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Originally Posted by PokerHero77
Yes, I am aware they are focused on headcount (thus driving the overcrowding issues). My suggestions would address that issue and provide opportunity for sustaining revenue growth along with building the brand via positive player experience.
We’ve kinda crossed this territory, but encouraging fewer people to come and improving the experience for some of those who do come while making the event inaccessible to people who won’t pay higher buy-ins, hardly seems like a good strategy to build a brand. At best it would be a wash, revenue-vise, and would make the event more exclusive, by definition. This is not what the WSOP is about.
However, there is a limit to how “good” the WSOP can be given logistical constraints, and if they want to grow the brand, they will need to find ways to move beyond those constraints, either with more resources, or improved processes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PokerHero77
IMO WSOP discourages early registration because it requires more dealers on hand, even though many players do not show up on time. Late reg allows staff to fill open seats without adding dealers.
I’m not sure I’m following the logic about filling open seats here. But regardless, what evidence do you see of the WSOP discouraging early entry? They seem to have introduced numerous ways to enter early in recent years and, as far as I can tell, encourage players to use them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PokerHero77
IMO they need to add more events, but WSOP's headcount model prevents them from doing that. This includes SNGs, DSS, multi-table satellites, and other bracelet events. Adding events provides more revenue for WSOP, which enables rake to be reduced per event, as players are buying in to more events than otherwise.
In a vaccuum, more events would be better for the WSOP. But they don’t have the facilities/staff to handle more events, unless they start capping entries in more vents. And that would sort of work against the revenue benefits of having more events.
They had tons of headcount early in the series and not the same level of chaos which occurred later. Something was different, and I think that something was largely in the WSOP’s control.
You talk about the headcount model being a bad thing. I’m pretty sure the executives at the WSOP, Paris, HS and El Dorado would strongly disagree with you. But I understand how people who don’t want to deal with the crowds would view it that way. On the other hand, that’s just what the WSOP is. It’s inclusive. And it’s broad-based. And it’s big. This entire discussion, at least from my point of view, is not lamenting the crowds, of how crazy the WSOP is. It’s simply extolling the WSOP to make better decisions, or try to tweak a few things to avoid some of the more extreme situations. IMO, outside of basically one week, this year’s series ran smoother than last year, and probably smoother than any other year in recent memory. And that is in spite of record attendance. They did a good job. And I would have labeled it a fantastic job, if not for shooting themselves in the foot with the schedule leading up to the Main Event.