World? Poker Tour.
Topic: Poker
Congratulations to regular Sleepless in Fulham reader Roland de Wolfe for winning just over $1 million at the WPT championship event in Las Vegas on Monday. It says something about the buoyancy of the poker economy that he got his million for coming third! Since learning of his big win, I've had a few thoughts about these big field poker events and I'm not sure I'm happy about my conclusions.

Firstly, the fact that he got his seven figure payout on day seven suggests to me that poker is starting to resemble those dance marathons of the depression era of America, where endurance was the key factor. This has to be to the benefit of local players, because of the jet lag and sleep adjustment factor. When I went to Austria in March to play the €2,000 NL event, I arrived the day before and got a good night's sleep. I walked to the casino from my hotel and felt lively and confident. However after nine hours I was exhausted. Clearly I'd needed more rest.

Secondly, the name World Poker Tour is increasingly inappropriate when about 90 per cent of the events are in one country. I appreciate that the US is the biggest market for the game, but some attempt to broaden the geographical base is required. This year Ultimatebet's Aruba competition, one of the few previous non-US events, drops off the schedule. So unless I'm mistaken, that only leaves Paris and the Bahamas.

Unfortunately, I am not sure that there is much that the WPT can do about it. Europe has enough players to support another event, but where is there the free space? I believe that Amsterdam has turned them down, while the EPT has signed up Barcelona, the Victoria, Baden, Copenhagen and Monte Carlo. Ireland has held some large events, but looking forward there are major legal uncertainties about the status of Irish gaming clubs. Germany has some casinos that are unsigned, but their staff are notoriously rude and unhelpful. The rake in any side games would be a joke. What does this leave? Helsinki?

For all the talk of a poker explosion, it's sad to see that there aren't many places where you can stage big events in Europe.