2016 World Series of Poker…Another Great Event!

Intentions – we all have them. My intention going into the 2016 World Series of Poker was to play lots of hours of live poker at the Rio and enter a handful of bracelet events, as I have done for the past 35 WSOPs. Due to some travel conflicts, work, and helping friends with health-related issues, it wasn’t meant to be. I ended up playing zero tournaments, but at least I was able to play seven cash game sessions. I love the excitement of walking into the WSOP each year, seeing hundreds of poker tables and poker dealers, hearing the stories that people passing you in the hallway are telling on their cell phones, reconnecting with friends, meeting new players, and having so many live games, satellites, and tournaments from which to choose.

By now, the November Nine is set and the tables, chips, and chairs have been gathered and put into storage for another year. On day 5 of the main event. I had the opportunity to talk to Jack Effel, Tournament Director for the WSOP. I asked Jack how he could still look so fresh after six weeks of working such long hours every day and in typical Effel fashion, he credited his team for doing such a wonderful job to make the series so great. I don’t think the average person has any idea of the logistics that go into running such an event. It takes a full year of planning to coordinate hundreds of pieces of the puzzle… staffing, equipment, tournament schedules, structures, payouts, tracking systems, registration procedures, security, parking, cage procedures, massage therapists, cocktails/drinks for the players, media, booths, and on and on. My hat is off to Jack Effel and his team who make it look effortless.

I was happy to see that under the direction of Danny Mack, a longtime veteran in the poker industry and the new Live Games Manager for the WSOP, the cash games were probably run the most efficiently of any year to date. There was plenty of room between the tables due to rearranging the location of the games and it didn’t seem as hectic as it has been in some previous years. The lighting was good and the room temperature was comfortable instead of freezing. There appeared to be sufficient staff to take care of players’ needs… well done, WSOP!

My game of choice during the WSOP is $75-$150 Omaha eight-or-better. A change was implemented this year that was brilliant and solved a problem the players have had to deal with for years. In this game, a time collection is taken every 30 minutes instead of a rake. In other words, every half hour, players in the game pay $8 per person for the right to play.

In the past, instead of players paying their own $8 time, most people preferred to play a “time pot” which works like this: On the half hour and the hour, the dealer would announce “Time pot” and $8 per person would be taken out of the pot for the house ($72 in a full game). To qualify to be a time pot, there had to be a flop. It obviously created a situation in which players would choose not to play marginal hands during the time pot and some would even fold premium hands because there was a very large “winner’s tax.” What often ended up happening was that the blinds would get a walk and agree to chop, or someone would raise and take it since one had to have a monster hand to make it a positive expectation to play knowing that $72 was coming out of the pot. It would often be five or more hands before we saw a flop. The “action” players would pay a lot more of the time pots than the tighter players. Once the time pot was played, action would resume as normal.

This year, they came up with a procedure called a “time flop.” Dealers rotate every 30 minutes; when the incoming dealer put out the flop on the first hand he or she dealt, the card on the left of the flop indicated which seat number had to pay the time for the whole table. Each seat position corresponded with a card value. The #1 seat was represented by the ace, #2 seat was represented by the deuce, etc. If the card on the left was a face card, it would revert to the card in the middle of flop and then if it too was a face card, it would go to the flop card on the right. Everyone at the table had a “sweat” to see who would have to pay the time.

Players were allowed to opt out of the time flop and pay their own $8 if they wanted. After getting stuck with paying the time twice in a row, one player said he would pay his own $8. If you really wanted to gamble, you could buy that player’s position. In other words, he would give you the $8, but if his seat number came up, you had to pay the time for the table. This gave you a double chance of paying, but you still were a favorite not to have to pay (in a full table, you would be 9/2 against paying). I bought action a few times and lucked out.

If you run a poker game or even play in a poker game that uses a time pot, I highly suggest that you change it to a time flop. The benefit is that it is fair to everyone and that the action isn’t stymied while players keep folding until there is a flop.
Change of subject: The entire 2017 Card Player Cruises schedule and some of the 2018 schedule can be viewed at www.cardplayercruises.com. Check us out! If you love poker and traveling, there is no better vacation.

Now, let’s play poker! ♠

Linda is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. She is available to host poker seminars, corporate poker events, and charity tournaments. You can contact her through her at [email protected].