WSOP 2011 Circuit Tour
It’s the biggest event of the poker calendar and attracts some of the game’s biggest players as well as attracting massive audiences of both playing and non-plating poker fans from across the world. With crowds in attendance at event and many more internationally inspired by television relay to cash in their Party Poker discount codes and give the game a go, WSOP poker is some of the most influential competition in its field.
The 2010/2011 World Series of Poker Circuit tour, or WSOPC as it is known in poker circles, kicked off back in August of 2010 with the first qualifiers at the at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa and has visited locations across the US and the rest of the world (including the Emerald Casino in South Africa) as it hurtles toward what promises to be an exciting nail biter of a climax at Caesars Palace in May of this year (2011).
With the eyes of the world on the WSOP the 2010/2011 circuit tour officials took it upon themselves to make a few changes to the tour’s official rule book in the hopes of creating a more smooth running affair and brining into line some of the big name players who, in recent years, have seemed to get a little bit big for their poker playing boots.
Two notable rule changes have been pounced on by poker pundits as being direct attacks on players who constitute star attractions on the tour.
The first of the amendments concerns the tournaments rule 14 and has been nicknamed the Hellmuth clause, after Hold’em superstar Phil Hellmuth.
The new rule states that players must turn up at their tables before play reaches level three, if they are any later than this their chips will be taken off the table, minus the blinds from the missed hands, and the players original buy in will no longer count towards the tournament purse.
The rule change means that Hellmuth, famous for his fashionably late entrances will now have to attempt to adhere to the tournament timetable if he is to retain his high ranking.
The second big rule change for the current tour has been titled the Paskin clause after Brit Barry Paskin.
Rule 37b now demands that players maintain a suitable level of personal hygiene if they wish to play in the WSOP, after Paskin’s opponents in recent tournaments complained about his body odour and asked officials to remove him from the game. At the time there was no rule about smelling bad, and Paskin, who many speculated was aware of the effect of the psychological weapon, put the pong down to his lucky England shirt which had remained unwashed for a lengthy period. However, if he pulls the same stunt again this year, he could find his bluff is called and he is out of the game.
The WSOP 2011 Circuit tour is a star studded event packed with previous bracelet winners including Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer and Jerry Yang – but even with such experience names in the mix the qualifiers have thrown up a few surprises, not least the emergence of the events youngest ever circuit champion in the form of 19-year-old John Riordan from Florida.
