Harrah's announced that later this year it will be taking the WSOP to Europe for the first time. They are planning a three-event series in London this September at three casinos owned by London Clubs International, a UK casino chain recently bought by Harrah's. The series kicks off with a £2,500 ($4,900) H.O.R.S.E event followed by a £5,000 ($9,800) Omaha event and topped off with a £10,000 ($19,600) No-Limit Hold'em Main event. WSOP bracelets will be awarded to the winners of each event.
Mike Caro fronts every edition of this newspaper with a word of the day and on this occasion I intend to emulate him with one of my own. My word is 'Flawed.' WSOP chief Jeffrey Pollack states in Harrah's press release: "This new tournament has been designed with European players in mind, but registrants from every country are welcome"
It seems unlikely that they have done any real research into the European market or considered what European players want to play. First, live H.O.R.S.E events are almost unheard of in Europe and there are few, if any dealers who are experienced at dealing the game. Second, Omaha games are becoming much rarer too. While Omaha was very popular in the UK a few years ago, the advent of nolimit hold'em has largely consigned Omaha tournaments to poker's dustbin in the UK. Consequently, the buy-ins for these events are way too high.
If Pollack and his team really had European players in mind they would run these warm up events with buy-ins of no more than £1,000. At the proposed buy-in levels there are probably only a handful of European players who are prepared to play. While they are to be commended for offering more than just no-limit hold'em events, a more sensible approach would have been to run half a dozen events, including two or three smaller buy-in no-limit hold'em events along with a H.O.R.S.E, Omaha and a main event with a buy-in of £5,000.
Last year the Showdown Tour misjudged the European market by running tournaments with huge buy-ins and the result was that only a handful of players turned out. With poor exchange rates and big buy-in tournaments in the US taking place almost weekly, where is the incentive for North Americans to travel to London for the WSOP Europe? With no guarantee of numbers, too few events and a probable player response that these are not 'real bracelets,' it is unlikely that many will make the journey over.
Timing in poker is everything and the WSOP's move feels like a bad bluff at the wrong time. Their proposed dates also clash with at least one other major event. The Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour (GUKPT) event in Plymouth takes place at the same time as their proposed H.O.R.S.E and Omaha events.
It features an affordable £1,000 buy-in and will sell out with 280 players taking part. The GUKPT- which is fast becoming a must play tour for UK players - will not suffer because of an overpriced WSOP schedule. But the WSOP will. They are going up against an event that will take away the majority of the big name UK players that they should be looking to attract.
It is also stated in their press release that "Harrah's reserves the right to cancel, change or modify the tournament or any tournament event."
This may be their one saving grace. If they have any sense they will change the buy-ins, the schedule of events and the dates, or they may be in for a very rude awakening.
