It's Curtains for Certain WSOP Events

A word that's rarely used to describe a poker tournament has made an appearance at this year's World Series of Poker: Sequestered.

Phil Hellmuth won his eleventh bracelet last night at the Rio, and despite the large bleacher arena that's open to the public, only the players and a few selected guests got to see the event take place live.

Like quarantined patients, the final 10 players and a guest for each one were sequestered away from the crowds that buzz the Rio all day and most of the night and placed behind thick black curtains where they quietly did battle.

For $49.95, fans from everywhere in the world were able to tune into the event "almost live," which means it's shown with a one-hour delay. The rest of the fans, family members and friends who had rooting interest in the event and showed up to watch had to take a seat in front of a large-screen TV set up in one of the hallways to watch it with the same delay.

This was the fourth event to be held this way this year. The $1,000 Ladies World Championship event was the fifth one

For people located away from the Amazon Room, where the women slipped behind the dark curtains to conclude the event, it allows them to tune in to events that wouldn't see broadcast on ESPN.

Missing Out

Susan Johnson flew down from the San Francisco area to root on her niece, Mindy Trinidad, who was one of the last nine players who made the final table of the ladies event. Instead, hours after the event started, Johnson found herself sitting Indian-style on the floor in front of TV set up in the hallway for members of the media. She also could've gone to a special room where the Rio set up 10 plasma screen to watch the events -- complete with food and beverage service -- but she seemed to prefer the relative quiet of the hallway. She sat eye-level with a sign that hung below the screen that read "Ladies Event Live! One Hour Tape Delay."

This year, Bluff Media, which is the official media outlet of the WSOP, is offering people around the world a chance to watch certain WSOP final tables "almost live." People here in Vegas interested in those events have to wait.

"I was really disappointed. For some reason, I assumed it would be something like the larger auditorium with the bleacher seats that we see on television," Johnson said. "Plus this is on a delay, which has been upsetting to me because I've been wondering what's been going on."

She's not the only one. Mike Matusow, a friend of Hellmuth's and a poker fan to the core, could hardly contain his disgust that Hellmuth's final table wouldn't be opened to the public. He wrote this on CardPlayer.com's Pro Blog page yesterday:

"It is a sad day in poker when a player like Phil Hellmuth goes for history and is unable to show it to a live audience. I think that it's sad for a final table to be played in secrecy, and even worse for the results to be delayed by an hour just so someone can make a few extra bucks."

The "extra bucks," of course, go to both Harrah's and Bluff Media. (Card Player filled the same role as Bluff did last year. Like Bluff, Card Player paid Harrah's for these rights.) The $49.95 gets poker fans 12 months of the sequestered broadcasts. Harrah's and Bluff have 13 more scheduled for this year's WSOP, and more could be added.

"I'm assuming that if Johnny Chan makes the final table and they have a chance to do it, they're going to do it. Everything's flexible," Dalla said.

The decision to sequester the table from everyone except the players and their one allowed guest, and to delay it an hour, was made by both Bluff Media and Harrah's to protect the integrity of the final table. Despite the delay, none of the guests or players are permitted to carry a cell phone and have to spend the entire final table together, even on dinner breaks.

Although the Nevada Gaming Commission made recommendations to Harrah's and expressed concern that the game's integrity may be compromised by the broadcast, the Commission had little to do with deciding that the tables must be sequestered away from the public, said Jerry Markling, Chief of Enforcement for the Nevada Gaming Commission.

"That was something that Harrah's requested and we did not object to. That is not a gaming requirement," Markling said.

Hellmuth at least had a pragmatic view of the sequestering. He said it was nice to spend some time with the players at the final table. They ate dinner together. They chatted it up. They got to know each other and he said that it made for a much more pleasant experience for him.

"To me, it didn't make any difference at all. It's still a World Series of Poker tournament. I like having the crowd into it, but this might have been better for me because I was less distracted, I was able to just focus on the players," he said. "I think that it's great for poker what they're doing. It's just the future. They keep coming up with better and better ideas and we just follow them. It would be silly to argue against it or fight it."

But with so much history on the line in this year's WSOP - Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson are only one win away from re-tying Hellmuth with 11 bracelets, just to give two examples - there's a good chance that some of these moments will have to wait at least an hour to be seen by the public. And then only on a TV located in the Rio's hallway or on a computer monitor.

Those who made the trip to Las Vegas to gaze upon the circus that's the WSOP might realize that they could've just stayed home.

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