Six Figure Buy-Ins
The large poker events are drawing larger crowds every year. The World Series of Poker’s $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event in 2010 had more than 7,300 people enter to compete. The big names and big bankrolls are finding the field far too saturated for their tastes. To address the concerns of their most discriminating tastes and bankrolls, poker tournament directors are making choices to thin the crowds. The most popular method currently is to raise the buy in fees. Most are moving from five figures buy ins to six figures.
The World Poker Tour announced they would venture into the same this year as well. The main event will be a 100 thousand dollar buy in. This doesn’t mean the only players in the field will be Phil Ivey and the like but it will significantly limit the crowd. To help ‘give the little guy’ a hand up, there will be a $1000 buy in event the night before the main event. This satellite will allow rebuys, thus enabling anyone who wishes to win their way into the 100 thousand dollar World Poker Tour Main Event to have a competitive opportunity to do so.
Macau Cash Games are also drawing a lot of attention from the well known and unknown with a bankroll. Some of the most competitive poker players online and off are being drawn to the Macau, China poker tables. A high stakes cash game seems to be just what the doctor ordered for many of these professional players who are tired of the crowded final events. To get a change of pace and a bit more space, they are competing in high stakes cash games that are challenging and paying out.
The Full Tilt Poker Onyx Cup is one of the most extravagant examples of tournament directors trying to thin the field. Their lowest buy in competition will be 100 thousand dollars with some buy ins being 300 thousand. The competition will be both challenging and expensive. The top players who do compete with this bankroll will have the potential of bringing home as much as 30 million dollars in prize money.
Some events are being aggressively adjusted to accommodate the most elite poker players in the world. Those, like the ones above, are proving to draw a lot of attention. Conversation in the forum leans in a variety of directions, some believing this change is good for poker while others debate it. In time we will see the final impact. Until that is known, expect high buy in events to become the norm instead of the exception.