Letter to WPT and Mike Sexton

To Whom It May Concern:

Several days ago I sent the following email to Mike Sexton. I am now sending it to this address, and hope it reaches someone with some say in the matter. If there is someone else I should contact, please let me know.

I am following the final table action of the WPT Doyle Brunson Championship Event at Bellagio, and am dismayed to see that once again, hundreds of thousands of dollars will change hands in a crapshoot, and a champion will be crowned not because he was the best player during the tournament, but rather the luckiest player at the final table.

I am a young professional poker player having just graduated from Macalester College in the spring, and a WPT addict. I have watched every episode that has ever aired and own the Season I and II DVD packages. I have played in two WPT events thus far, Legends of Poker and Borgata (both in 2005).

When I think back to my favorite WPT episodes, all have one thing in common: low blinds compared to the players' chip counts, allowing for more sophisticated play and more postflop action. Borgata Season Three, Legends of Poker Season Three, and the WPT Championship of Season One all come to mind. My least favorite episodes are the ones decided by (usually unavoidable) preflop showdowns.

I believe it is shameful that these WPT events often reach the point where if any player wants to play a pot, he must commit all his chips before the flop. I feel that fantastic tournaments have been ruined by the WPT's ridiculous final table structure which decreases time, skill, and viewing entertainment and increases luck. One blatant example of this was the WPT Championship from Season Three, which should have been the most entertaining WPT episode of all time considering the caliber of players at the final table and the money and prestige they were playing for. Unfortunately every hand was all-in before the flop because the blinds were so high. What could have been a fascinating battle of styles between Le, Maxfield, and Habib at the end was effectively an all-in crapshoot. Another example was the recent Borgata championship which featured an incredible structure and tons of play until the rising blinds at the final table destroyed any hope of seeing a flop without a player all-in.

I spoke to John D'Agostino during the US Poker Championships and he was furious about the WPT final table structure that he felt had compromised his chances of winning the event. We both agreed that the USPC was a more inviting event to play because the final table would not turn into a crapshoot.

I don't believe it is fair for the WPT to implement their own structures at final tables, especially if their structures speed up the tournament and decrease the skill factor. Also, I don't see how rising the blinds so fast helps the WPT. I understand that production costs are lower if the taping takes less time, but I'm sure most viewers would agree that higher blinds leads to less entertaining viewing.

There are some rumblings in the poker community that players will start boycotting the WPT if something is not done to make the final table structures more reasonable.

Gavin Smith and Minh Ly, two of the finest no limit hold 'em players in the world, just played the biggest pot of the tournament, all in before the flop, with ace-seven suited against king-eight offsuit. Does this seem right to you? Is this entertaining to watch? Is this fair to them, having played their hearts out for four days? Is it in the spirit of the game to have hundreds of thousands of dollars decided by ace-seven against king-eight? And is there anything either could have done to avoid this confrontation?

It is a shame that yet another WPT final table loaded with top players is being decided by ace-seven against king-eight. A better final-table structure is necessary to salvage the respectability of the WPT.

Thank you for listening.

Thomas Fuller