The 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is fast approaching and poker players from all over the world are making plans to head over to Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2018 WSOP will once again be held at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and will run from May 29 to July 17 and will feature a record number of 78 bracelet events.
The WSOP has made a number of changes to its schedule of events which include holding the $10,000 Main Event earlier, introducing 12 bracelet events post the Main Event, a historical online only event and putting in place more high-roller events and Pot Limit Omaha games.
A number of players heading over to the WSOP want to know if the WSOP and the Rio Casino have made changes to its organization and procedures for hosting the 2018 WSOP edition. This is because there were a few inconveniences that players faced during the 2017 WSOP and hope that they will not have to face similar changes during this year’s edition of the WSOP.
Here is Part 1:
Caesars Wants To Make Things Easier For Players
Caesars Entertainment Corp which owns the Rio Casino is used to hosting the WSOP for a number of years. The casino operator strives to make things better for players attending the WSOP and has done a great job in improving the overall player experience with every passing year.
However it is not always easy to implement suggested changes immediately because there is usually a lot of red tape that needs to come off. Seth Palansky, Vice President for Corporate Communications for ‎Caesars Interactive said that there are many changes that they’d like to see in the 2018 WSOP, but implementation can be tricky as there are tons of processes and regulations that they have to adhere to.
Poker pros and the media who will be present at the WSOP would certainly like to see some of the below changes rolled out during the 2018 edition as it will make life easier. While not all of these changes can and will be implemented in 2018, one can go ahead and express them and hopefully the WSOP and Caesars will take note and take the required actions sooner rather than later.
More Live Streaming
Poker enthusiasts from all over the world want to have the opportunity to watch live action at the 2018 WSOP and that can be made possible with more live streaming. Fans in particular want to get in on the action at final tables and the WSOP will have to look at meeting the demands of their fans.
Just like last year, ESPN will again be televising the WSOP Main Event and the Big One for One Drop, while the subscription-based app PokerGO will stream the other final tables.
But what fans really want is more coverage and they want it free of charge. How hard is it for the WSOP to install a few webcams on the table and stream it on Twitch? Aussie Millions is doing it with Jason Somerville and the WSOP can certainly take a leaf out of their book and find someone as credible as Jason Somerville to stream WSOP events via Twitch.
More live coverage of the WSOP will only be good for the game as it will get more people talking on social media and encourage amateur poker players to check out the action.
New and Better Quality Cards
Last year, many players went to social media to air their grievances about the WSOP’s playing cards. Apparently, many of the Copag playing cards were marked and players agree that the cards were much more inferior than decks used in other card rooms and poker tours.
One of the biggest fiascos that the inferior playing cards brought last year was at the $111,111 One Drop High Roller event when the players noticed white dots at different patterns for each card. The game had to be stopped until a new and fresh deck of playing cards were supplied to the table.
Considering how popular the WSOP is with poker players, one would have assumed that the WSOP would have checked and ensured that the playing cards would be of the highest standard. This small but critical goof up in 2017 upset quite a few poker pros who lashed out on social media and some even decided not to play at the WSOP again.
Caesars and the WSOP took serious note of this issue and Palansky has confirmed that the playing cards should not be a problem this year. After the debacle last year, WSOP better be getting industry grade cards to earn the trust of their players back. For the biggest and richest poker tournament in the world, it would be a crying shame if the playing cards posed a problem in 2018.
We will continue to highlight more improvements in Part 2…