Quote:
Originally Posted by Lon VanPatten
$1,500 NL events during the Harrah's era:
(full ring/non-shootout only)
2010 - 7
2009 - 7
2008 - 7
2007 - 6
2006 - 3 (with 5 events held during the ME)
2005 - 2 (with 1 event held during the ME)
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But that ignores the one $1,000 NLHE event in 2009 and the SIX on the 2010 schedule. In my opinion, the $1,000 and $1,500 NLHE events are nearly identical as large-field, low buy-in NLHE events. (The $2K events attract much smaller fields.)
So for 2010, that's 13 low-buyin NLHE events. That strikes me as very, very excessive, and the decreased numbers for those events back up my feelings.
It was 2006 that I was referring to on the show that had the ungodly number of hold'em events, leading some players and media to call it "The World Series of Hold'em." Here was the breakdown that year:
Hold'em: 33
Stud: 4
Omaha: 6
Deuce-to-Seven: 1
Mixed: 1
The Hold'em category includes the 3 closed events (Casino Employees, Seniors, and Ladies), and Stud includes Razz.
With 45 events in 2006, nearly 75% of them were hold'em. Harrah's was just "giving the people what they wanted" by packing the schedule with events that attracted large fields, but they were on a path to kill the long-term health of the WSOP. Thankfully, the Player's Committee pushed for them to change it and
I think the same thinking applies to the $1,000 and $1,500 NLHE events. They are great once in a while, but if you pack the schedule with them, you will harm the long-term health of the WSOP.