now we need the venetian to see the cross over for the best weeks to be there

in b4 2021 WSOP is the softest WSOP of all time because every solid player retired off their crypto gainz.

Can't believe they give out bracelets for the online events even with a WSOP scheduled for this year

Yeah, I don’t like it.

I thought there was Pot Limit Crazy 8s on there for a minute.

anyone have an estimate on how many runners some of the non holdem online WSOP events might get? Im looking at something like the $600 PLO8 tourney. The money would be nice but im guessing it wouldnt be much more than $60k? If there are only 500 entrants that would be a ridiculously easy way to try and win a bracelet. Almost similar to pre 2003 bracelet difficulty.

agree - dont like the trend at all really and I play extensively both online and live - Live events = bracelets for me

What are they supposed to do?

For a lot of players, there are exactly two reasons to sign up for any of these: Solid guarantees or bracelets. Except for the last event, there are no guarantees. So without bracelets, how many people would sign up for those events?

It's either bracelet events or no events at all. Apparently the WSOP thinks they can make some money from those, otherwise that tournament series wouldn't exist.

FWIW, if the WSOP was guaranteed to double their profits if every live event awarded bracelets to the top 3 finishers, they would do that in a heartbeat.

Probably still significantly more difficult to win a bracelet than 20 years ago when Johnny Chan won one for $34k in a $2500 buy-in event that had 29 entries.

I read somewhere that they’re doing it to make their own Triple Crown. WSOP, WSOP-E, and WSOP Online. They want people to challenge themselves to win at least one of each. Long term marketing angle, I guess. But the WSOP Online bracelets and WSOP-E, for that matter, will never have the same prestige as the WSOP bracelets, IMO.

That is true, you need the chemical to dwell on the surface for several minutes, but that leaves marks or streaks which people complain about, so it gets wiped down immediately. I assume doing that is better than nothing, much like washing your hands with just water is better than nothing, but is not giving the full effect of washing with soap and warm water for 20 seconds while lathering.

Yeah they are using the brand to expand. Similar to how the regular WSOP used to have a lower number of events. It's a natural progression I suppose, but you are watering down the term "bracelets", which could hurt the brand longer term. I think we'll see the continuing change to having a bracelet won't mean nearly as much as which event you won it in. Winning a 10k championship event in Vegas is going to hold a lot more weight than winning a random online bracelet. Winning a 1500 plo8 live is going to hold more weight than a 600 online, and so on.

Online bracelets won't mean very much if they aren't going to run it overlapping with the live series. Not many are traveling to NV or NJ to play online poker even if they are bracelet events. Therefore, I think more people will start to not accept online bracelets as valid "bracelets".

As long as they keep some content on ESPN the WSOP name will still carry weight. If they continue to just move everything to PokerGo and casuals don't see it, then one day the $600 at Venetian and a $3k at WSOP are going to mean the same and casuals will go to what they can afford or where the value is. They will play 5 Venetian tournaments instead of 1 WSOP event.

Apparently Wynn is having a big series starting at the end of June.

If demand for casino visits is any indication for demand for poker, then next WSOP (whenever it happens) should be pretty active.

Several Casino markets (Maryland, PA, and I think OH) have all recently reported the biggest months in their history. Again not biggest since shutdowns... biggest ever since casinos opened in respective states.

I would have bet against that being anywhere close to these revenue numbers for quite some time.

sounds like lots of pent up demand.

If your vaccine isn't enough for you to feel safe, you can wear a mask to offer yourself a double layer of protection so that we stupid people who don't believe there's a virus and who are liable to get a fake vaccine card won't be any threat to you.

If you're still feeling unsafe with that double layer, you can double mask like Dr. Fauci suggests and then you can have a triple layer of protection!

Wow, I wonder what happened with ESPN.

"Beginning in 2021, CBS Sports Network will be the exclusive domestic home of the WSOP, featuring fifteen hours of “Main Event” coverage and 36 hours of 18 additional “Gold Bracelet” events, easily marking a new high for the historic poker festival."

"Additional coverage details will be announced in the coming months with the release of the full WSOP schedule, as well as coverage across other Viacom CBS platforms, including Paramount +."

https://www.wsop.com/news/2021/Apr/1...BS-SPORTS.html

ESPN prob virtue signaled their way out saying they dont think a WSOP should happen this year and won't show it

Didn't ESPN only sublicense the WSOP ME anyway with PokerGO holding the rights?

I doubt ESPN paid any serious money for that. Can't really remember what the deal was before that but IIRC it was something along the lines of ESPN paying for production and stuff and committing air time but not paying anything to the WSOP.

Paramount+ - is that the former Spike TV?

Nope. Spike TV is Paramount Network right now and soon will be Paramount Movie Network.

Paramount+ is the former CBS All Access streaming service.

Former CBS All Access.

Seeing this article today took me back to our discussion a couple of weeks ago about surface transmission at the poker tables:

Disinfecting surfaces to prevent Covid often all for show, CDC advises

Of course it's not saying that surface transmission can't and doesn't happen, just that the risk is quite low.

I can't believe people care about bracelets