WSOP 2011 Changes: What's Good, and What's Not?

This year's World Series of Poker introduced several policy changes. In this column, PokerStrategy.com editor Matt Kaufman takes a look at the pros and cons of some of the more important ones.

Every year, the World Series of Poker implements a number of changes.

Some work well, and some don't. This year, there has already been one incident where I believe a new rule gave two players an unfair advantage.

Here are some of the more noteworthy changes made at this year's WSOP, and some of my thoughts on each:

Hard Stop Times

"Hard stop times" are the most significant change to the structure of events this year. This means that tournaments will pause every night when 10 levels of play have been completed- regardless of the situation.

The reason for hard stop times is that players complained when events ran very late at night in prior years.

At the final table of Event #4, a $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em tournament, play was stopped for the night with just 4 players remaining.

Maria Ho

In my opinion, Allen Bari and Maria Ho were the beneficiaries of the hard stop time. Why? They have friends who are professional players.

Overnight, they each could have spoken about strategy with their friends. If any of Maria Ho's friends had picked up a tell on one of her opponents, they could have easily discussed it with her during the extended break.

The other 2 players in the final four were Sean LeFort and Nicholas Blumenthal. Neither had ever cashed in a tournament for greater than $20,000 before, so it is quite unlikely that they could have had the same advantage.

The nature of a poker tournament is that each individual player battles his or her opponents at the table. The rules should not help provide an additional edge to anyone due to their friends on the rail.

Hard stop times make sense for most days of a tournament, but when it comes down to final tables the World Series needs to make an exception and let the players reach a winner.

New POY System

Another interesting change at this year's WSOP is the new Player of the Year points system.

The importance of some tournaments has changed, and extra value is being given to large field tournaments and high buy-in events. I think this change is excellent, as it reflects the true value of each tournament a lot better than in previous years.

A second related change is that World Series of Poker Europe bracelet events will count towards the Player of the Year race.

Although there's nothing directly wrong or unfair about doing this, I think it will remove some of the intrigue of the award. Fans may lose interest in following the points if they need to wait until October to find out how the Player of the Year race concludes.

The Chip Reese Rule

Chip Reese

In honor of the late Chip Reese, the Poker Hall of Fame has implemented a rule stating that no player younger than 40 will be eligible to be voted in.

The reason for choosing 40 is because that is the age at which Chip Reese became the youngest member of the Hall.

I think this change is for the best, as it allows older deserving players an opportunity to be recognized for their achievements.

It would seem unfitting for an old-timer to have to wait an extra year (or years) in order for a younger player like Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu to get in. Players like those two won't have any trouble getting votes when they turn 40 anyway.

Other Changes

The WSOP has also made some smaller positive changes this year. They include but are not limited to:

• The introduction of Badugi to the 10-game mixed event
• Expanded coverage of final tables on WSOP.com
• Automatic shufflers for every final table
• Additional phone charging stations
• Extra satellites including ones with buy-ins as low as $75