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13
Oct

WSOP Not Accepting Online Qualifiers

Posted by PokerBarney on 1:34PM, 13th Oct 2006
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According to the ESPN podcast "The Poker Edge" with Phil Gordon and Andrew Feldman, the WSOP will not accept online qualifiers in starting from 2007, thanks to the recent laws banning online gambling in the US.

Basically, Harrah's are not allowing poker sites to buy their players into the WSOP. As a result, Full Tilt are no longer running satellites to the 2007 WSOP, effective immediately!

The immediate reaction to this news is one of a simple workaround - instead of the poker sites buying the players in, they could just credit their accounts with the $10,000 so the players can do it themselves.

Once you've got the $10K though, it's a different matter. I can't imagine what my girlfriend said if I told her I'd just won $10K, but that she couldn't even have a new pair of shoes! Winning entry is one thing, cash is another matter entirely.

I suppose the reason that these sites aren't accepting online entries is so that they are seen to be publically separating themselves from the "law breaking" online gamblers. No reputable company wants to be associated with criminals, obviously (Although it's still up in the air as to whether American players will actually be classed as criminals or not...)

There is a slightly more suspicious side to the whole thing though. It turns out that Harrah's funded Bill Frist's campaign. Does this mean they were pro-banning, or that they simply weren't aware of his viewpoint when they signed the cheques?

I'm not sure it makes business sense for them to be pro-banning... thousands of players coughed up millions of dollars in entry fees this year - entirely from online qualifications. Do they really want to throw that away?



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