Official response from WSOP comissioner Jeffrey Pollack

• Author: admin
• Filed under: High Stakes News, Jeffrey Pollack, Poker, WSOP
• Date: May 30,2008

-Phil Hellmuth and Jeffrey Pollack

So here is the answer from World Series of Pokers comissioner Jeffrey Pollack conserning the changes on the Final Table of the Main Event:

This year - for the first time ever - the Final Table of our Main Event will be aired on ESPN the same day it takes place… and, it will be staged in November.

That means we are pausing the event once we play down to nine on July 14th. All of the nine players will come back to the Rio to resume play on November 9th. They will play down to just two and those two will play heads up on November 10th. Our champion should receive their bracelet in the early morning hours of November 11th and that night, in prime time, ESPN will air a show covering the Final Table.

In the weeks between July 14th and November 9th, the final nine players will have an unprecedented opportunity to capture the world’s attention and have their stories told. These players will be celebrated for outlasting and outplaying thousands of competitors and, instead of one star emerging from our Final Table, we think nine stars will shine - and help lift the entire game of poker.

This innovation is big and bold, and it shifts the paradigm. Now poker fans - and sports fans — will be anticipating who will win our coveted World Series of Poker bracelet instead of just talking about who won.

None of this means there was something wrong with the event or how the Final Table was staged. This isn’t about fixing something that’s broken. Rather, this move is an attempt to further mainstream poker and put players on a bigger stage.

I’ve heard a lot of feedback over the past week: good and bad. I didn’t expect anything different. When Major League Baseball introduced the Wild Card and Inter-League Play, there were a lot of folks who angry…others thought it was really smart. I was at NASCAR when we introduced the Chase for the Cup and fundamentally changed the points system that had governed the sport.

What we’re doing is actually far less invasive or disruptive to the structure and rules of our game. In fact, the event structure and rules aren’t changing at all.

Our pause in play is just that - and it only affects the final nine players. Unless you are one of those nine, this has no impact….other than give all entrants an opportunity to live the ultimate poker dream - and compete for our bracelet - on a history-making stage.

If you are a poker player and haven’t competed in the WSOP before, this is the year to enter. The possibilities are greater than ever!

All the best,

Jeffrey