WSOP 2014 Curiosities: Ante Only Event

Most of the No Limit Hold’em tournaments during the Series are more or less the same. Some have longer levels and bigger starting stacks than the others, but in the end – they are the same. That is why Event #47 attracted a lot of attention and players have been discussing it a lot during the last couple days.

Ante-only events are really few and far between even in the world of online poker, so most players, even those with lot of experience under their belts, don’t really have a devised strategy for them. As the event progressed, most of them were trying to figure out what was the best approach, but the general consensus was that it was a lot of fun.

The basic idea of these tournaments that blinds (or rather, bring-ins) remain very small and basically negligible for the entire duration, but antes are constantly climbing and all players at the table must contribute to the pot on every hand. This creates interesting and much different dynamic than in the usual No Limit Hold’em tournaments, and trying to come up with the best way to play hands is a fun and challenging task.

Daniel Negreanu, who decided to late register this event right after he was eliminated from the Poker Players Championship, was delighted with the structure and the way game was playing from the moment he sat. He’s been tweeting about how there should be more events like this and event went as far as to say that all the tournaments should adopt this structure.

After having his fun though, Negreanu busted deep in the tournament, so he will not be taking home his first bracelet of the summer, but our own Laura Cornelius caught up with him while he was still in and, amongst other things, picked his brain about the Ante Only event.

KidPoker believes this tournament format is great for amateur players because it enables them to see a lot of flops and play a lot of poker. With blinds being so small, it is not rare to see nine players limp in and take the flop without a single raise. This widens the ranges significantly and makes it trickier to play. All that can do wonders for your post-flop skills and reading abilities.

Negreanu also talks about the rest of his Series so far and the Big One for One Drop Tournament and reveals that he is not that hyped about it as some may think. You can check out the whole interview below: