Championship Gaming Series

WSOP Poker Player's Championship quieter, but bigger than last year

Maybe the players are worn out from more than a month of grinding through a grueling World Series of Poker schedule. Maybe, with the proliferation of high-roller events at nearly every stop on the poker circuit, the novelty of a $50,000 buy-in event has worn off. Or maybe the players who entered the Poker Player’s Championship at the 2011 World Series of Poker on Saturday were feeling the weight of Black Friday and the loss of significant sponsorship revenue.

No matter what the cause, the mood at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for Day 1 of the WSOP ’s largest buy-in event was much more subdued than it was the last time I was here to cover this event (then a $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament) in 2007.

Four years ago, as the tournament got underway, players were frantically making last-longer bets and other side bets on who they thought would win. Mike Matusow was manically joking and chatting with every player within earshot. The players were giddy, like kids who had just gotten out of school for the summer, or like a group of guys who have just arrived in Las Vegas for a bachelor party.

This year, there was no side action – or at least the players were much more discreet about it. David Oppenheim’s attempt to convince Doyle Brunson to make a last-longer bet was the only betting I detected; Doyle wouldn’t bite.

Despite the subdued start, the tournament is without a doubt a huge success. The Poker Player’s Championship drew 128 players, growing by more than 10 percent over last year’s number of 116 players. Ninety-six players filled 12 tables when the tournament first got underway, as a handful of players registered late. With players starting with 150,000 chips and just five levels of play on the day, 124 players will return on Sunday for Day 2, as only four players were eliminated.

The top 16 players (the players who make the final two tables) will finish in the money , with $1,720,328 going to the winner, and the second-place finisher winning $1,063,034.

$50,000 Poker Players Championship Notebook

World Series of Poker officials opted to move this event from the beginning of the WSOP to near the end in response to player concerns about managing their bankrolls over the course of the entire WSOP. Defending champion Michael Mizrachi wasn’t as big a fan as other players, apparently.

“I have to say I disagree with (the move),” said Mizrachi.

Championship Gaming Series Shuts Down

"While the concept was ahead of its time and we are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished, it became increasingly clear as this ambitious project evolved, that profitability was too far in the future for use to sustain operations in the interim," reads the note from The CGS team.

"We invested wholeheartedly in the venture and presented viewers with a top-notch production, but the economics just didn’t add up for us at this time."

The CGS launched in 2007 and created franchise teams in a number of U.S. and international markets, which competed against one another in televised gaming tournaments.

With the demise of CGS, Major League Gaming remains as the lone organized circuit for aspiring pro gamers.

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