Is Poker Affected By The WSOP?
The World Series of Poker, or WSOP for short, is the largest and most famous poker competition that brings together people from all over the world.
From this point of view, the question from the title is equally important.
How can anyone question whether the WSOP is good or bad for poker when it clearly has a positive effect on the game? However, every coin has two sides and very few things in life are black or white.
In this article I will try to analyze the good and bad sides of the WSOP and try to answer.
You may or may not agree with some of what is written here, but this is an opinion after all, so that's to be expected.
Elimination can banish a poker player forever
The World Series of Poker has several dozen tournaments each year.
Poker players and fans of the game love to spend money on travel to Vegas, accommodation and of course tournament entry fees to experience it all. However, it is safe to say that few of them will travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers just for the experience. Every player sitting on the green feels hopeful that they will somehow reach the final table and walk away victorious.
This is especially true for the Main Event, the dream of almost every poker fan.
Millions are made every year and someone takes the money. But who is he? All the hype and glamor surrounding the World Series of Poker is good for the game at its most basic level. They helped keep the poker dream alive, and without that dream, which really exploded with the Moneymaker win in 2003, the appeal of the game wouldn't be the same.
At the same time, the idea that "anyone can win", which has almost become the unofficial slogan of the Series, represents a certain amount of false advertising.
It is true that every player has a chance to win a tournament, but their chances are much lower than the person sitting next to them who has lived and breathed poker for the last two decades.
What I'm trying to say is that for some players, the WSOP can be a very rude awakening. After saving money to travel and play in some events, they are easily eliminated from all the tournaments they enter.
Such an experience kills the desire to play the game, especially if one has very high expectations. It's not the WSOP's fault, of course, but it's there.
Therefore, from this point of view, the WSOP can be "bad" for poker because it can cause some players, especially amateurs and new players, to throw in the towel.
Is this something that happens regularly? Obviously not.
Most amateurs do not have high expectations and try to have fun in Las Vegas.
But it is safe to assume that at least a few of them turned their backs on poker after a bad experience at the WSOP.
TV producers like drama - there aren't many actors
We can't talk about the World Series of Poker without talking about the TV production. Without you being on TV, the WSOP doesn't have as much of an impact on the game, so that's a good thing. But like most things, it has its downside.
It's no secret that published in TVtropes magazine in Poker event.
Poker has come a long way in the last two decades. The game is no longer seen as a shady business run by shady characters.
This means that it is still far from being fully accepted. Many people see it as pure gambling that attracts people of questionable morals.
If WSOP producers decide to devote more screen time to drama and scandal, it might be good for ratings, but not for poker.
A person who is just starting their poker journey, for example, will see this and decide to look for another hobby.
Not because they don't like the game, but because they don't want to be in that kind of environment.
If there is so much drama and scandal at the world's biggest poker tournament, what can they expect from their local casino? Again, this has more to do with the people who own the TV rights than the people who run the World Series, but it's something worth discussing in the context of this article.
Were WSOP bracelets "useless"?
Once upon a time, winning a WSOP bracelet was a huge achievement. The number of tournaments each year is small and the buy-ins are quite high.
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Over the years, things have changed quite a bit on both sides of the spectrum.
Today, there are live WSOP events that only cost $300 or $500 to enter, and people can even win bracelets online. The entire WSOP 2020 is being held online due to the coronavirus situation, which is the only viable solution short of canceling the series entirely.
But is it the right solution? Many pros have expressed their concern that this is actually bad for poker because it reduces the number of WSOP bracelets.
If someone wins one with their dog, the trophy loses its appeal and becomes almost irrelevant after a while.
And there are many bracelets available every year.
The modern WSOP has 60 tournaments, so several dozen new bracelets every year. Many of these are awarded in tournaments with buy-ins under $1,000, live or online. But how is any of this bad for poker?
If anything, it will encourage casual players to give it a go and maybe even win a WSOP bracelet – something that most people wouldn't have dreamed of a decade or two ago.
The problem is that there is a rather delicate balance in the poker ecosystem. Professional gamers are the ones who pretty much keep the dream alive.
If they are not happy with what the WSOP is doing, they will share their opinion with the world. This in turn can have a negative effect on the game, killing the dream or making it irrelevant.
If your favorite pro tells you that WSOP bracelets have become a joke, you probably won't be very motivated to chase one.
Of course, poker isn't just about the WSOP, but for many amateurs, the whole motivation for playing the game is its competitive aspect.
If this balance is disturbed, their love for the game will decrease and eventually some of them will stop playing altogether.
Dig below the surface
The World Series of Poker is just one of the many events that take place in Las Vegas. It is a city built entirely on the gambling industry.
And make no mistake, gambling is fun – but it has its dark side.
Yes, it's not the WSOP's fault, but again, there's no way to separate these things.
It's all a package, and if you come to play the World Series of Poker, you might get more than you bargained for.
I know a few people who went to Vegas to play 카지노사이트 some WSOP events and maybe some cash games, but ended up blowing their bankrolls on table games. Such an experience leaves a sour taste in the mouth and is a feeling that is not easy to get rid of. The worst thing is that the feeling is directly related to poker because they went there to play poker.
You would rightly think that this danger exists almost everywhere since poker rooms are usually inside casinos, but Las Vegas is different. You don't have to be a gambler to lose your money in the Vegas pit.
Of course, I'm being overly dramatic on purpose, but it's worth including in the discussion of whether the WSOP is good or bad for poker. Most people develop their love and passion for the game after their first visit to the WSOP, but there is always another side to the coin.
Verdict: The WSOP can only be good for poker
While I've tried my best to come up with a few valid points as to why the WSOP might be bad for poker, there's no way these negatives outweigh the positives.
Without the World Series of Poker, the game would not be what it is today.
For many amateurs, the WSOP is the equivalent of poker. They don't know about EPT, WPTS and other series. Some of them don't even know that money games exist.
For them, poker is about tournaments, and tournaments are played at the WSOP.
Saying the WSOP is bad for poker is like saying the Champions League is bad for soccer. Sure, there are things that can be fixed, and everyone has an opinion on what could be done better. GET MORE INFO
It also has to be said that the WSOP organizers have shown some flexibility over the years, trying to embrace new ideas and accommodate as many players of all shapes and sizes as possible. But in a competition where twelve thousand different people from all over the world come together, there is always someone who is not enthusiastic about it. That's just the nature of the beast.
