WSOP innovations over time
The WSOP is a living-breathing entity. It evolves and it adapts to the requirements of an increasingly bigger and more competitive market. Over the course of its long history, several defining changes have been brought to various aspects of the series. Some ideas were tried out and then scrapped. Holding the Main Event outdoors was one such attempt to bring novelty to the action. Due to practical factors though (wind blowing etc) the idea was only tried once.
Separating the final table from the rest of the Main Event and holding it in November, several months after the actual series has ended, is the newest WSOP innovation. The introduction of the “November Nine” has sparked quite a few debates over whether or not the idea was viable. Given that the setup has been embraced again this year, after what seemed to be a successful 2008 test-run, the tweak does indeed seem to hold up.
There have been several such controversial changes to the Series over the years. As a matter of fact, none of the most significant changes were welcomed unanimously. Most of them have been targets to criticism, but they stood the test of time and nowadays we couldn’t image the WSOP without them.
Here’s a brief list of the most significant (that is not to say “the best”) changes.
Such controversial moves were the introductions of the Ladies’ Event in 1977, and the Seniors’ Event in 2001. In the Ladies event, obviously, only women could participate, while in the Seniors’ event only people older than 50 were accepted. This led to critics arguing about whether restricted entry events should be given the right to award WSOP bracelets. Women and the “seniors” also objected to being branded and separated this way, but both innovations proved to be a success, in the sense that they definitely brought in people who would never have played in a WSOP event otherwise.
The Ladies Event started off as a 7-Card Stud event and gradually progressed to a limit-holdem/Stud mixed event. In 2004, the event was turned into a NL Holdem one and both the Ladies’ and the “Seniors” events were given the World Championship event status.
Believe it or not, the introduction of WSOP side events the way we know them today, didn’t happen until 1971, the second year the WSOP took place. There were but four preliminary events in 1971, a 5-Card Stud, a 7-Card Stud, a Razz and an A-5 Draw event, all fixed limit. The side event selection was gradually expanded afterwards, and thus nowadays we have no fewer than 56 such events. There’s still only 1 Main Event (also known as the Big Dance) despite the fact that there are now several “World Championship” events. Regardless of the Main Event’s importance though, the various side events play an extremely important role in the texture of the WSOP. They define its nature as a “series” of different events meant to put players to the test from a variety of angles.
Besides the lack of preliminary events, there were other peculiar things about the very first edition of the WSOP too (1970). The winner of the first edition, Johnny Moss, didn’t actually survive a freeze-out structure like the one every MTT features today. Rather, he was voted the champion by all the other participants. Whether or not the choice was accurate was put to the test the following year, and Moss did indeed confirm that he was the top dog, by winning the newly introduced freeze-out structure MTT Main Event. The introduction of the Main Event has been the most significant change in the history of the WSOP. To this day, the Main Event represents the essence of the Series, and it continues to produce the largest prize-pools and largest fields of participants.
The introduction of the WSOP Commissioner (a position held by Jeffrey Pollack since 2006) has helped focus the WSOP’s marketing as well as operations-related efforts. All changes in schedule as well as other innovations have gone through the Commissioner’s office since its inception.
You may not know this, but up until 1977, WSOP events were “winner takes all” types. Only one player – the winner – walked away with money from the tables, but his share was the entire prize-pool. In order to motivate participation, the re-distribution of the prize-pool was first introduced in 1978.
1977 saw Doyle Brunson win the Main Event, as the entire prize-pool of $340,000, to which 34 players had contributed, landed in his pocket.
The following edition of the Big Dance attracted a bigger field: the 42 registrants combined for a bigger prize-pool, however the new rules meant that the money would be divided among the top 5 finishers, so Bobby Baldwin, the winner, only pocketed $210,000, 50% of the total prize-pool.
Nowadays, the Main Event draws thousands of players, therefore the rules governing the redistribution of the prize-pool had to be re-considered. As a general rule, around 10% of the initial field of participants finishes in the money. This means that as the field grows bigger and bigger, the winner’s share becomes smaller, at least as far as the percentage share is concerned. The amount itself will be bigger, of course.
The introduction of Main Event satellites was indeed a big stepping stone in the history of the series. Word has it that the idea first surfaced in 79 or in 80. One thing is certain though: the introduction of the satellites made it possible for players of more modest financial means to attend the Main Event, thus transforming it from a social gathering of a select group of professionals into an event accessible for all comers.
The televised broadcasting of the event had also contributed to lifting the Series to the popularity levels seen today. The first ever TV coverage of a WSOP Main Event came in 1973, via a short documentary shot by CBS.