It's crazy to think that we're only about two months away from the next
World Series of Poker. The
WSOP held a conference call in mid-March to discuss plans and changes for this year's event, and there is some exciting news to report.
First, in keeping with the trend of providing more play for your money, all 55
WSOP events, including the $10,000 main event and the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship event, will start with double the amount of chips. Talk about more bang for your buck! Also, with 258 tables available for play, the main event will be able to accommodate more than 10,000 players. Even though the
WSOP will not take direct entries from online sites (this is the same policy as last year), expect thousands of players to qualify online, with the sites giving them the money to buy themselves in. Here's a look at some of the ways you can get to the main event online for pennies on the dollar:
PokerStars: The site offers a "cash direct path," whereby players start in a $2 turbo-rebuy satellite to enter a $33 rebuy tournament that awards at least one $12,000
WSOP package daily. For single-table specialists, there is a "shootout path." Satellites start with a $5.50 turbo-rebuy. Winning will get players into a $160 daily tournament that guarantees at least one
WSOP package. Also, once a week, PokerStars runs a $615 buy-in satellite to the main event, for which players can qualify for as little as $3.
Full Tilt: WSOP direct satellites include the Sunday $216 buy-in event, the $1,000 Thursday satellite, and the Tuesday $322 tournament. Players can qualify for these tournaments daily for as little as $4.40.
UltimateBet: Every Friday, the site awards at least one $12,000
WSOP package in its weekly $215 satellite. Players can qualify for that tournament through $5.50 and $11 multitable daily tournaments.
Bodog: Players can win a $12,000
WSOP package for as little as $1. Every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday, Bodog runs a $270 direct satellite for
WSOP seats. Players can gain entry into this event via numerous small buy-in tournaments.
Absolute Poker: The site is giving away an $11,000
WSOP package, and players can qualify for a weekly $108 buy-in tournament through daily $1 and $10 satellites.
You don't have to wait until the
WSOP, especially if you're in Las Vegas in April and May, to play for piles of cash. With the $25,000 buy-in
World Poker Tour Championship coming on April 21, the
Mirage Poker Showdown on May 19, and the
Mandalay Bay Poker Championship on May 29, it's a busy time of the year.
The
WPT has already put together some great events this year. At the most recent event, Bay 101's
Shooting Star, Ted Forrest made his fourth
WPT final table and took down his first
WPT title and more than $1 million. With a stacked final six that also included James Van Alstyne, who leads the
Card Player Player of the Year stadings, Bill Edler, who has now finished in the top 20 in
three WPT events in a row, and J.J. Liu, the final table set a record for most hands played at a
WPT final table - 263. Check out a full recap of the action in the next issue.
Lastly, the poker community lost a great man on March 11 with the passing of Tom Jacobs. Jacobs, 61, was a
WSOP bracelet winner and finished second in the 1992 main event.
When I first started playing Omaha in Las Vegas, one of the regulars in the game was Tom Jacobs. Tom played a lot of hands and put an immense amount of pressure on his opponents. After about 30 bets, he would flip over a winner and people would shake their heads about the cards he played. He would always tell me, "The nice thing about poker is that you can play any cards you want when you are playing with your own money. They aren't going to arrest you or shoot you." Most people who have played poker for a while had a chance to play with Tom in tournaments and know his son, Kenny, who also plays and has had success in tournaments. To me, there was a special bond because of the father-son last-longer bets that we used to make. Tom, we will miss you.
