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No one could have predicted the scale that the World Series of Poker would escalate to when it got started back in 1970.
Poker Rebuy Or Re Entry
Seth Palansky helps clarify the picture of freezeout and reentry options at the 2019 World Series of Poker, where most events allow one or two entries only. Poker Tournament Summary The heads-up battle in the 888.nj $1,000 Daily Monsterstack 1x Re-entry, Turbo featured brizzy2020 taking on dogabetes. In the end, brizzy2020 emerged victorious and cashed for $313.26. Poker Player Hits brizzy2020's place was 29 in previous poker. The Re-Entry Tournament allows players who get eliminated from the tournament to buy back as a new player while late registration is still open. Players can re-enter as many times as they like into a tournament, so long as the tournament is still in Late Registration.
In 1973, the WSOP Main Event had 13 players put up $10K each and Walter “Puggy” Pearson won the winner-take-all event for $130,000. Benny Binion was happy with the growth and media attention it garnered, telling historian Mary Ellen Glass:
“We got awful good coverage on it this year,' referring to the WSOP's increased publicity. 'This year we had 13 [players in the Main Event]... I look to have better than 20 next year. It's even liable to get up to be 50. Might get up to be more than that; it will eventually.'
Staying on Top
This year, the World Series of Poker will celebrate the 50th annual event – a testament to the series’ permanence and importance in the annual poker calendar. Its growth has hinged on the brand’s willingness to constantly evolve along with the fast-changing industry of poker.
Benny Binion: '[The WSOP Main Event] is even liable to get up to be 50. Might get up to be more than that; it will eventually.'
One major change in recent years is the move toward more starting chips and deeper structures, both of which are peaking on the 2019 schedule which features 89 bracelet events. Along with more play, the schedule also features the most reentry options ever offered at the WSOP.
For some poker purists, this move doesn’t sit too well, and plenty of outspoken players have taken to social media to express dissatisfaction with increased number of reentry events. But Seth Palansky, vice president, corporate communications for Caesars Entertainment, urges players to consider the whole picture, as well as appreciate the wide range of options the WSOP puts in place to accommodate their very diverse clientele – something that is good for all players, not just a minority.
PokerNews spoke with Palansky to get a better understanding of the decisions behind their offerings over the years, and to paint a clear picture for WSOP-goers regarding what they can expect for the 2019 edition.
Offerings to Match the Times
As Palansky points out, reentry wasn’t even an option in the WSOP days of old when starting stacks matched the buy-in amount and structures were much more shallow.
“A rebuy or reentry wouldn’t even work because the value was not there to spend $5,000 on a reentry in Level 5, when you were at the 500/1,000 blind level and you received 5,000 in chips. So you would be starting with five big blinds. Obviously the value wasn’t there.”
The deep structures of the modern game make reentry possible and in many events, even preferable as players can have the option to get back in the event they came to play and still be relatively deep-stacked even into the later levels of Day 1.
'Now, there’s something for everyone on every level. The analysis of that data drives the construction of the schedule.”
In addition to deeper structures, the shifting clientele of the WSOP changes what makes sense to offer. In the early years of the series, it was a small group of professional players who attended, all locals or at least from the U.S. Now, clearly, that is hardly the case as the series has grown into its “world” designation.
Poker players of all levels and incomes and from all over the globe now pour into Las Vegas annually to play at the WSOP, some for the entire series, others for just one or a few events. These are all factors that WSOP knows well – and their longevity depends on it. According to Palansky, 86.1 percent of players at the 2018 WSOP played five entries or less.
“So when we devise the schedule, the one big thing that’s changed about WSOP from before is it used to be a completely pro player offering,' he said. 'Now, there’s something for everyone on every level. The analysis of that data drives the construction of the schedule.”
Finding the Right Balance
While there are more reentry options this year, freezeouts still populate the WSOP schedule, representing 41 events (40 live, one online) for 46 percent of the total schedule. The WSOP is not abandoning this format, but rather just adding more other options for those who want them.
“We love the purity of freezeout, one life, ‘best of luck to you,’” Palansky said. “It’s crowning as pure a champion as you can, and that’s 46 percent of our schedule.”
The majority of the reentry structures on the schedule are the single variety, only allowing two total entries before the close of registration, and these have grown in numbers by popular demand.
“The single reentry option is one that caters well to more casual players who come out to the series to play in one or just a few specific events.'
“The single reentry option is one that caters well to more casual players who come out to the series to play in one or just a few specific events,' Palansky said. 'In particular, events such as Casino Employees, Seniors, Ladies, and even the Millionaire Maker draw players from long distances and for many, it’s the only event they’ll play. So when poker happens and one of those players gets their aces cracked for their whole stack in an early level, it can be quite the disappointment.”
It was actually direct feedback from these very players that led to the addition of a single reentry option in many “special one-off” events, but Palansky doesn’t think the majority of brush-back is in regard to those tournaments. It seems to be the unlimited reentry events that catch the most fire, but those types of events are still the fewest number of events on offer and easily avoidable if you don’t care to play them.
Unlimited Reentry Option
This year’s schedule only has five live and one online unlimited reentry event, and two of those are pot-limit Omaha events to accommodate the higher-variance poker variant. Another is a charity event, the Little One for One Drop, and another is the Crazy Eights event, which guarantees $888,000 for first. With that big guarantee up top, there’s a greater need to build up the prize pool to keep the payouts from being too top heavy.
“We’re very judicious how we use unlimited reentry and think we have the right mix,' Palansky said. 'So I don’t see us for example really expanding that, from seven percent, a significant amount, but enough for those that want to participate.”
When it comes to finding the right balance of offerings for players, it’s all about “making the jenga puzzle work” while also maximizing entries and prize pools, which is in the best interest for the WSOP and for players. While Palansky said he believes there may be 'an unlimited reentry problem' in the industry, it still serves a purpose by juicing up prize pools.
“We’re very judicious how we use unlimited reentry and think we have the right mix.'
“From an operator’s perspective, it’s a question of what do we do for the people who are eliminated? Do we have something else to offer them, or are they walking out of the building because we don’t?”
Considerations of table and dealer capacity also factor into the equation. The WSOP strives to find what is best for the players, and sometimes that means rather than offering a 5 p.m. turbo for those who bust a particular event in the morning, to allow reentry as players can still get back in the event they came to play with upwards of 75 big blinds.
Plenty of players, including recreational players, are happy with reentry events, even if they opt to not fire multiple bullets themselves.
“If I bust Fedor and then he’s back at my table, there’s still magic in the fact that the money doesn’t mean as much to him,' Palansky said. 'I’m competing for a bigger prize pool against someone who isn’t as interested in it – if they fire seven times, they have to go very deep to profit. That doesn’t seem the best economical move, so any player should feel okay about potentially getting that money.
“But it’s definitely a different element — that's a looser style, so question is whether you can take advantage of it or not. It’s hard to fully know the issue, but people don’t talk about the other 10 guys in that event who lost all seven of their bullets.”
Keeping Up
For the WSOP, it’s a matter of constant evolution based on the data they have. They're privy to data that breaks down stuff like unique entries and how many players are firing 10-plus bullets, which helps organize things optimally in the future.
And at the end of the day, Palansky said, if the players don't like the reentry options, they're free to play other events.
“We’re all ears, we’re open to doing it different ways,' he said. 'If people really looked at our offering, they’d think WSOP has a good mix. Some people don’t realize the percentages of our offerings; it seems fair when looking at the entire schedule.'
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World Series of Poker
One of the most polarizing issues in the poker world today is the emergence of re-entry tournaments and whether or not they are good for the overall health of the poker industry and economy.
A re-entry event is different from a rebuy event in that a player cannot “re-entry” until he has been already eliminated from the tournament. While some events allow players to buy back in immediately, others force them to wait until the next starting day.
The concept is nothing new, but in a down economy, re-entry events have become the latest trend on the always-evolving tournament circuit.
The theory is that by lowering the buy-in and allowing players to re-enter the tournament, you’ll get the best of both worlds. Those with the bankrolls to gamble it up in the early levels will juice the prize pool and those with smaller bankrolls will get to enjoy a shot at a big payday for a smaller entry fee.
Bellagio tournament director Jack McClelland’s current main event isn’t a re-entry, but he did experiment with the new freezeout variation during his preliminary events. When asked whether it was casino profit, the need for change or customer demand that motivated him to host the event, he said, “all of the above.”
“When things were really rolling in the poker world, we had tons of players for our regular freezeouts,” said McClelland. “Then when the economy took a dive, we tried to increase our prize pools by offering rebuys. Those didn’t really work out, because they scared away those with lower bankrolls who couldn’t afford multiple buy-ins. So far, it looks like re-entry events appeal to players of all bankrolls. The buy-ins are low enough to bring in casual players, but still allow the pros to come in and do their thing.”
The World Poker Tour has popularized these events in the last year, lowering their buy-ins at some marquee stops in California, New Jersey and Florida to $3,500 from their traditional $10,000 and creating multiple starting days. The end result has been bigger fields, but also more money for the host casino. Not only are the players raked on each re-entry, but they are also staying at the casinos for longer periods of time, taking up rooms in the hotel and filling the restaurants each night.
Poker Tournament Re-entry
Will Failla won the first re-entry event of WPT Season X, the Legends of Poker main event at the Bicycle Casino back in August. That event saw 181 players eliminated on the first starting day, of which 116 re-registered for day 1B. Failla didn’t have to go beyond his first buy-in in that event, but the casino undoubtedly benefited from the added entrants, taking an additional $23,200 in rake and another $12,180 in fees. *
“It’s just the way things are right now,” said Failla. “The casinos are finding a way to take some extra rake and please their customers. People don’t want to travel across the country, play for an hour and then be sent home, but they are going to pay for it one way or another, not only in the poker room, but also in the hotels and restaurants. I’ll admit, I’m one of those guys. It may not be fair to everyone, but I’d be foolish not take advantage of it.”
Failla wasn’t the only one who felt that re-entry tournaments gave the tournament regulars an advantage. Jonathan Little has made four final tables, won two titles and cashed for over $3.5 million on the WPT, but even he doesn’t like re-entry tournaments.
“You would think that I would like re-entry tournaments because they favor players such as myself, but I don’t,” said Little. “I think these types of events put the casual players at a tremendous disadvantage and in general, put the entire game in jeopardy. The bottom line is that if the fish keep going broke and stop playing entirely, then the poker community as a whole will suffer. That’s why I think the whole re-entry thing is a little shortsighted.”
Christian Harder, who has made two WPT final tables and cashed for nearly $1 million, agreed with Little, but argued that it is more difficult for some players to secure a backing arrangement for re-entry events, lowering the field size and the prize pool in the long run.
“Re-entry tournaments actually hurt the poker community, because players who can only afford one buy-in are less likely to play, knowing they have a built-in disadvantage,” said Harder. “It especially hurts those players who are backed because it’s tough for backers to justify spending more than one buy-in on their horses. Their total cost is uncertain, so they wind up leaving their players on the rail instead.”
Former WPT champion Kevin Saul went further, explaining why those with only one buy-in were at such as disadvantage. “It’s up to the backer’s discretion, but most of the players that I know who are getting backed for these events are generally getting two bullets,” said Saul. “But if they don’t, then they most often elect to play on the second starting day and treat it like any other tournament. That being said, those players are at a disadvantage. Anytime you are offered a chance to increase your equity and you don’t take it, you are basically throwing money away.”
But does another chance at the tournament really offer an advantage? After all, these players who re-enter are paying twice as much for a shot at the same first-place prize.
“I’m a big fan of re-entry tournaments because it allows me to gamble a little more on my first try,” said six-time WPT final tablist Kathy Liebert. “If I go bust it’s not a big deal because I’ll have another shot, but if I can get hold of a bunch of chips, I’ll be that much more dangerous in the next stage of the tournament. Frankly, I don’t buy the fact that the casual player, or satellite winner, is hurt by re-entries. If anything, they’ll benefit from players like me who are more likely to spew chips away by gambling.”
Tony Dunst, host of the WPT’s The Raw Deal, echoed Liebert’s opinion, stating that although the casinos are profiting from a re-entry, the player is coming out ahead in the long run.
“There are people complaining that the re-entries are raked, unlike a traditional rebuy, but you have to realize that a re-entry is like playing another tournament entirely,” said Dunst. “Only this time, you don’t have to pay for the added expenses of travel and hotels. If anything, the average guy on the circuit saves money with re-entry events.”
Though there are players on both sides of the fence, there are also those who believe re-entry events are great in moderation.
Poker Reentry And Rebuy
“I like freezeouts that only allow one re-entry,” said Failla. “Let’s take for example a $5,000 tournament. If you let people go crazy with their re-entries, then you might have players in the field who go off for six or seven buy-ins. Then again, you’ll still have the guys in the event that either won a satellite or only have that $5,000 to play with. How is that a level playing field? I think that one re-entry is the best compromise for both sides of the argument.”
“I think that if the tournament is limited to only one re-entry, then it’s great for the game,” said Faraz Jaka, two-time WPT final tablist. “Those who manage to do something with their one buy-in now get a tremendous boost in equity because everyone else is adding to the prize pool. I’m not convinced of the opinion that it allows the more-bankrolled players to buy their way to a title. A re-entry is the same as when you hold a $25,000 event, because only certain players can afford to play in that tournament as well.”
Frankly, the reason these events have been so successful is because the players keep showing up and more importantly, keep re-entering. They might not like it, but they are inevitably voting with their wallets. When the poker world is ready to change once again, the savvy poker room managers will be there to adapt and meet the new demand, whatever it may be. But until then, players will have to plan their buy-ins accordingly.
*These numbers were calculated based on the additional rake received, along with the 3% of each buy-in that is held for tournament staff.