The Future of Tournaments

Tournament poker has never been so popular. Numbers in all the major events are up, and there are more major events than in the past. Tournaments are available 24 hours a day. This is largely due to the Internet, where you can actually participate in several tournaments simultaneously if you so desire. Also, it seems like I can't flip through all the channels without finding at least one poker tournament on television. In addition to major events, many brick-and-mortar cardrooms now offer daily or weekly tournaments. Thanks to poker's increased popularity, poker rooms are replacing slots up and down the Las Vegas Strip, and the clientele at these new cardrooms frequently come hoping to participate in a tournament.

One common denominator of the poker boom is that the boom has largely been exclusive to one form of poker – no-limit hold'em. This is the game that is shown on television; consequently, the masses of new players want to play this game when they visit a cardroom or Internet site, whether it is in the form of a tournament or a cash game. Also, experienced limit players are making the shift, partially due to having their interest piqued by watching the televised tournaments, and partially due to the steady flow of "new money" into no-limit games, creating some extremely profitable situations for savvy players. Major cardrooms that virtually never spread no-limit hold'em games now derive a significant portion of their business from them. For example, my home casino, Bellagio in Las Vegas, spread limit poker exclusively until no-limit started proliferating thanks to the television exposure. Now, no-limit hold'em is played on as many as 25 percent of the tables at times.

While limit poker is still the game of choice for most poker players in cash games, no-limit hold'em tournaments are now threatening to eliminate all competition in that arena. Understandably, the number of entrants for no-limit events dwarfs other tournament fields, due to the incredible amount of exposure the game is getting. Field sizes in events such as limit hold'em and Omaha eight-or-better are not shrinking, however. They are holding steady, while the turnout for no-limit events is skyrocketing.

As a result, some casinos are switching to no-limit hold'em exclusively for their events. Rather than featuring a different form of poker each day, as in the past, every tournament is now no-limit hold'em, with the size of the buy-in varying from day to day. It is hard to argue with this move from a numbers standpoint, as casino executives can simply point to the overwhelming disparity in the number of entrants between no-limit events and tournaments of other poker forms.

However, I believe that this decision is ultimately not in the best interest of casinos, for several reasons. First of all, when casinos host a major tournament, many out-of-town guests attend. However, a good poker room doesn't forget its base of local players, who play day in and day out, particularly if the room is located in a region in which there is ample competition. Most "bread and butter" players still play limit poker, and if a casino hosts a major tournament of a week or longer, these players appreciate the option of playing in an event of their game of choice.

Another factor I believe some tournament planners overlook is that many players will travel to an event to play one specific tournament, whether it is stud, Omaha, or something else. These players generally don't come for just one day, though. They might play only one event, but will arrive a few days early and stay late to play cash games or satellites. With only no-limit events, a large number of these players will stay home, whereas they might actually have played a no-limit tournament in addition to their game of choice had they made the trip.

A third problem I see is that with a series of no-limit events only, people have to pick and choose which ones to play. Few people can afford the buy-ins for two straight weeks of tournaments. With a varied schedule featuring, say, five no-limit tourneys and eight other events, players who want to play no-limit can earmark these five events to play. Sure, the field sizes for the other eight events will be smaller than if they were no-limit, but the added attendance in the condensed number of no-limit events will help offset that.

For cardrooms considering adopting an all no-limit format for their tournaments, I would suggest two potential compromises. The first is to make every other day a no-limit event. For their customers who want to play only no-limit, perhaps an additional supersatellite for the main event could be scheduled on the off day, starting at a similar time to that day's tournament. This serves two purposes: First, customers wishing to play in a variety of tournaments will be happy, and second, the number of entrants in the main event will be increased.

My other suggestion is to hold a no-limit event every day, but have "special" tournaments in the other games every other day or so. If the no-limit event begins at noon, the "special" tournament could start at 4 p.m. Once again, the significant number of players who enjoy the other events would appreciate this, and it would also provide a redemption opportunity for players who have been eliminated from the noon tournament.

Personally, I enjoy playing no-limit hold'em tournaments, and have no plans to give them up. I find them more challenging than live casino poker or other tournaments, and playing in them is one way of keeping the game fresh and exciting to me. That said, I will be extremely disappointed if all other forms of tournament poker die out. Attendance in these events is not suffering, it's just not experiencing the boom exclusive to no-limit tournaments. Most poker players still play limit poker, and not just hold'em. I believe it is in the best interest of a healthy cardroom to promote a variety of poker games, to suit the tastes of all of its customers.