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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

April 19, 2008

WPT Championship Update and Poker Downturn (?)

(Note: This piece was composed before the WPT championship event started. The 2007 Five Star tournament at Bellagio hosted 639 players; the 2008 contest hosted 545, approximately 15 percent fewer entries than the previous year.)

It's mid-April now and the 2008 World Poker Tour Championship series is about to start and end. Players from around the world came to Bellagio in Las Vegas to compete in the event that should, despite some disappointing numbers, make someone a millionaire -- especially since there will not be any juice extracted for any charity.

Not so with the women's event which we commented on last article. The furor created over the sudden realization that the women would be shorted 15 percent of the prize pool so the WPT could crow about its charitable nature finally drew the attention of someone who promised to do something about it. While other WPT folk tried to put positive spin on the cancer research donation, Lyle Berman decided to step in, join the World Poker Association and vow that in the future there would be no more skimming for charity.

Call it what you like, it's all negative to me. Granted, the WPT did announce early on that it would be taking money out of the player contributed buy-ins to go to the Susan Kormen fight against breast cancer, and many publications printed the press release straight from the WPT word processor. Obviously a lot of women didn't read the releases or they would have stepped up to the plate sooner.

However, it should never have happened and now Mr. Berman has promised it won't happen again. This year? Another story. The WPT can't back down on their contribution but they could come up with a more equitable solution. They could, for instance, as I suggested before, take the money from one of their other accounts. Or, they could take half of the promised contribution from both championship events.

Surely the men wouldn't mind?

That preposterous thought out of the way, the boycott by many prominent female players did not go unnoticed. In her initial press release Robyn Moder wrote, "The $1500 tournament, which is expected to draw hundreds of amateur and professional players. ..."

The event drew, in fact, 150 players.

Still, I'm wondering if perhaps the smaller field did not also result from another factor.

Maybe the bloom is off the poker blossom?

While I don't believe a single tournament can be used to draw absolute conclusions, I believe we can make a case for observation of a potential trend.

Here then are some entry comparisons between last year's Bellagio Five Star Classic and this year's event, the 2007 listed first. $2,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em: 288 - 237; $2,500 buy-in: 251 - 148; $5,000 buy-in 180 - 106; $5,000 buy-in: 180-179.

What's interesting is that these 2008 numbers precede the WPT championship competition and should be higher.

I have mixed feelings about this. I think Bellagio does a bang-up job of promoting poker. The room is lovely; the dealers by and large friendly; the atmosphere where amateurs can mingle with celebrity pros is fine and the entire resort is breathtaking. I think poker is a great game that captured the imagination of a world population and changed the way we play it. I think the public, as fickle as it is, will no look for something else to entertain them, perhaps a cooking competition or some beer-drinking contests.

I do believe poker will survive but without as much fanfare as it's life in for the past few years.