2006 WORLD SERIES OF POKER NEWS

Rio Rita greets guest to the Rio and explains the latest promotion.

I spent part of the day cruising around Vegas then stopped by the Rio Resort Casino to visit with Poker Room Manager, Robert Daily. The WSOP recently named Robert the Tournament Director for the 2006 WSOP. We spent the afternoon talking about our similar backgrounds, airplanes and poker. More specifically the upcoming 2006 World Series of Poker. Robert becomes the third tournament director in the three years that Harrah’s has owned the WSOP.

The 2005 WSOP broke all records for the numbers of players, fans and media, but WSOP organizers were presented with never seen before problems brought pon by the sheer masses of people. Restrooms were often in very short supply, food in the tournament area was extremely limited and quality was substandard, tobacco smoke made the air in the corridors toxic, and long lines everywhere. 2006 will see many of these problems eliminated thanks to Harrah’s management wanting the WSOP to be the most enjoyable experience offered a poker player. A player’s advisory committee was formed from seasoned poker professionals to advise on problems and solutions.

We talked about the various problems from the previous year and the solutions that have been put into place for the 2006 WSOP. The ESPN and media rooms have been moved out of the tournament giving each more room and also adding footage to the tournament space allowing for an increase in the number of tables to 2008. The restroom overcrowding should be a thing of the past with the temporary addition of portable johns right outside the main room. These are not your typical port-a-pot units, these are the Las Vegas versions complete with air conditioning and carpet. The relief breaks will be staggered by using smaller room sections so hopefully no more lines at the restrooms.

The food, or rather the lack thereof, was another of the major 2005 complaints. The food service has been relocated from the corridors just outside the main room to a more spacious and compatible area. The menu has been expanded and the quality of offerings has been upgraded so players not wanting to make the long trek into the main casino restaurants will have more choice than a precooked and packaged hamburger or hot dog. The long lines at the registration counter should be much shorter with double the number of stations from 4 to 8. The same goes for the cashier windows with the 6 from 2005 being expanded to 15 in 2006. Hopefully no more shut outs.

Additional staff has been added to provide more rest time for the tournament workers. In 2005 they were working 12 hour days, many of them worked without a day off for weeks and the fatigue began to show at the end, during the main event. The problem of events often requiring players to endure up to 18 hours of continuous play should now be a thing of the past. The two days scheduled per event has become three days per event. More good news is the return of Johnny Grooms to handle the mike with his entertaining commentary at the events.

Robert reminded me of the monthly freerolls in the Rio’s Poker Room. Play 80 hours in any monthly qualifying period earns a seat in the freeroll or play and win two of the Noon $40 buy-in + one $40 rebuy no-limit hold’em tournaments during any qualifying period also secures a seat ticket. Win the freeroll and you have a $10,000 seat in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Could be the best odds in town for a free seat in the big show.