This year, as thousands of players and poker enthusiasts gathered at the Bellagio to take part in the Festa al Lago Main Event for the WPT, the organizers announced that there would be some changes to the rules, particularly those about late registration. The news was met with varied opinions, some were indifferent, some were pleased, some were disgruntled, and some were downright outraged. Still, the decision was final and late registration was fully allowed, adding much spice to the already exciting tournament.
About the Late Registration
Basically, what the organizers did was this: they allowed the high-rollers to buy in at the later levels, allowing them to skip all the grinding that they’d have to do on the lower levels. This really isn’t anything new, as Bellagio always did allow late registrations. But usually, late registrations are allowed only up to the 4th level. This time, they’re allowing late registrations up to the eighth level. This means that the true size of the field would remain unknown until at about 5:00 in the afternoon of Thursday. Furthermore, late entrants would not be given a chip penalty. Instead, they’d have to pay a buy-in that four times that of the original buy-in. The whole change of rules thing was done in order to accommodate the anticipated number of players for this year – which is no doubt very large. Also, it was done in order to please the high-rollers as well. Some poker pros hate all the grinding that’s done at the lower level tables and feel that it’s not worth their time to play 50/100. And with this new rule, they can forgo that grinding altogether and just play at the higher levels where they’re more comfortable. Some pros, upon hearing of the change in rules, decided to just wait for Thursday before they jumped into the action, and among them was Poker Brat, Phil Hellmuth. Phil Ivey, too, will start late – a much anticipated event, mostly because this is his first appearance at a tournament since he made the legendary “November Nine”. There were, however, some pros who played since the earlier days, among them were Joe Sebok and Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, and Mark Seif.
Raising the Hackles
A lot of players in the lower tiers were displeased with the change of rules, mostly because they felt that it gave the high-rollers too much of an advantage. For one thing, they’d be entering the most challenging part of the tournament fresh while the others would be fatigued over the first few days of grinding. However, those who started early also had an advantage. Case in point: Mike Matusow and Mark Seif. Both pros have more than 200,000 worth of chips under their belt and are quite comfortable at the front of the pack. It would be tough for the newer players to beat them, having only about 80,000 as a starting value. Indeed, this new rule change can either be good or bad. But one thing’s for sure, it truly does make things more interesting.
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