World Series of Poker neglecting amateur players?

The World Series of Poker has been with us for some thirty years now. Starting with the famous inaugural win of Johnny Moss to the triple success of Stu Ungar to the latest triumph of Peter Eastgate. Originally of course the World Series was a haven for the best poker players in the world and only the best could afford the huge buy-ins.

As the series developed then more and more players were taking part in big events through satellites and super satellites. Then we had the online sites running countless qualifiers and suddenly the biggest tournament poker series in the world was accessible to all.

But is that all changing and according to one British pro…..it is. Paul “Action” Jackson has claimed that the World Series of Poker is starting to lose its appeal for the average players. He went on to say in a recent interview that the event was getting “too big for its own boots” as in his mind, many of good strong amateurs were finding it more and more difficult to sit in the larger events.

In his view, the larger events were not financially viable to players unless they had sponsorship deals, massive bankrolls or were staked in some way. He also said that “there is a huge danger of it becoming a jolly club for the sponsored players and that’s not what the World Series of Poker is meant to be about”.

Jackson also went on to say how he didn’t think that it was fair that so many players didn’t have a chance of winning the main event because of the size of the buy-in. Do you agree with him or not? Personally I think that the series has gone too far in many aspects and too many players are now playing in too many events.

There are several ways of looking at this and Paul’s view has credibility but from a personal perspective, I preferred the time when winning a bracelet seemed to mean more than what it does now. If you tried naming every bracelet winner at this years series then you would be hard pressed to remember a quarter of them. What do you think? Do you agree with Paul Jackson?