WSOP Implements some Interesting Changes this 2011

The World Series of Poker 2011 is sure to face some pretty tough challenges this time around because of the many disadvantageous effects wrought by the Black Friday incident. As such, the tournament officials were hard pressed to make the tournament better than ever in order to encourage participation despite all the uncertainty in the industry. With the new changes that they plan to apply to this year’s tournament, though, it certainly seems like the WSOP 2011 will be a huge success despite the setbacks.

Changes to the Rules

The tournament is going to undergo some major changes this year, but the most prominent of them are probably those concerned about the rules. They have changed the point system used for the WSOP Player of the Year Award, making it more encompassing. They have adjusted the point system to take into consideration the size of the field and the prize of the buy-in. Obviously, it takes much greater skill to outlast a larger tournament and it also takes much confidence to pay a large amount of money for the more expensive events. Thus, the point system actually means more, in a sense. Also, they have decided to include the seven bracelet events at the WSOPE to the criteria. These changes are great because the previous rules about the Player of the Year award weren’t exactly that impressive. Other poker organizations had managed to come up with better point systems, and it seemed entirely absurd that the WSOP would have an inferior one. Their point system generated quite a bit of criticism before, but I doubt it will be so again this year.

Another big change that they implemented was the introduction of the “Chip Reese Rule”. Chip Reese, as some of you might know, is the youngest person ever to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. The rule stipulates that no person under the age of 40 may be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. They have also made it harder for possible hall of famers to get to the final stage because they have added a panel made up of some big wigs in the industry to aide in determining who the finalists will be. Only then will the existing members of the Hall of Fame will take their vote.

Some Minor Changes

Of course, they added a number of minor changes as well. Automatic shufflers will be added to every WSOP final table in order to make the game more ‘random’. They’re also going to accommodate the increased reliance of people on smart phones by adding more phone charging stations and also making wireless internet available at the hallways of the venue. Furthermore, to invite more players into the tournaments, they are going to add more satellites for the various events, the lowest of them costing merely $75.