FIRST THE GOOD NEWS,

This year's WSOP, which began this past Friday at the Rio convention area, certainly has a new look to it; what with a more spectator friendly large new "stadium-look" stage with HDTVs and stadium seats that surround the final table, which will be used for several events, including of course the $10,000 main event. The finals will begin July 7th with an expected number of entrants similar to last year (over 8,000) and will run through the 17th; In between will be 54 other opportunities to win a coveted gold bracelet, that this year are being made by luxury watch maker Corum.

Three legends, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Phil Helmuth are tied, career-wise, with ten bracelets each. Who will be the first to nail #11?

Let's not forget the money…Last year's final winner Jamie Gold won 12-million dollars! This year the payouts are restructured in order for the lower winners to receive more money. Players will start each event with tournament chips equal to twice the buy-in. Also new this year, the blind levels will increase at a pace that will allow players to better apply their skills. Another change that will be well received is moving the food court to a better location INSIDE the convention area. The food court is larger and has an enhanced menu. Now if they can only do something about the location of the restrooms and the timing of restroom breaks during the event.

Which leads me to the Bad news…

Due, I am told, to a computer glitch, sign ups for the 1st two events (Friday & Saturday) were a NIGHTMARE! There were hundreds of people in a line that stretched down the LONG hallway and OUTSIDE the building. People had to wait up to 7 hours in some cases to register in the 1st event, a $5,000 mixed no-limit/limit hold'em, which drew the largest number of entrants for any non-main event tournament—close to 3,000 participants. Then adding insult to injury, some players on the "alternate list," after waiting 5 hours, had to sit down in the event that had started approximately 2 hours earlier, facing some opponents with over $6,000 in chips, with their measly $3,000, making them the "short stack" player BEFORE they even played a hand!

Another problem, the addition on the new "stadium" and more tables added to the number of "live" games makes for narrower aisles, which is not conducive to "sweaters" (fans) or for players to get from one table to another!