Things to Think About

The WSOP for me this year was interesting. I only played three events, but did accomplish a lot of business, which will, I think, be great. I have done a lot of thinking about poker tournaments over this past year and have some problems with many of them.

First of all what separates poker from other “sporting” events is that all the money in the prize pool comes from the players. The WSOP, and other successful series make their money from an entry fee and a percentage of the prize pool. Sounds fair enough, they are running a business and deserve to make a fair profit, but how much is a fair profit? There in lies the question. Also, the amount of say that players have in how the events are structured and run is also an issue.

When a tournament player busts out of an event, often times they play cash games or a satellite, which again benefits the casino. The casinos also derive revenue from the rooms the players stay in, the restaurants they patronize, other casino game like black jack and craps, as well as the other things that a casino has to offer. How then do you figure out the value that the poker player brings to the casino? These days with the way player’s action is tracked throughout the casino, it easy to follow an individuals gaming if they log in at each table with a player’s card.

Getting back to my original question, is how do we as players make sure we are getting a fair shake when it comes to tournament fees and expenses? First of all there needs to be complete and clear disclosure of all the fees and expenses taken from the prize pool. I prefer when it is itemized upfront like $5,000 + 400. Then the prize pool should be the $5,000 multiplied by the number of entries, sound simple enough, right? Well not exactly, often times more fees are taken from the prize pool. Again whatever it is should be simply itemized right up front, which would eliminate any confusion.

The problem is in a series such as the WSOP; everyone wants the opportunity to play for the coveted bracelet so we all put up with exorbitant fees. What can we do? Well for starters we should ask for direct disclosure of all fees and expenses, so we can make an informed decision. Secondly it would be nice to be able to give feedback through a feedback sheet that takes into account the opinions of all those who play. A simple slate of ten or so questions could be devised to help influence tournament directors. This would be much more representative than a players advisory committee, which only has the voices of a privileged few.