WSOP Wrinklies Weekend

The World Series of Poker is in full flow, and last weekend was "Senior's Weekend," or as many describe it, "Wrinklies Weekend."

Friday saw WSOP Event #27, which was the senior's event, restricted to players 50 years of age or older. You would be forgiven for thinking that would be a lesser event, with not much interest, as poker is often thought of as a young person's game. Wrong. No less than 4,499 hardy seniors entered the event, which ranks it amongst the bigger events in the WSOP by player numbers.

And if that were not enough to convince anyone that our more mature players still love to play poker, Sunday saw the "Super Seniors," which has a minimum age criteria of 65. To enter, presumably, they needed a passport, $1,000, and their pension book. That one attracted some 1,500 entries, which is quite extraordinary, I'd say.

I patrolled the tables during both events, and it was quite a sight, with these veterans wearing all manner of apparel, from hoodies, to shades, shell suits, and, we must readily assume in some cases, incontinence pants.

The notable difference between these Seniors and Super Seniors' affairs, and a regular poker tournament, seemed to be the absence of iPads, smartphones, or players listening to music via headphones. Instead, they were concentrating on the game in hand, and, for the most part, amiably chatting to each other. There is nothing like poker for making new friends and acquaintances - a random draw throws us together with 8 or 9 other complete strangers, and we may well be sat there for 12 hours straight, so it's a wonderful opportunity for good social interaction. And if there is one thing that these old folks do better than their younger counterparts, it's the ability to make good conversation, eye contact, and smile readily. They certainly don't do "cool", but it's cool not be cool.

The 2015 Seniors went to Oklahoma resident Travis Baker, who vowed to use much of his $613,000 windfall to pay or his daughter's wedding. Meanwhile, 2015 Super Seniors winner Jon Andlovac, from Carson City, just up the road from Las Vegas, won over $262,000, and memorably was quoted as saying "I'm off for a nap." Quite right too.  

A fitting ceremony

Each WSOP bracelet winner is celebrated properly, usually the following day, with a bracelet ceremony. It's a proper job, too, all tournaments are paused during the ceremony, the appropriate National Anthem is played, and a few short speeches are given.

It's the dream of every poker player to win one of those bracelets, and end up on this stage…

No doubt and no mercy from Mercier

Meanwhile, in the more serious WSOP stuff, the $10,000 Championship events, the ever confident 29 year old Jason Mercier, from Florida, has achieved 3 back to back final tables, winning 2 of them, sandwiching a 2nd place in the other, and enriching himself by the best part of a million dollars along the way. 

All three events were in different, and very specialised poker formats, being 2-7 Draw Lowball, Seven Card Razz, and H.O.R.S.E. ("H.O.R.S.E." in itself is 5 different games - Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Stud, Eight or Better High Low Stud). That is probably unprecedented for any player, ever, at the WSOP.

There is a tendency to suggest that the much smaller field sizes these specialist events attract makes them easier to win, but I don't buy that, not one bit. Any player who can excel at so many different formats deserves all the credit he can get, it was a phenomenal performance by the young man.

God help the Seniors and Super Seniors in a few decades time.