S
Sohmurr
Rock Star
Silver Level
Well, with the current climate of US poker players and the online bedlam, there is one aspect I haven't seen any mention of yet. The wsop ME, and to a lesser extent all the events, was powered in huge thrust by the many online players who satellited in. Certainly no Americans will be qualifying in via sites, and there are scant few willing to toss in $10K to play. The satellites hosted by Harrah's or other casinos will hardly come close to replacing the thousands who entered online. Sure, there will still be the odd and end PS, FTP, etc. satellite qualifier from abroad, but what predictions do you cast regarding this year's WSOP ME. How many players fewer, will this change the Nov. setup, what are the pros' chances of winning, how many days will play last?
My predictions? Well, last year there were 7319 entrants. I expect more than a 50% cut. 3000, at best. It wouldn't surprise me at all though to see fewer than 2000. The field's massive size allowed last year to run 4 day-1's, 2 day-2's, and over a week of play before the November 9 was finalized. I expect 4-5 days of play total, with maybe 2 day-1's. As far as the November setup, I don't see that changing, the emphasis is mostly for hyping the event which hasn't changed. The higher concentration of pros this year means we should expect tables dominated by them, and likely one to win. However, the commercial support by FTP and PS should die down once they stop seeing profits from airing them in the US (they certainly won't continue to run the adds if people can't move to play in their real money games), so that lack of advertising revenue could push the Nov. 9 back into July despite the likely star studded field. We'll just have to see.
My predictions? Well, last year there were 7319 entrants. I expect more than a 50% cut. 3000, at best. It wouldn't surprise me at all though to see fewer than 2000. The field's massive size allowed last year to run 4 day-1's, 2 day-2's, and over a week of play before the November 9 was finalized. I expect 4-5 days of play total, with maybe 2 day-1's. As far as the November setup, I don't see that changing, the emphasis is mostly for hyping the event which hasn't changed. The higher concentration of pros this year means we should expect tables dominated by them, and likely one to win. However, the commercial support by FTP and PS should die down once they stop seeing profits from airing them in the US (they certainly won't continue to run the adds if people can't move to play in their real money games), so that lack of advertising revenue could push the Nov. 9 back into July despite the likely star studded field. We'll just have to see.
