The summer the WSOP didn't happen
Barry Carter reflects on the decision to postpone the WSOP and what an Autumn version of the series could look like.
The least surprising news of the year dropped this week when the World Series of Poker was officially postponed until the Autumn. Every upcoming poker event in the world cancelled, postponed or moved online rather quickly and the WSOP was the only standout, until now.
It’s obviously very sad and a reflection of how times have changed, probably forever, that this had to happen. Just like the Olympics, European Cup and every other sport, this is the biggest event in our game and it’s not happening because of a global pandemic. Nobody thought they would be adapting to something like this last year.
But it is a relief that the series has been postponed, although it is utterly terrible for everyone whose work has been impacted by this, it would have been incredibly irresponsible to host this event in the summer (if indeed it were allowed to happen).
Too dangerous to host this summer
Given how the coronavirus spreads, hosting tens of thousands of poker players, six to nine at a table, passing chips and cards around – it would be inevitable people would spread the virus. Don’t get me started on the two Seniors Events. The idea of thousands of vulnerable people doing this is horrifying.
It would have been very dangerous to host the event next month and a terrible advert for the game when the inevitable stories broke of the virus impacting people who attended.
It’s important to state that I don’t think for one second the WSOP was contemplating hosting this event in May, knowing the dangers involved. I suspect that the reason it took so long to hear from them was either because they were waiting to clarify if/when the series would take place later this year and perhaps because cancelling sooner might have been bad business contractually.
Should online events award bracelets?
The trend in the industry now is to host these live festivals online and we have already seen that happen with the WSOP. GGPoker are hosting 18 WSOP-C events and WSOP.com have also hosted a WSOP-C series. WSOP-C events award rings, not bracelets and they are the touring aspect of the WSOP brand. I don’t think it would make sense to host actual bracelet events online because no poker site can accommodate traffic from all over the world, so it wouldn’t really be the ‘World’ Series of Poker.
I expect more sites to host WSOP-C events this year, it is by it's nature a touring series, so this year it can tour the major online poker operators.
So we are looking at an Autumn WSOP this year and if we are fortunate enough to globally be winning the war against the coronavirus, this event might be looked back at fondly by the poker community. It might be the first time a lot of players dare venture back to the live poker tables after a 2020 where they played mostly online, so there could be a huge appetite for it.
I suppose the one thing we can guess about how the schedule will change is that we will see more shorthanded events as social distancing looks like something that will last with us for many years to come. Sorry to end this as a Debbie Downer, but this probably should be the year we skip the Seniors Event unless we make a major breakthrough in the fight against the virus.
It was the right decision to postpone the WSOP. There are much more important things to contemplate in the world right now and live poker will be there when we are ready to resume normal life, hopefully that includes the WSOP in Autumn.
Will you go to the WSOP in Autumn? Let us know in the comments:
