The World Series of Poker was created in 1968 by Tom Moore of San Antonio Texas at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno Nevada as an invitational poker event. In 1970 Benny Binion and his family took the idea of the World Series of Poker and created a series of tournaments. As the years drew on and poker gained popularity so did the number of players and addition of more tournaments. The traditions of the World Series of Poker seemed cast in stone, and comfortably so at Binions Horseshoe in Las Vegas Nevada. The Poker Hall of Fame also located in the birth place of WSOP seems like the only place in the world that is fitting and natural. Evolution of the ownership of the brand WSOP changed hands in 2003 from Binions to Harrahs, once again bringing growth and change. But tradition remained steady as the WSOP was still at home in Las Vegas. Only the casino location had to be changed from Binions to the Rio to accommodate the growing number of players. Harrahs has done an impressive job with the WSOP thus far in development and marketing, but what about integrity and tradition?

There have been countless interviews and articles written declaring that Harrahs first priority in the WSOP is the bottom line….MONEY. But wouldn’t that be a fair assessment in the views of any huge corporation, you ask? My answer is maybe. If the WSOP was still under the domination of the Binion family, would traditions still be upheld? Would they keep the integrity of the game and growth under control and in the best interests of the players along with pouring advertising dollars from sponsors back to the players or into the event? Maybe so. Sure both entities wanted to make money, but the founder was a poker player. Harrahs isn’t. My point here is that Harrahs views are that of a corporation, the personal involvement of a player/owner is gone and so it seems are the traditions and ghosts.

The opportunity that was given to players in Europe to play in the World Series, in my view, should never have happen. But it did. So now we have history made outside of the World Series of Poker traditions. The first woman to win a main event should have happened here, in the United States at the “traditional” main event. The age of the players also comes into question as that also breaks tradition and falls outside of the laws of the United States that states the legal gambling age to be 21. This brings to mind another tradition that is consistently tossed in front of us every time ESPN repeats the WSOP events, this one, or that one, is the “youngest” to ever win a bracelet, or win multiple bracelets, another tradition now gone because of the event in Europe. Harrahs see’s the opportunity to make more money by breaking these traditions and taking the WSOP to Europe and most probably next to come, Asia. I thought “World” Series of Poker meant just that. The world’s best players would travel to Las Vegas to play with the best of best and prove their worthiness. Harrahs has once again broken yet another tradition for the sake of money.

I recently read one of the first one on one interviews with Annette Obrestad. The deeper I read into this article the more my juices started to boil. If this young lady wanted to insult poker and its established professionals, she succeeded in doing just that. After playing only 10 live events she has the audacity to state that she is a better player than the pro’s she played against. When asked if there was any poker pro’s she most wanted to meet, she stated, “No not at this tournament.” Huh? I can’t believe the poker prodigy that everyone has their panties in a twist over, doesn’t want to meet the legend, Doyle Brunson? Give me a break! She’s not that good!

Should we take a look at Annette_15’s astonishing successes online? Sure why not, she’s made an impressive impact in the online tournaments. The poker forums are all abuzz about her and the railbirds on her tournaments are so thick you can’t type in a chat word edgewise. She’s even gone so far to play Phil Hellmuth in a 00 heads-up match which she took him down in a mere 12 hands, very impressive. Her assessment of the tournament on Ultimate Bet was this, “I have to admit that I was catching cards, Phil was trying to bluff me and the combination worked for me.” Sounds like something Jamie Gold would say, a blind man could play those cards. I’m sure Phil has way more to say on this subject than I do. Her criticism doesn’t stop there. When asked about her play on Ultimate Bet she replied, “I use to watch the UB pro’s PokerH0 and Deb034 all day long trying to figure out what they were doing. Now that I’m a little better than them, I don’t see why, because they’re not as good as I thought they were.” I think she should look up their stats before she makes such an assessment.
What goes up must come down, and it’s a long hard road leading up. Paying ones dues is a must for respect in this industry. Several pro’s have “made it”, only to take the fall, fast and hard. Recovery time is even longer in some respects. Hopefully Annette will learn from the experienced poker players. Oh wait, she doesn’t read poker books, use math in her decisions or take poker lessons. So guess she’ll have to learn the hard way.

On day 2 of the WSOP Europe main event, Annette sat at a table with Greg Raymer, Alan Cunningham, Hoyt Corkins, Ted Forrest and Eric Lindgren. There was more poker experience and knowledge there in years of the game than she is old, or that a book could ever hold. Gee, at the ripe old age of 19 she just may know more than all the poker professionals put together! In a statement Annette said, “I wasn’t too impressed with the live pro’s I played with. Ted Forrest impressed me the least, with his limping into every pot and calling every raise. I just don’t believe he played well.” Let’s see, Ted Forrest, professional poker player for 16 years, winner of 5 WSOP bracelets, a WPT title, PPT title, numerous first place championships over 16 years that I cannot list them all. In my opinion this young lady needs to learn some manners, humility, respect and etiquette. When giving an interview and voicing her opinions she needs to remember how new she is to poker. Hell, she wouldn’t even be in this position of the first woman to win a main event if the money hungry corporate types at Harrahs hadn’t taken the WSOP to Europe in the first place. She certainly couldn’t play in Las Vegas at age 18 or 19. Thanks Harrahs for creating yet another monster outside of traditional World Series of Poker.