[texred1]

I, like everyone else here, was very disappointed to hear of the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

BUT!!!!!

Look on the bright side. The World Series of Poker next year won't have nearly as many crappy "I have only played on the internet and won my seat on pokerstars" players that have polluted the Main Event the last couple of years.

My prediction..... If the US is successful in shutting down online gambling in the US, a known professional player will win the ME next year.

~dustin

[BettorGolfer]

Originally Posted by texred1

I, like everyone else here, was very disappointed to hear of the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

BUT!!!!!

Look on the bright side. The World Series of Poker next year won't have nearly as many crappy "I have only played on the internet and won my seat on pokerstars" players that have polluted the Main Event the last couple of years.

My prediction..... If the US is successful in shutting down online gambling in the US, a known professional player will win the ME next year.

~dustin

I had the same thoughts and started a thread about that also. I bet each event has at least half the amount of players from this year.

[TheMightyJim2k]

There will still be tons of crappy players...just less americans.

But in all honesty I think enough players will qualify through the sites that stay open (ie FullTilt, UB, maybe Pokerstars) and through satellites that other B&M casinos will offer for the ME that the number won't drop too much.

I also doubt that the other events will be greatly affected as there are significantly less satellites for most of them, as well as most of them having much smaller buy-ins.

This law still friggin sucks.....

[jojobinks]

even if this scales the wsopme back to pre-moneymaker levels, then we're talking about 800+ entrants and an estimated 100 or so tourny pros.

it's still likely that a non-pro wins.

in reality, there's likely to be much less of a dropoff than that.

[hachkc]

I think the levels will only drop to the number of qualifiers that online sites provide. If you assume that online poker drops by 50% (highly doubtful), then they should be sending 50% fewer players but a larger percentage of the players will simply be non-Americans. This is simply because there will be less competition against American plahyers.

If an American does qualify through an online event, would he have a problem showing up and claiming his WSOP seat? The new law technically doesn't change the law on playing online poker but is meant to address money transfers to online poker sites; kind of like not outlawing guns but outlawing the buying of bullets.

[BettorGolfer]

Originally Posted by TheMightyJim2k

There will still be tons of crappy players...just less americans.

But in all honesty I think enough players will qualify through the sites that stay open (ie FullTilt, UB, maybe Pokerstars) and through satellites that other B&M casinos will offer for the ME that the number won't drop too much.

I also doubt that the other events will be greatly affected as there are significantly less satellites for most of them, as well as most of them having much smaller buy-ins.

This law still friggin sucks.....

well, if PokerStars quites providing to US residents also (and quits giving my opponents their cards on the river), then the amount of players sent by sites will be way down. Keep in mind Pstars sent close to 1500 players this year alone. Party was close behind that. True, Full Tilt and UB will have satellites, as it looks as if they won't be affected (but I bet this changes also).

Interent qualifiers will come from overseas, but not as many. I don't think it will ever be back to pre-Moneymaker days, maybe Raymer times. Which is still a butload of players.

[cigarherb]

I had heard or read somewhere that 6000+ of the players in this years main event were internet qualifiers with less than $100 invested in their trip. I could be wrong on the details, but I would wager that participation drops but not below 2000 players.

[BettorGolfer]

Originally Posted by cigarherb

I had heard or read somewhere that 6000+ of the players in this years main event were internet qualifiers with less than $100 invested in their trip. I could be wrong on the details, but I would wager that participation drops but not below 2000 players.

that sounds about right. Pstars sent the most. I think the Main Event will be about 2-3000 people next year.

[Button Potato]

This has far-reaching consequences way beyond the wsop me participants.

What about pro revenue derived from on-line sponsorships?
What about event revenue derived from on-line sponsorships?
What about television revenue derived from on-line poker?