Harrah's is diluting the WSOP brand - my proposal for the WSOP

[Self Made]

We talk about the WSOP producing a "world champion of poker" each year, but is Harrah's diluting the value of that championship?

A simple question for you: who is this year's world champion of poker? The guy who won the NL Hold'em bracelet? Which one? Harrah's handed out 25 bracelets in NL Hold'em this year! This includes events such as shootouts, short-handed, rebuy, ladies, seniors, and casino employees. What's next, Hold'em with jokers wild? And "championship" bracelets, which should be the highest honor in poker, were handed out for winning events with buyins as low as $1500.

I believe that as Harrah's hands out more bracelets, for more obscure niches of poker, the value of each bracelet goes down (those of you who understand economics will see that this is bracelet inflation).

If Harrah's wants to maximize the WSOP brand, and if all of us want the WSOP to be the true championship of poker, I propose that:
- there only be one championship event for each major type of poker; and
- each event be the highest-buyin event of its type in the world. For the Main Event, for example, that would mean a buyin in the $25,000-100,000 range.

I question if forms of poker like NL Hold'em shootouts need a championship event. If the WSOP is the shootout championship, where are the regular season and the playoffs? It's just not a major form of poker. NL Hold'em, pot limit Omaha, HORSE, etc. deserve championships, but some others on Harrah's current list should be cut out, and the total number of events should be drastically reduced.

- Self