It’s been a couple of weeks now since the 2010 World Series of Poker wrapped up its 57 tournament schedule - OK, save for the “November Nine” and the crowning of the Championship Event winner. With two weeks to digest all that occurred at the WSOP, there are some things that were apparent after the summer of poker at the Rio.

It Was The Year Of . . .

Prior to the start of the WSOP, many people had visions of the ladies making a significant impact on the world’s greatest poker tournament. With the performance by such talented females as Annie Duke (National Heads Up Poker Championship), Vanessa Selbst (North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun) and Liv Boeree (European Poker Tour San Remo) staking a claim to “The Year of The Woman,” the thoughts were that this would be the first year since 2004 that multiple women would win a cherished WSOP bracelet.

Alas, it wasn’t to be. One of the top female players that media focused on, Annette Obrestad, was unable to make a significant impact on the WSOP in her first visit to the Las Vegas version. “Annette_15” did have four cashes during the run of the WSOP, but only could get to 11^th in one of the Shootout events in her closest final table run. The roughly $47,000 she earned over the summer was potentially a disappointment to the Norwegian poker wunderkind.

The ladies did muster some final table runs, however, and it was the veterans that led the way. Seemingly always in the mix when there’s a tournament going, Joanne “J. J.” Liu finished third in a $1500 Pot Limit Hold’em event and bubbled from the final table in the $2500 Six Handed Limit tournament. Jennifer Harman made two final tables, with a third place finish in the Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo World Championship Event and a sixth place finish in the $2500 Seven Card Razz tournament. Overall, though, the “Year of the Woman” didn’t materialize at the 2010 WSOP. (Look at it this way…we don’t have to see Mike Matusow run down the Strip naked!)

So what about “The Year of The Pro”? It’s a possibility, because professional poker players dominated the bracelet counts. Outside of Phil Ivey and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi (more on him in a moment), however, it wasn’t the top pros who were taking the gold, it was players who have grinded it out on the peripheral of the poker world.

Longtime poker veteran Frank Kassela was the star of the WSOP, making four final tables and winning two bracelets on his way to the top of the WSOP Player of the Year leader board. Matt Matros, who toiled in obscurity for years, picked up a well deserved bracelet. Add in other winners like Gavin Smith, Chris Bell, Dutch Boyd and Men “The Master” Nguyen, and the byline for the 2010 WSOP should be “The Year of Redemption.”

 The WSOP Player of The Year Race . . .

With his two bracelet victories - and a few other exceptional finishes - Kassela had a virtual lock on the WSOP Player of the Year race even before the Championship Event started. The competitors closest to him (Mizrachi, John Juanda, the outstanding Russian player Vladimir Shchmelev and Dan Heimiller) had to win the Championship Event to even have a shot at taking the title from him - which Mizrachi has a chance at by making the “November Nine” and tying Kassela. This has led to much consternation from many in the poker community.

Kassela was the most consistent player through the entirety of the WSOP. It is accurately stated, however, that Mizrachi’s win in the $50,000 Players’ Championship and his run in the Championship Event is a once in a lifetime event, with some saying he should clearly earn the POY award. This has led to cries to revamp the scoring system that the WSOP uses to award the prestigious POY moniker.

The answer to the question is to leave the scoring system alone. Much like NASCAR in its pre-Chase days, the WSOP POY is awarded to the player who is the most consistent player throughout the seven week ordeal. To start weighting the scoring system on prize pools or number of players, as some have suggested, would weaken the scoring rather than enhance it. Even if Mizrachi was to win the Championship Event, he would only tie Kassela; it would be a just finish to have these two qualified men share the POY award.

The Performance of Harrah’s and WSOP Officials . . .

There’s always some debate about how Harrah’s and the WSOP officials handle the WSOP, dating back to when the WSOP was taken over in 2005. This year’s event, however, seemed to run fairly flawlessly. One area that could use improvement, though, is in how live updates and chip counts are given to those interested over the internet.

 Harrah’s and the WSOP should not “farm out” such a critical portion of their product to an outside source. Nolan Dalla is one of the top media directors around, with a background in tournament reporting, and I would like to see him bring together a team that would:

A) Be working for the WSOP, not interested in focusing on certain players or a particular online poker rooms stable of horses.

B) Are qualified to do the job of tournament reporting. In the past, the outside sources have brought a throng of people who, while quite energetic, aren’t knowledgeable about the game. The information that gets passed to those viewing the WSOP over the web shouldn’t suffer because of a lack of poker acumen.

It does take a large staff to cover the WSOP (especially when you have two rooms and five events minimum going on), but Harrah’s should look into this idea. Making these changes (and Nolan knows who would be qualified to do the job) would ensure that the 2011 WSOP will have the coverage that it deserves as a major sporting event.

The “November Nine” is . . .

Let’s face it, the “November Nine” will probably be a part of the WSOP as long as it is broadcast by ESPN. Since they signed a long-term deal last year with Harrah’s, extending coverage to 2016, we will have the 100+ day wait to crown poker’s de facto World Champion into the next decade. But it isn’t such a bad deal, overall.

Ratings have been excellent for each incarnation of the “November Nine,” and the 2010 WSOP should have its own share of interesting stories. The youngest overall final table in the history of the WSOP? Check. The continued renaissance of Michael Mizrachi? Check. Unknown persons making their first foray into tournament poker history? Check. If every “November Nine” can be as entertaining as our first few efforts, the experiment will have proven to be a success (even though it goes against tournament purists’ ideas!).

By the way, the winner in November will be…well, that’s why they play the game. And that’s why the World Series of Poker will continue to be the preeminent tournament in the sport for many eons to come.