Ever since the Big One for OneDrop, $1,000,000 buy-in tournament was announced at last year’s World Series of Poker one peculiar rule has been greatly discussed in the poker community: The 48 player cap imposed on the event.

Now, with a $1 million buy-in you may suspect that the bulk of the discussion centers on whether or not the tournament will reach the cap (and you’d be right in thinking this was the primary question of most people), but another debate has started concerning the cap itself, and what the WSOP will do if they reach the 48-player mark and more players are standing in line with $1,000,000 in hand?

The conventional wisdom was that much like the $250k Super-High-Roller event at the Aussie Millions, as long as you show-up (even late) with money in hand you can play. But for the Big One for OneDrop both the WSOP and the tournament’s creator Guy Laliberte (whose charity OneDrop will be the beneficiary of $111,111 from each buy-in) are holding to fats to the 48-player cap according to a recent interview in Cardplayer Magazine.

Laliberte told the poker news outlet: “It’s every show producer’s dream to always leave at least one person at the door, unable to buy a ticket. That’s how you know you have a really great show. It’s a fundamental principle of marketing. I remember when a special edition Ferrari came out. They calculated that there were 350 people in the world who would buy it, which is why they only made 349.” Laliberte then added, “By capping the field size, we allow these players to know what they are getting themselves into. Permitting more players after the fact would be unfair.”

However, not everyone is so certain that the cap will be kept in place, especially if registration for the tournament (scheduled for early July) continues at its current pace. On a conference call with the poker media on Tuesday WSOP Executive Director stated that ‘he thinks the cap will be reached’ adding that his optimism wasn’t simply him being a company man. The WSOP officials on the conference call also said that registration was already approaching 40 players.

Like most in the poker community I find it hard to believe that the WSOP or Guy Laliberte (whose charity benefits with every entry) would turn away even a single player since the buy-in is $1,000,000, let alone potentially turning away four, five, or ten players! One of line of thinking is that the cap was put in place to encourage early registration for the tournament, and that once the 48-player mark is met the cap will be increased to 54 or 56 players.

Tags: 1 Million, Aussie Millions, Beneficiary, charity, Conference Call, Conventional Wisdom, Executive Director, Fats, Ferrari, Fundamental Principle, Guy Laliberte, High Roller, News Outlet, Pace, Poker News, Principle Of Marketing, Series Of Poker, world series, World Series of Poker, WSOP

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