Can tournament PLO get any bigger than this?
In his Community Weekly Round-up Barry Carter praises the record breaking PLO field this week at the World Series of Poker.
Maybe the biggest surprise so far from the WSOP is the fact they managed to pull a crowd of 1,128 for a PLO event. The organisers took the wise move of dropping the normally $1,500 event to $1,000, and it paid off.
I remember a time when 1,000 runners in ANY non-Main Event was remarkable, but now they are commonplace both in Vegas and on occasion in Europe. However, to manage such a feat in PLO is nothing short of amazing.
I think we are past the days of wondering whether PLO is the 'next big thing'. The question is can it get even bigger than it is right now? Especially in the tournament format?
I've actually played quite a lot of PLO tournaments before, and they are very enjoyable. They don't play out how one would expect. I think most people envisage them to be all action, but in my experience they are quite nitty. They don't have antes, after all, and as such I've noticed is there is a lot of nut peddling. If this experience is representative of most PLO events, they are probably not the amazing value people claim them to be.
I've spoken with many tournament organisers over the years about whether PLO can become popular in the live arena. Their response is always the same; their patrons always tell them they want more PLO events, but on the day nobody ever shows up.
I think PLO tournaments have probably reached critical mass. This event at the WSOP is likely the exception that proves the rule, rather than evidence there is a sleeping giant in the form of tournament PLO. It's a chance for all the poker fans to get that PLO urge out of their system for another year.
Either way, hats off to the WSOP. It looks like a great early indicator of a huge World Series to come.
Can PLO get bigger than 1,128 runners in a single tournament? Let me know in the comments box.
Thread of the week
Are the micro stakes tough to beat? Our member thenutscracked is really struggling with them at the moment and he started a thread to try and find out why.
It is very brave of him to admit and the thread has already prompted many in our community to chime in and help.
Are you struggling at the micro level? Have you recently just broke out of the low stakes and have some advice to share? Don't be shy, post today.
LOL of the week
It was a serious, and quite fascinating, hand. This was the first time I saw a four-way all-in end such a big live tournament and I must admit it made me laugh.
Running hot
The first week of the WSOP looked like this:
• Qualify for the Shark Cage TV Show with PokerStars.
• A new NL600 video from Lackoogcb.
• Check out Ninja Vision from Table Ninja 2, a whole new way to mass multi table.
• After Tony G got elected into paliament, I asked can poker players make good politicians?
• Our Vegas Virgin has landed in Sin City.
Coming up
Full steam ahead at the Series from now on, including:
• All the gossip from the WSOP and the next installment of our Vegas Virgin Diary.
• Live coaching from 
Kyyberi, lnternet and another guest webinar from JaxTraw.
• New videos from Splitsuit, W34z3l and Fitzinator18.
 Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2. He has been working in the poker industry for nine years and in 2013 won the APAT Award for Best Poker Media Provider. You can learn more about his work here.
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