Lou,

I want to respect the mods so I don't want to make a long post about covid that isn't directly related to the WSOP. Happy to discuss via PM, but for here I'll just say I agree the peak will be very high, but given the vaccines I don't see shutdowns coming.

- cuse

I respect that. as it relates specifically to WSOP fall. The previous WSOP was cancelled 30 days out. If they stick with something like that for WSOP fall, that means a go / no End of Aug / 1st of Sept.

Given Vaccine rates seemingly stuck in mud, and that curve looking like its growing non-linearly straight into August, WSOP folks gonna be put to another tough choice in the midst of another surge.

Not sure how they could do anything other than cancel. From a business perspective, given all sort of factors, Im not sure why they even scheduled it in the first place. I would have instead taken all that energy and resource and focused on cranking back up and maybe even expanding the WSOP-C's and planned for a huge return summer 2022.

I bring up India in particular b/c it seems like we ignored that place as the source of a new variant that could affect us here, let alone the world. It seems like the trend of a new variant from wherever affecting our shores is becoming a more obvious theme that should not be ignored anymore to say the least. I am no brainiac but was not surprised in the least what is somewhat happening right now due to what occurred there.

Btw, life is all about making decisions about the future.
Whether you call it "speculation" or some other word can nevertheless serve (much) purpose at times but whatever you call it, the semantics is not germane here. Of course no one knows the future, but anticipating different outcomes is what is key and having plans for all contingencies in a flexible manner is what counts. Sure, that sounds like easier said than done especially for those of us who book flights to Vegas, enter tourneys only possibly to find out "Oops sorry, cancelled." etc. But who wants to learn the hard way?

I'd say if they end up canceling it's based on government mandates on crowd sizes or not getting enough workers etc.

This isn’t comparing like with like. 93% of all people in England have antibodies.

Masks won’t get you very far (given where transmission happens I actually have doubts on them being effective at all) while stuff like nightclubs are still open.

you all and others need to reread this. you heard what you wanted to hear and ignored what was actually written. if you can't discern between posting unsubstantiated gibberish (on either side) that your barber told you he read on twitter vs factual info, then maybe you should find another forum to participate.

Not gonna quote the whole thing, but this post is spot on IMO. I think there will be no "stay home" orders, and the WSOP is way over 50% to go off, possibly with a mask requirement. I fully plan on being there.

And these headlines need to go, because they are adding fuel to the fire of ignorant people who either see only headlines or can't understand what they mean. I saw another calling this a "massive" outbreak. This "outbreak" resulted in exactly 5 hospitalizations, and no deaths. It is not news when a vaccinated person tests positive, especially when no symptoms or mild symptoms. Again, no one has EVER said vax stops 100% of hosp or death. It stops the vast majority however.

Similarly, I have seen multiple people sharing the "same nasal viral load" statement as "FAUCI SAYS VAX GET JUST AS SICK AS UNVAX" which is clearly, demonstrably untrue in hundreds of data sets.

The vaccine came out last November (days after the election) and people were getting vaccinated by December. Donald Trump's vaccine, the best vaccine in the history of vaccines.

Delta may be more lethal because the most vulnerable people might have died from regular covid already.

JESUS ****ING CHRIST

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE

THREAD IS NOW TEMPORARILY LOCKED UNTIL THE LATEST VOLLEY OF COVID-CENTRIC POSTS ARE CLEANED UP

A bunch of posts from earlier today have been deleted.

Temp bans are next.

Well, at least it is NOT PERMANENTLY locked or banished like those Superman super villains into the phantom zone. I mean, that is the bright side to all of this, or is it..??

Still getting emails advertising 10k main seat giveaways

I hope what I'm about to say is WSOP-specific enough to not get deleted. What I put in bold is my issue and it is directly relevant to the WSOP, but I have to stray a bit to make my point.

I've seen a few comments about the WSOP maybe not having enough dealers or other staff. This would seem to be a rather easy fix -- pay them more! Everybody knows there is a large group of unemployed/underemployed Americans that are looking for jobs, and there is an instance or two of this group succeeding in their massive uphill battle to obtain enough influence to get a few firms to increase these workers' baseline salaries.

Unfortunately, poker dealers are another job in which these rich businesses pawn the responsibility for a significant part of their low-level employees' salary off on the customer. I can imagine why people aren't clamoring for a job that pays a pittance and relies on the random kindness of gambling degens WHILE ALSO inviting abuse from said degens for all sorts of ****, a lot of which the dealer can't even control.

For a non-tipping environment such as MTTs, I don't know what the dealers are paid, but I feel super safe in assuming it's not enough.

Edit: a happier and wealthier group of dealers would almost certainly lead to fewer mistakes and a happier environment overall. I personally don't care about dealer mistakes, but we've all seen random dudes FLIP OUT at dealers. Fewer instances of that is another win.

Gotta say I completely agree with your point, it is truly despicable that any employer is allowed to pay someone less than minimum wage and expect the tips to make up the difference.

Your post makes good sense, but just an FYI the above is not the case.

At no time that I can remember have employers had a more difficult time finding employees. Unemployment is at historic lows.

Just another in a long list of logistical challenges for WSOP staff as they are competing with so many other businesses for the same sort of employee.

But again, the main point of your post makes good sense.

Official statistics say otherwise. The Department of Labor has the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 5.9% for June 2021.

That’s roughly 50% higher than the sub 4% we had in June 2019. I think right before Covid hit the US was at 3.7% or 3.8% seasonally adjusted.

What’s correct is that employers have a hard time finding employees because after a year of Covid a lot of people aren’t interested in going back to their old (and often shitty) jobs. I think I mentioned in the past how hard it is for us to find bartenders / waitresses for our bar right now even though they make pretty good money.

I'm wondering what you think enough is. Serious question.

Second serious question: How much to the tournament dealers make? I see wildly different amounts all over the internet.

It's easy to say, "Pay them more," but any fair analysis of the question requires more information than seems available.

well you dont have to yell

Dealers at WSOP are making $39.25/hr this year.
($15 per 30 minues + $9.25/hr min. wage)

https://edmn.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/...d=poker+dealer

Thank you. So MHO is that they're being paid a fair wage, assuming there is ample opportunity to put in full time hours.

I have never seen a guarantee. That is pretty sick. If they get say 13 downs per 8 hours, that is $269 per shift.

I may be misinterpreting, but where do you get the "+ min wage" part?

yes this. scratch what I said about unemployment rates lows

I was wondering the same.

Unemployment does not count people who stop looking for work, underemployed or people who work part time but want full time work. It's not an accurate reflection of unemployment. The "real unemployment rate" is at it's highest level since Obama was in office, 11.1% real unemployment.

And yeah what idiot is going to want to work when the federal government keeps giving people $300/week on top of whatever the state gives for unemployment. I quit my job in 2020 because they drastically cut my pay during covid and filed for unemployment and made more money from EDD than I was making working. I'm not lazy but I'm not an idiot either. And I'm not saying the federal government should stop paying people either just pointing out it's going to hinder employers from finding suitable employees. Everything's all screwed up!

$39/hr to deal poker? Sign me up! Is that real though?