The “Main Event” when broken down to its basic elements, is still a NO LIMIT HOLDEM event. That’s 1 game. The winner is considered a World champion and a great poker player. However, if you take these same players and put them in another event, what have they done? (Chris Moneymaker and Robert Varkonyi are both great examples. After winning the main event Varkonyi only has 1 other WSOP cash.) Winning the main event is great, but what does it prove. It proves you can win a No Limit Holdem event. Great. What about a Stud event? How about a PL Omaha event? I personally cannot see how they claim that the main event is the World Champion of poker when all they did was excel at ONE GAME.
The 50k HORSE event on the other hand is a total different beast. You cant just be a Holdem specialist or an Omaha specialist and win the event. You have to be skilled in at least 5 forms of poker to win this event. In addition it’s a LIMIT event. You cant just suck out early on in the event on one hand or go on a run and build up an insane amount of chips and then coast. You have to play. I personally think that the 50k HORSE event should be the Main Event. Will that mean I will ever be able to play the Main Event if it was switched to 50k HORSE. Chances are I will not. I will however be able to look at the winner of that event and be confident that they are true World Champion.
HORSE is nowhere near as exciting for the casual poker fan as NL Holdem. I understand this. In the real world however, which players are really more feared in a mixed game. Do you think Phil Hellmuth is feared in a mixed game? Not hardly. Is Chris Moneymaker or Joe Hachem feared. I doubt it. Let Phil Ivey, Cindy Violette, Greg Raymer or the like sit down, and anyone that knows anything about poker will tell you that your in trouble in a mixed game. Players that can play all the games get respect. Holdem gets boring after a while. Negraneu has said so and many other pros have said so.
The Main Event should be HORSE. Anything else is just another NL Holdem tournament. I am not saying don’t have a World Championship NL Holdem event. What I am saying is don’t deem someone a World Champion of Poker because they did well in a big NL Holdem event. Let someone prove their prowess in HORSE and THEN I will buy into the claim that they are a World Champion.
Jerry Yang is the current World Champion of NL Holdem. Freddy Deeb is the World Champion of POKER.
Tags: Chris Moneymaker, Cindy Violette, Freddy Deeb, Greg Raymer, Holdem, HORSE, Jerry Yang, No Limit Holdem, Phil Hellmuth, PL Omaha, Poker - General, Robert Varkonyi, World Series of Poker
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on Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Poker - General.
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