Seems like this is the first step towards creating an entire WSOP.com series with multiple events all done online and all awarding bracelets. So you'd have the WSOP in Vegas bracelets, the WSOP Europe bracelets, the WSOP Asia bracelets, and the WSOP online bracelets. Seems like the natural evolution for building the brand.

But I think mixing online play with live play in the same event is dumb.

Why would the rest of the world go to Vegas, or the US for that matter, to play online poker?
We can do it happily at home.

The same reason they go to Veags to play in the WSOP when there are other tounaments at home. If you want a WSOP tournament bracelet, you go where they are offered.

How many players are they expecting for this?

It would dilute the prestige of a Vegas WSOP bracelet (the others are worthless) if it was $215, but at $1K it's bigger than 2 live events they are spreading this year so it's definitely legit.

This is freaking amazing how could anyone not like hanging out by the pool and playing for a bracelet??? Yeah because painfully slow WSOP dealers, smelly people, and horrible commuting is way better than chilling at home. I hope they offer way more online in the future...They really need to offer PLO and mixed games online, would be the least stressful way to play those early stages due to poor dealers.

They should play out the whole final table live. Playing just the HU is has way less promotion value, also, what happens if the final three players get in a preflop all-in that sees two players eliminated? Good idea in general but they need to change some details if they want this to be a success.

Do you honestly think that's true? Really?

We have WCOOP etc for that.

Are there any events you don't have issues with?

The prize pool will be smaller than every Sunday Million run in the last 5 years. So how will there be more incentive again?

If you can send virtual drinks, virtual food, virtual Elvis dolls in Zynga, you know the solution to Chainsaw's concern...

A virtual WSOP bracelet!

(Note: must have Flash enabled. Not supported by iOS)

Bracelets should only be given out in womens-only tournaments.

I think they really dropped the ball on only having heads-up play in person. I think it would be a lot cooler to sweat a FT bubble online and then be able to see the final nine play it out the next day in person. Any media updates would have their screen name with their real name so you could put a face to a name.

Ghosting is a very real concern for sure.

The possibility's here for a great tourney/set-up if they get it right are for a awesome event--but they gotta drop the last 2 heads-up for a 9man FT with everybody still playing on their computers 30min delay obv & all hole cards exposed, marketed to the american public as the safest way to play poker as everything is recorded & look at by security of wsop, so as 100% its the safest/fairest way to play poker..... A lot of possibility's here if run correctly. i mean who dosen't wanna watch a WCOOP with 30min delay final table


MAC

I think it's a tremendous opportunity for an Asperger's grinder to run good and sell his HU seat (or final table big stack) at a huge markup to a bracelet/attention whore.

How will we prevent the terrorist from laundering money during this tourney?

If we don't, said terrorists win.

They have your name and information from when you registered.

it will be funny if 2 people get eliminated on the last hand and there is no live match

Interesting, hadn't thought of this. I wonder if, should it get down to three people who are NOT playing at Rio or in Las Vegas, there would be some deal made that would somehow take it from three to one. That way, everyone would get their monies without the trouble of having to go to Vegas to play the final heads-up live. It's not hard to envision some scenarios in which this could be favorable — e.g. the final three players has one monster stack and two shorties.

Of course, there is a hazard: if done improperly, it could be construed as a form of collusion. Furthermore, there's always a chance the plan backfires, and one of the short stacks ends up sucking out. But in the latter case, the player might not mind because he will likely have tripled up to a decent stack.

Sure, the event will probably be large enough that the pay jump will be worth any travel costs to Vegas (especially since this is for in-state players only). But if the players worked out a deal first, the pay jumps get taken out of the equation.

WSOPBill expressed feasibility concerns in the WSOP.com forum over having the full final table live. Perhaps they should skip a day between the online day and the final table day so, worst case scenario, anyone in whatever isolated corner of the state could drive to Vegas.

I think this is a pathetically sad way to try to funnel players to the WSOP online poker site, a site that will probably go bust anyway unless interstate poker becomes a reality. All the concerns DoubleJoker raised are valid. This shouldn't be a traditional WSOP Bracelet Event imho, as it's really just a slimy way of marketing a fledgling online poker site.

But then again, I'm probably in the minority who hates the way the WSOP has made the ME Final Table into basically a team event with perfect knowledge of folded hole cards by all players. The WSOP is willing to compromise the integrity of the game just so they can air the ME Final Table "nearly live", so I wouldn't put anything past them anymore.

I give up then. Since there are large buy in live tounaments in Europe, and you can play online in E urope, then why do any Europeans at all come to Vegas each summer? What does the WSOP Vegas have that makes them want to make the trip?

massive fields of fish in large buyin live MTTs?