I play 40 hours a week in a plexi bubble and love it more than ever. Don’t have to fake talk with the fish or anyone for that matter. Only bad thing is verbalizing any bet or allin to the dealer.

Agree 100%. Poker's still very social and very profitable, especially in environments where the player pool is small.

The social aspect of poker is far less applicable in a WSOP environment than in your local cardroom though. In addition a WSOP environment has a much greater potential to enable an outbreak that could be directly traced back to it than a local cardroom. This would potentially have serious adverse consequences for the brand, reputation and potential liabilities - just ask the cruise lines if you don't believe me...

The tweeted article above about covid being 'mostly gone' in April is delusion at its finest.

We can hope for a WSOP around October/November time, but anyone that thinks it'll happen in June/July and have even close to normal attendance numbers is living in a fantasy land.

I think being stuck on the ship for two more weeks had more to do with it than anything else. No one is being forced to play, there are live tournaments going on now.

You mentioned going from 9 handed to 8 handed, you really think that does anything?

U.S. daily new cases is running around 70k, peak was 250k. In NV it is around 400, peak was 2.5k.

If these trends continue then more will be opened back up, including NBA, PGA Tour, MLB, etc. for fans. If no outbreaks result and the trend continues down or reached a point of manageability, I think WSOP has the green light to go forward essentially as they have done in the past. (e.g. no plexiglass, no 6 max, no capacity restrictions*, etc.) In other words, I don't see WSOP as the lone wolf either way the trend goes.

WSOP will likely plan with the best case in mind, and adjust if other crowd venues are not re-opening.

* - I could see WSOP imposing capacity restrictions to provide a sense of safety to the players, but it will probably be lip service.

I am sure that had an impact, but the damage done both financially and to their reputation is pretty significant. No industry has been more devastated by the pandemic than the cruise lines who are burning cash at incredible rates and yet are in no hurry to prematurely resume operations, knowing that another outbreak could finish them off.

Whilst there may well be live tournaments and cash games going right now, none of them are close to the scale of the WSOP. Quite simply, having thousands of players huddled around hundreds of tables in the same room, passing chips and cards around for days and weeks at a time is a scenario that risks an outbreak that could be easily and directly tied to the WSOP. Now, the players may all be happy to take that risk, but if there is a significant risk of brand damage, financial consequences or liability, then the WSOP may well think twice before rushing ahead.

As far as 8 or 9 handed - doesn't bother me. Most places are playing 8 handed now, how much it benefits the house or the player - I don't know, but if plexiglass were a requirement, I doubt you could have more than 8 handed.

Reported Covid cases are down in large part because:
1. Crippling weather throughout much of the country has forced people to bunker down.
2. Crippling weather throughout much of the country has significantly impacted the number of Covid tests administered

Case-in-point: Teas had a major ice-storm, massive power outages, and a 56% decline in reported Covid cases last week. Not a coincidence.

TL;DR: Probably a mistake to predict anything 6 months out based on last week's trends.

Covid cases spiked in europe during bad weather and went down in the summer. The virus likes cold weather, people spend more time indoors.

Also, I just checked and hospitalizations are going down.

Total side note: it boggles my mind how quickly "doomers" react to any piece of positive news. They might be right, I have no idea, but at this point I feel like I need to focus on positive news to stay sane. And I've had far better year than most, all things considered.
Maybe I'm just weak, not sure.

Covid spiked in Europe during bad WINTER weather? Cite please. It's pretty well-established that Covid and precipitation are negatively related.

And yes, we all know Covid transmits better in colder temps. But Covid only "likes" people gathering indoors when it happens in large groups.

Essentially, bad winter weather has done a much better job of enforcing quarantine rules then the states ever could have.

Also, the number of tests administered was down about 9% last week, and also down almost 20% overall since their high in mid-January So....yea, that.

Also, cases were always going to decline once the holidays ended. Once spring comes, people will start acting like idiots again.

Great news, no doubt. I'd like to think we've turned the corner. But I seriously doubt the current trend will continue at anywhere near this current rate of decline. I'll bet a one-month ban there is ZERO chance they can resume a normal WSOP schedule by the end of May.

Cold weather is one thing, but snowy and icy roads that force people to stay home is quite a bit different.

might be true for a lot of hold em games these days but definitely not true for plo

Even if the bad weather explained half of the downtrend, the trend is still there. Neither does it explain large states downtrending such as CA and FL. And hospitalizations are way down in those states as well.

In fact CA relaxed their lockdown weeks ago.

With 40 million American adults having now received at least one vaccine inoculation, coupled with perhaps 40-60 million more having been infected already and carrying some degree of immunity (not everyone that's been infected, since asymptomatic cases do not all have full and long lasting immunity), there's optimism that the recent trends in new confirmed cases and hospitalizations will translate into comparable declines in fatalities and continue going forward into March and April. Countering that is the emergence and circulation in the states of new and more contagious virus variants, along with continuing poor compliance with public health measures that reduce spread. So we'll have to wait and see.

But large indoor gatherings like ten thousand crowding into the Rio loom as super-spreader events, if herd immunity isn't present to suppress the numbers of contagious carriers to extremely low numbers.

I suspect that the recent annual end of May to mid July schedule for the Series falls too soon this year, and a late summer/fall Series is far more likely.

"Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that most Americans will have access to a Covid-19 vaccine by mid- to late May or early June, a slight delay compared with earlier predictions of late March and April."

50 million will likely have already received at least one shot by the end of February. I've already received my first shot.

Like the cruise industry, would the WSOP consider requiring proof of vaccination to play? Admittedly, this would favor seniors.

At any rate with a successful vaccine roll-out and the requirement to use masks and hand sanitizer I don't see why the WSOP couldn't go live with a delay of a couple of months to the Aug - Sept timeframe.

Oh my god yes, please have this rule

No, that will not be a thing. Why would you want to be told what you can and can't do based on a shot?

For the wellbeing of your fellow humans?

Absolutely 100% agree that vaccine card requirement would be a huge step in the right direction. Starve out the antivaxxers.

No shirt...
No shoes...
No vaccine card...

I'm ok with that.

Yeah, I definitely hope vaccination is a requirement for playing in the WSOP this year.

But I do think that having had one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines should qualify, since that seems to be almost as effective as two doses, and several countries (esp. the UK) have adopted a one-dose policy.

FWIW - Israel have vaccinated over 50% of their adult population and are beginning to relax restrictions and reopen businesses. Most of these businesses are requiring proof of vaccination to allow entry or use.


The UK has NOT adopted a one-dose policy. They have extended the time between doses from 3 weeks to 10-12 weeks and it appears to be beneficial, having just one dose of a two dose vaccine does not mean you are vaccinated and if you fail to get the second dose, then getting the first was a waste of time and money for all involved.

anti-vaxx not= not getting vaccine

You'd be amazed how many people understand that living in a society means you sometimes have to accept rules you don't necessarily like for the benefit of others, and the group as a whole.

I mean, just crazy, right?

Antivax = not getting vaccine = not paying in the WSOP? Sounds just fine to me.

The Rio may be a place of public accommodation, but anti-vaxers are not a protected class. Playing in the WSOP is a choice, not a right.

Not true, everyone here needs two doses.