A few days ago, the World Series of Poker confirmed that the prestigious Tournament of Champions will be taking place at California’s Commerce Casino from May 15 – 17.
This is the second time the $1,000,000 freeroll open to all bracelet and ring winners from the 2024 – 2025 season will take place at the Commerce, despite the fact the original decision was met by some serious pushback from the players.
Although the concept has been around since the early 2000s, the Tournament of Champions in its current format is fairly new, having been introduced in 2022.
The first two events took place in Las Vegas and were a part of the WSOP schedule, but in 2024, the WSOP decided to move the event to California, a couple of weeks ahead of the summer series.
Players were not happy with the decision, with many of them taking it to social media to voice their discontent. These complaints failed to move the needle, though, as the Commerce will once again host the event.
Players Convenience Not a Priority?
The Tournament of Champions is an event celebrating all top performers on the WSOP circuit, inviting all ring and bracelet winners (online included) to compete in a $1,000,000 freeroll. Thus, holding the event in Las Vegas and during the summer series makes a lot of sense.
Many of the qualifiers are regulars at the World Series of Poker, so this would give them an option to plan their schedules around the event.
Moving the tournament to a whole different state prior to the start of the series is certainly not convenient, and it adds an unnecessary layer of difficulty for many of those who won a seat.
Although we only have a small sample to fall back on, the numbers speak loudly in favor of this conclusion.
For the first modern ToC in 2022, 470 out of eligible 569 players turned out to play. In 2023, 741 out of 989 qualifiers joined the action.
After moving the event to the Commerce in 2024, there was a noticeable drop-off in participation numbers. With only 559 out of 1,176 qualifiers showing up. So, about half of those who won a seat decided to skip on the tournament.
Judging by these numbers and by the initial reactions to the recent announcement, it is likely that many qualifiers will not turn up for the 2025 Tournament of Champions.
This begs the question if the WSOP should put more emphasis on convenience and listen to the players. After all, the ToC is a special invitational event, so those who qualified to participate should have a bit more of a say. Yet, this doesn’t seem to be the case.
Boosting Commerce Numbers
A part of the answer as to why the ToC was moved to California is probably in the fact that the tournament doesn’t play as a standalone event.
Instead, there was and is a whole WSOP Circuit stop surrounding it. For 2025, there are 18 ring-awarding events on the WSOP Commerce schedule, including a $1,700 Main Event with a big $2,000,000 guarantee.
So, from the commercial standpoint, it makes a lot of sense to have the Tournament of Champions here, looking to attract a bunch of poker players who wouldn’t necessarily be around otherwise.
If somebody makes all the arrangements and travels to California, they’ll likely make the most out of the opportunity and play in a few more tournaments while there, and the presence of these additional players will help towards building the Main Event prize pool.
Is It Fair?
Looking at the wider picture, two things are pretty clear. First, having the tournament at the Commerce will negatively affect the turnout as a fair percentage of qualifiers can’t quite make it work.
Second, placing the ToC in the middle of the Commerce WSOP stop will help boost the overall numbers for the series.
The real question is if this is fair on the qualifiers and should organizers do more to accommodate them?
The answer isn’t as simple as it may appear, though, since, after all, the Tournament of Champions is a freeroll. The WSOP is putting $1,000,000 in the prize pool, and players only need to show up to play. That’s a pretty good deal, regardless of where the event takes place.
It is also hard to talk about tradition of any sort, as the modern ToC has only been around for a few years. It took place in Vegas two times, and now it will have taken place in California two times.
Perhaps WSOP should listen more to the players and try to be more accommodating, and maybe the ToC will return to Las Vegas at some point. In the meantime, though, it’s still better to have the tournament in California than not have it at all!
