WSOP Main Event Reaction: Players Critical of “Galaxy Brained Decision Making”

3 min read

Running the World Series of Poker Main Event during a pandemic was never going to be easy. However, some railbirds are less than impressed with how things have played out so far.

WSOP Main Event
Some players have criticized the way this year’s WSOP Main Event has played out online and in Europe. (Image: Twitter/WSOP)

The poker community’s reaction was largely positive when the WSOP announced it was going to trial a hybrid version of the Main Event.

Although it called into question the status of September’s $5,000 Main Event winner, no one was mad at getting another chance to win a bracelet. For certain critics, however, the end product hasn’t matched their expectations of what a main event should be.

International Main Event Causes Travel Problems

The online portion of the international WSOP Main Event went off without a hitch. Players from Europe, South America, and Asia all anted up on GGPoker without any issues.

When the final nine were asked to travel to the Czech Republic, things got a little tricky for one player.

Peiyuan Sun chose not to attend. His reasons aren’t known, but travel restrictions between China and the Czech Republic almost certainly factored into his decision.

Sun was declared the ninth-place finisher on account of not being able to attend. That’s fair enough. Moreover, he still won $75,360 for his efforts. But, in the mind of poker pro Max Silver, that was unfair.

Silver’s tweet received support from Mark Roovers, but others weren’t so sympathetic. For many on the rail, it was a case of Sun knowing the rules before he entered the $10,000 tournament.

“Easy pay jump. What a joke this WSOP Main Event is,” Roovers tweeted.

Lack of Live Streams Leaves Some Missing that Buzz

Travel issues weren’t the only thing to irk the critics. The WSOP Main Event has a certain reverence that other tournaments can’t match.

Each time it plays out, there’s not only a buzz in Las Vegas, but on social media platforms and poker forums. Some of that buzz was missing this year, according to certain fans.

DJ MacKinnon was one of the more vocal critics of this year’s hybrid Main Event. His main point of contention is the lack of live streams.

The American wasn’t able to watch the international finale play out at King’s Resort, something he described as “galaxy brained.”

It’s also been revealed that he’ll have to wait for ESPN to show highlights of the US final table due to there not being a live stream for that either.

It’s hard to criticize the WSOP and GGPoker for putting on a Main Event against the odds. 2020 hasn’t been easy for anyone, and the hybrid tournament was a valiant effort to create something out of nothing.

However, poker players are a critical bunch, and the WSOP Main Event is held to unenviably high standards.

Whether it’s the lack of hype or a general sense of pessimism due to COVID-19, the feeling among some is that this year’s Main Event wasn’t all it could have been.



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