effel as happy as he is this year. I'm beginning to think he's found love, or won the lottery in May. Not even a sold-out Day 1D will bring him down to our level of misery this year as everyone's been prudently registering in advance just in case.
Although they initially threatened a nine o'clock start on Sunday morning, the final day actually commenced at the slightly less ungodly hour of 11am. 17 of the initial field had made it through with Mike Matusow the chip leader. However, the structure was such that Matusow was eliminated before the 10-handed final. That role was instead adopted by Daniel Negreanu, with Johny Chan and Joe Hachem leading the chasing pack.
For the first time in my experience, there was a queue for the feature table, and there was a buzz about the place. The finalists seemed in their element, and Negreanu and Annie Duke were embracing the attention of the rail as fans begged for photos with their favourite poker star. I did find it strange when people would shout, "Jennifer, Jennifer, over here," as if they were movies stars on the red carpet, and then laugh hysterically if one of them made a mildly amusing comment. To me, they're just poker players, nothing less, nothing more, but to others, they're TV celebrities.
Before the starting whistle was blown, I received my first sighting of Norman Chad and Lon McEachern as they gave their introductions to the camera. I couldn't help but notice that Chad was standing on a box. The secrets of TV revealed. "A very special night of poker lies ahead," warned McEachern, but to me, it didn't feel very special at all. I'm not sure why. Back in 2003 I probably would have creamed my pants.
Somehow, the final didn't finish until 2.40am (I guess the constant TV pauses probably didn't help) when Huck Seed defeated Lederer heads-up. I wanted Chan to win, just because I felt it would make a better story, but I was happy to see Seed take the title too. Out of all the known pros, he seems like the most mellow and least egotistical. He's definitely the most laid-back player I've seen. I'll never forget him turning up to the $50,000 HORSE in shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops, unshaven and sporting a messy mop-top hair do that has since disappeared. All that was missing was the surf board. I think it makes me like him more - he doesn't care what he looks like, he just wants to be comfortable when he's playing, however prestigious the event is supposed to be. He's not going to turn his nose up at the rewards that come with being 'famous', but at the same time, he's not going to go out of his way to make sure they're always there.
Previous Blog Entries:
May 23: My Old School Teacher
May 31: Welcome to America; Let the Institutionalising Begin
June 1: Pleasure & Pain
June 5: 100% British Beef
June 9: Alphabetti Spaghetti & Giant Meatballs
June 13: Colour Me Up
June 14: The Crying Game
June 20: Last Gasps
June 25: Dancing With the Devil
June 30: The End of a Streak
WSOP Reports:
Employee of the Month
Fairytale Endings
Must Be Nice
Make Mine a Double
Blonde on Blonde
Summer of Sam
Chuft to Bits
Under the Radar
Taking Notice
BBP Braced for WSOP Main Event
Sites/blogs I read:
blonde Poker 'Feed Your Wild Side' Thread
Hard Boiled Poker
Pokerati
Pot Committed
Riding the F Train
Tao of Poker
Wicked Chops Poker
Sites/blogs I would read if they weren't in a foreign language:
Las Vegas, Off the Record