WSOP Goes Crazy

The 46 event schedule at the 2006 World Series of Poker was long... but not varied. Despite the wise addition of a $50,000 HORSE event (which was, unfortunatley, too compacted), the Series was loaded with too many Hold 'Em events, especially NLHE events.

It seems the people running the whole shebang got the message.

There are 55 different events this year. Prior to the Main Event, there are 12 standard NLHE events with open fields (there's also a Casino Employees event and a Women's event). There are also three 6-handed NLHE events, two NLHE Re-Buy events, one NLHE Shootout, one NLHE Heads-up and one Mixed HE event (limit and no limit). Both the Heads-up and Mixed HE events are brand new this year.

The fun part this year seems to be the variety. In addition to the return of the wildly popular $50,000 HORSE event (which is now five days instead of three) we get a more reasonably priced $5000 HORSE event. Event #5 is an interesting $2500 O8/Stud 8 mixed game. There's also a 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball Rebuy event that sounds like fun... for those who actually play the game.

The other addition this year will be space for about 80 more tables giving the Harrah's folks up to 300 tables and seats for up to 3300 at a time (if they choose to start events 11-handed). With that in mind, there are only three Day 1s and only one Day 2. Last year, there were four Day 1s, two Day 2s and an off day before Day 3 even started.

I guess I could take more time and compare this year's schedule more closely to last year's... but I'm a journalist in real life and don't feel like playing one at home. Look for smarter people to bring you more in depth analysis. In the meantime, here's a link to the World Series of Poker 2007 Schedule.

| 2007 World Series of Poker