Posts Tagged ‘Macau’

June 3, 2008

No Chinese at the WSOP?

You may think the price of gas is high (I filled my first $50 tank in my personal history of owning an automobile the other day) but that’s nothing compared to the price of Chinese Poker at the WSOP.

Weren’t we just saying last year how this was one of the hottest games going? Well apparently that was a problem … as WSOP cash games management has made the cost of playing highly prohibitive — a $50 per hour time charge. You’d think we’d be all up in the Chinese these days … not just because of the game’s growing popularity, but also because of the Olympics and everyone’s going ga-ga over Macau. The game is still technically being spread, but again, at that level of time charge, these games will be limited to players willing to gamble-gamble at $100/pt. or more.

Supposedly it has much to do with space — but there was an empty high-stakes cash table available at the time of our learning about this. (The 7-stud players joked about how at $25 a point, everyone would be broke within a few hours.) Gotta wonder if there might not be more to it — after all, there’s no shortage of whities (and even a few viets that I know) who accuse various Asian contingents of high-stakes Chinese Poker players (as opposed to Chinese poker players) of regularly violating the English Only rules and engaging in other forms of nefarious card play.

Posted by DanM at 3:41 pm

January 27, 2007

Podcasty Weekend / Future of the WSOP

monkey.jpgDorkin’ out with the cushy headphones on … just came across an interesting interview over at Poker Podcast World. (via Shamus.)

Click here to hear Max Shapiro breakin’ down with WSOP tourney director Jack Effel.

Max Shapiro = the Diane Rehm of poker?

In this episode, Jack talks about the efforts the WSOP is going through to unionize? ensure a highest standard of dealer and floor personnel. Apparently last year’s complaints were heard loud and clear. He also reveals that a new WSOP Europe could see cards in the air as soon as September 2007. Harrah’s has other plans in the works, Effel says, for spreading the WSOP brand to the Middle East and Asia as well … coming soon: WSOP-Macau.

Oh, he also makes his “prediction” for the size of the 2007 main event field. It will certainly “grow,” says Effel, or maybe “decline a little bit.” He puts the over/under at somewhere between 7,000 and 11,000, and specifically pshaws the number set by Pokerati.

Posted by DanM at 2:05 pm