Looking ahead to the 2013 WSOP
Last week the World Series of Poker released the tentative dates for the 44th Annual WSOP tournament series, and while no specific details were given in the announcement we already have quite a bit of information on how the 2013 WSOP will unfold. The 2013 WSOP will kick-off on May 29, 2013 (ostensibly with the Casino Employees Tournament) and will run through July 16, when the final table of the 2013 WSOP Main Event is established.
The Little One for One Drop
At the final table of the 2012 WSOP Main Event we learned that the Big One for One Drop will return to the WSOP schedule, but not until 2014. In its place on the 2013 schedule will be a $1,111 buy-in rebuy event, dubbed “The Little One for One Drop”. These One Drop events are the first real positive change to the schedule in many years; helping the WSOP attract new demographics and gain some much needed exposure.
The Main Event
The Main Event will feature three starting days (a long overdue move initiated last year) and will run from July 7th-July 16th. While it doesn’t explicitly say so, it appears the WSOP will once again use the November Nine format, which is another format that I feel has run its course.
Number of Events
In their press release the WSOP stated that there would be about 60 bracelet events on the schedule, so I would assume that we will be looking at about 62 or 63 tournaments, which seems to be the magic number the WSOP has settled on in recent years.
Once again the WSOP will feature the smaller buy-in tournaments on the weekends (the $1k buy-in NLHE events usually start on Saturdays) and will bring back the Ladies Event, the Seniors Event, and the Casino Employees Event, as well as a charity event, but I can’t tell if this is in reference to the Little One for One Drop or if it will be another charity event, a la Ante Up for Africa.
Some Predictions:
- ESPN will cut back its coverage after the marathon the final three players were part of
After 12 hours of live poker (with some very slow, deliberate, play) I highly doubt ESPN will just telecast the final table in its entirety without some stipulations.
- There will be a High-Roller tournament added to the schedule
The WSOP APAC series will have a high-roller event, and the WSOP Europe also featured a high-roller event. With the Big One for One Drop on hold until 2014 it’s likely that the 2013 WSOP schedule will feature a $100k or $250k buy-in event.
- Buy-ins will continue to decrease, with fewer $10k events and more $1,500 Events
The trend started in 2012 and I expect it to continue, considering the best-attended tournaments over the past few years have been events where the buy-in is around $1,500. Most of the $5k and $10k events have seen drastic attendance drops.
- Attendance will be down
Even with lower buy-ins I still see the 2013 WSOP falling off in terms of attendance. Poker has been walking a tightrope at the WSOP over the past few years, and if it wasn’t for strong Main Event turnouts the big story at the WSOP would be the shrinking attendance numbers in preliminary tournaments.
