WSOP plans upset
poker players
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A plan by Binion's Horseshoe owner Becky Behnen to split a 3
percent portion of World Series of Poker prize money among property employees
has created controversy among some of the world's top poker players.
Early advertisements for this year's World Series, set to kick off its
32nd year on Friday, announced that 3 percent of the prize pool would be
withheld to pay tournament personnel. The remaining 97 percent would be split
by the top finishers in each event.
The decision followed the practice
of competing major tournaments of withholding a small portion of the prize pool
for dealers and other tournament personnel to make them less dependent on
volatile tip income.
The controversy began when the Horseshoe announced
recently that the tournament personnel slated to receive shares of the 3
percent set-aside included Horseshoe employees who many poker players don't
consider to be tournament personnel.
"The players have, at a minimum,
been misled," said Paul Phillips, a Las Vegan who is a professional poker
player.
"When people hear that 3 percent of the prize pool has been
withheld, they expect it to go to the dealers and tournament floor personnel,"
Phillips said. "If Binion's wants to supplement the salaries of its employees,
they should raise the entry fees rather than subtract from the prize
pool."
Despite his frustration a player boycott of this year's World
Series is unlikely.
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| Becky
Binion-Behnen |
Behnen, whose
father Benny Binion created the World Series, which is considered poker's
premier event, said Wednesday that player concerns were misguided.
"We
said 3 percent would go to tournament personnel, and it will," she said. "I'm
not taking a penny of the money, and my family's not taking a penny. It's going
to the employees who have to deal with the incredible month-long tournament."
World Series of Poker participants pay two separate fees to enter the
tourney's first 25 events. Each player pays a buy-in ranging from $1,000 to
$5,000 along with an entry fee of $50 to $150. Entrants to the World Series'
final event, the world championship no-limit Texas Hold'em contest, pay a
$10,000 buy-in but pay no entry fee.
Last year's prize pool totaled
about $15 million, and 3 percent of that figure is about $450,000. This year
however with registration fees for each tournament the total money being
drained off could be as high as $750,000.
The total of all of the
buy-ins at each event at past World Series formed the event prize pool, and all
of the money in the prize pool was divided among players. The total of the
entry fees for each event went to the Horseshoe to offset the cost of the
tournament.
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