World Series Rundown

The 2009 World Series of Poker will launch its 57-event extravaganza on May 26. The WSOP staff hosted a conference call in late April to cover event changes and improvements. Here are some of the 2009 tweaks:

Chips

In keeping with current poker trends, the WSOP is offering players more chips. This year, all players will get triple the amount of the buy-in in chips, versus double in 2008. So, for example, you’ll get 3,000 in chips for a $1,000 buy-in event. WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel also mentioned that even though chips have been added, the structures have not been compromised, and in fact have been improved. He said levels have been added so that “players can make better decisions.” You can view the structures on CardPlayer.com.

TV Coverage

According to ESPN Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions Doug White, games other than no-limit hold’em don’t do well in regard to television ratings. So, this year the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event will not see TV time, and the majority of the broadcast hours, 24 out of 30, will be devoted to the main event.

The remainder will be devoted to the special $40,000 no-limit hold’em event, the Ante Up for Africa celebrity charity event, and a new event, the WSOP Champions Invitational. The Invitational will take place on May 31 and will consist of all past WSOP champions.

The “November Nine” will be back, and viewers will be able to watch final-table action on Nov. 10, just hours after a champion is crowned. The WSOP noted that the delayed final-table broadcast doubled final-table ratings for the 2008 event.

Player Tracking

In light of prime-time misbehavior at the Series last year (Scotty Nguyen and Phil Hellmuth, in particular), the WSOP announced a new approach to player-conduct enforcement. The WSOP will institute a written, real-time log of rules infractions.

“We saw some things we were not proud of,” WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said. “We’ve never tracked this before, so it’s a quantum step forward.”
Penalties, ranging from one hand to disqualification, will be assessed based on past warnings.

Bracelet Ceremony

Most WSOP bracelet events end late into the night. This year, the tournament organizers will host a formal bracelet ceremony at 2 p.m. each day. Whoever won the previous day’s tournament will be asked to come back to receive a gold bracelet and interact with the media.