The 2011 Worlds Series of Poker concluded last week with Pius Heinz taking down the Main Event crown.  Now, everyone is beginning to look forward to the 2012 WSOP.  Jack Effel recently announced on twitter that the schedule was in the works, but would not be ready before the end of the year.  Thinking ahead to next year, here are a few changes I would like to see for the 2012 WSOP.

Higher Production Value for Preliminary Streams

For the first time ever, the WSOP provided live streams for every final table of the 2011 WSOP.  While that was great, there were many issues.  First, all you had was one camera pointed towards the table with a flop cam that many times was off centered.  There was absolutely no commentary outside of the final table announcer, whom you could rarely hear.

I would suggest providing some type of enhanced production value for the final tables next year.  Maybe do something along the line of Live at the Bike, but obviously without hole cards as that would violate Nevada Gaming regulations.  Put together three or four teams of commentators, and use them for the duration of the series for the streamed broadcasts.

Badugi and PL Draw

Last year, Badugi was introduced as part of the 10 Game Mix to the WSOP.  It is time to take that one step further and provide at least one Badugi event at the WSOP.  If not a straight Badugi event, maybe a mixed of Lowball and Badugi.  Offer a tournament with 2-7 Lowball, A-5 Lowball, and Badugi all mixed.

Next, maybe it is time to think about offering some form of PL Five Card Draw tournament to the WSOP.  Pot-Limit draw is growing in popularity online and would be a great way to reintroduce the game back into the mix.  I have a standing agreement that the WSOP offers a PL Draw tournament with a reasonable buy-in, I will be among the first in line to play.

True Online Registration

“Online registration” has been offered for years at the WSOP, but it still requires you to have to show up to the cashier to complete the registration and get your seat number.  I would like to see the WSOP move over to a complete online registration system that allows players to print out their seat card online and save them the hassle of going through the cashier to get their card.  Obviously, they would still have that option.  It is just one more way of making the WSOP more convenient to players.

Mixed Non-Bracelet Events

Something that I would love to see the WSOP experiment with is running some mixed game non-bracelet daily events similar to their wildly popular NL deep stack events.  I know that there are many that would love a chance to play something other than NL in a chance to build a bankroll.  I am not saying replace the NL daily’s, but maybe add a few mixed games to them, especially on potential slower days where the space is available.

Tags: Badugi, Broadcasts, Commentators, Duration, Game, Heinz, Hole Cards, Live At The Bike, Live Streams, Lowball, main event, Nevada Gaming Regulations, Popularity, Pot Limit, Series Of Poker, Twitter, world series, World Series of Poker, Worlds Series Of Poker, WSOP

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.