Last month, Guy Laliberté announced the large One for One Drop was coming back with a whopping €1,000,000 buy-in as a part of a five-day high-stakes cash game and tournament festival to be held October 13-17 on the Casino de Monte Carlo.
However, the announcement of the huge rake-free tournament that'll have each player donating €111,111 to 1 Drop — a charity devoted to bringing fresh water to these short of it — came with a hitch. Unlike prior to now when the development was open to all willing to drop 1,000,000 on it, this year's tournament is by invitation only. Laliberté wanted the development to exclude professional poker players in an effort to improve the experience for the recreational businessmen and celebrities desperate to play.
In an interview with PokerNews last month, Laliberté explained "The message I got was these recreational players, businessmen, and philanthropists felt like they physically didn't stand an opportunity. They desired to play for the money and the joys of it, but they might rather stake a professional than risk playing themselves against a field of pros. That forced me to rethink all the event."
The announcement of the development was met with some skepticism, and plenty of high-stakes poker pros were disappointed about being excluded. We weigh in on all sides of the conversation.
Excluding Poker Pros is a Mistake
In 1987, the National Football League players went on strike. I USED TO BE just a year old, so fortunately, I DID NOT must watch the dreck that ensued with the usage of the replacement players. But I WILL imagine it, and that i imagine it sucked almost as bad because the movie.
The Big One for One Drop without the participation of professional poker players is correct along those self same lines. And similar to with the replacement NFL players, the primary problem with the massive One for One Drop without professional poker players is that no-one will watch.
The fact of the problem is that almost all fans of televised and streamed poker tune in for one among two things: the skill of the players and the entertainment value of the characters. In case you are a hardcore poker fan, it is a real treat to observe Fedor Holz run circles around his opposition, striking when the time is true and darting out of danger like a talented boxer when his opponent has the products. More casual fans line as much as tune in for the likes of Phil Hellmuth and other players whose antics on the table make us laugh and shake our heads.
Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari celebrating after winning the first-ever Big One for One Drop.
Under Guy Laliberté's new Big One format, neither Hellmuth nor Holz could be allowed to take part. And is anyone tuning in to observe Bill Klein clash with Talal Shakerchi? No offense to these guys, but color me skeptical, regardless of how big you are making the buy-in.
Keep in mind also that the stated goal of the massive One is to lift money for the only Drop foundation, devoted to providing clean water to these in need. Out of every €1,000,000 buy-in, €111,111 will visit the charity. Denying pro players the choice to play could also be cutting possible monies out of the prize pool and, by extension, the charity.
Laliberté claims he's targeting a goal of 48 runners for the event, but that looks as if it will likely be awfully tough to achieve considering the inaugural Big One in Las Vegas drew that during an easier-to-access location with pro players populating the ranks.
Furthermore, as already stated, pro players bring eyeballs. A live stream with a fast-click option for viewers to donate to the charity would likely herald more dollars for the charity. But when nobody is watching, what good will that do? Denying pros entry could be doubly harmful to the possible to lift funds.
I completely understand why one of the rich amateurs feel somewhat turned off by being dropped into the proverbial waters as shark bait, but this needn't has been a feeding frenzy for the young killers. There have been way more palatable options than just blanket exclusion.
The Super High Roller Bowl at ARIA reserved 14 seats for “non-professional super high rollers.” Why not only invert that and reserve a handful of seats for pros? Of course, demand for such seats would far outpace the supply, but there are simple ways around that. For example, interested parties can have thrown their names right into a lottery. Or, as I saw suggested on Twitter, open-entry satellites might have been held for a suite choice of seats.
Finally, denying players the danger to play goes against the spirit of poker. This game boomed when Chris Moneymaker proved anyone can win. That's a large a part of why people tuned in, and they're going to be tuning out for a poker version of The Replacements.
-- Mo Nuwwarah
Guy Laliberté Made the suitable Choice
As partial to poker first and foremost, obviously I BELIEVE the absence of high-profile, high-stakes poker pros is disappointing. As Mo mentioned, the development becomes far less appealing for the fans without the likes of Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, and Fedor Holz among others. That said, the development wouldn't exist in any form without the core group of rich businessmen who're desperate to play in it.
So my question to you is that this: Would you rather see 1,000,000 euro buy-in tournament without poker pros, or not have the development held at all?
As the development organizer, Laliberté smartly spoke to these able to playing and discovered there has been limited interest from them to pony up seven figures to play against the brightest poker talent on the planet year after year. So he made a difficult choice that not just allowed the development still to take place, but person who was also within the best interest of his foundation, One Drop. I, for one, applaud him for creating a tough decision.
The exclusion of poker pros should attract more wealthy recreational players, like David Einhorn
For so long as poker has existed, there were sharks and fish. We all know this. The sharks or high-stakes professionals get fed when the fish or recreational players choose to have some fun and enter certainly one of their games. That fresh blood or money fuel the high-stakes poker ecology. Without those fish deciding to participate, the professionals can be forced to feed off of each other. While that surely happens all of the time, it certainly isn't beneficial to the long-term sustainability of the massive games. So when these pros see an immense buy-in like what we now have with One Drop, it creates a feeding frenzy. Winning a €1,000,000 buy-in tournament can keep a professional fed for quite some time.
However, for plenty of pros, the €1,000,000 had to play is out in their bankroll for a single tournament. Undoubtedly groups of players collectively raise money with the intention to have action within the tournament, which increases the collection of professionals involved, and likewise reduces the chance for lots of of the professionals. This creates a dynamic that the recreational players see as predatory. Yes, it might be naive for the recreational players to not pay attention to this from the get-go, but I BELIEVE with the aforementioned groups of players pooling bankrolls to go into it simply became an excessive amount of for the rich rec players to address. I DO KNOW personally, if I were fortunate enough to go into a €1,000,000 buy-in, I'd need to know that the players sitting across from me were assuming an analogous level of risk.
Laliberté isn't cutting the professionals out of the festival completely. In step with the Cirque du Soleil and One Drop founder, poker pros are welcome to train others within the event, take part in the money games, and play one of the crucial side events. This alone should satiate the professionals seeking to get some action, as surely gambling and high-stakes poker might be a top priority with all in attendance.
With or without the inclusion of poker pros, to me, a €1,000,000 buy-in poker tournament still makes for must-watch poker TV. Toss in millions of bucks raised for charity, and that i think this event could be an enormous success once again.
-- Matthew Parvis
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