Lots of Improvements for 2008 WSOP

I have to give Harrah's some credit. They listen to the players. They listen to the bad press. They appear to take complaints and suggestions very seriously and then work hard to make corrections.

Yesterday was orientation day for the 2008 World Series of Poker, and it is evident that al lot of improvements have been made for this year. From this dealer's perspective, everything just seemed to be going a whole lot more smoothly and the professionalism and hard work by the staff planning this year's event was clearly demonstrated.

First thing I noticed was that Sue Phillips took to heart many of the comments about last year's dealer scheduling and devoted her staff towards correcting several of the issues.  Just after I picked up my badge, I was able to see my schedule for the first nine days of the tournament.  Each day, your initial assignment is already specified, so you know before you arrive whether you will be going into one of the tournament areas, live action, or satellites.  Pre-planning these assignments would seem to ensure a more equitable distribution.  Perhaps it will cut down on the cherry-picking many of the dealers were angling for specific assignments.  It also seemed to me that this allowed them to rate dealers somewhat and consider specific event assignments, rather than near-random placement.  I still think that ALL WSOP dealers need to be competent dealing any and all events, as I will strive to be, but with a staff this large, perhaps it behooves the leadership to consider placing their strongest dealers in the latter stages of the higher buy-in events, for instance.  Sue mentioned that she should have a couple more weeks of the schedule up very soon, so that we will be able to do some longer range planning.

I was happy to be assigned to day shift, but I did seem to get short shrift on the first week with too many off days.  The new dealers hired this year were all assigned to evening shifts, and they will presumably be used more for mega satellites, the nightly second chance cash tournament, and live action games.  So, I felt really good about being able to work the day shift where I should get more opportunities to deal the different tournament events.  Satellites are fun, the high limit cash games are certainly an interesting challenge that I won't ever see anywhere in Houston, but I came to the WSOP for the experience of dealing the bracelet events, which is my preference.

This year, they also held a two-hour dealer training session that was mandatory and very well organized by Kim Smith.  We received a concise dealing manual and a great effort of getting everyone on the same page with respect to procedures was made.  Players should see a much more consistent dealer presence this year.  Last year, I managed to get a copy of a draft manual from one of the Harrah's dealer managers, but it was never completed in time for the series, so 95% of the dealers never even got to see it.  They did have some informal, unpaid, ad hoc, voluntary training sessions, which I took advantage of, but the trainers were not consistent and were over-booked with many, many questions.  I did not feel that it was as effective as should have been for an event of this stature and blogged about my disappointment.  I still think more could be done, and clearly Kim's effort is still in progress as there were a few updates to manage, but the information was very effectively communicated, evidenced by the relatively low number of pertinent questions (there are always some kooky comments).  We each got a copy of an instructional DVD as well, which shows the Harrah's way with regard to poker dealing procedures.  Its about 40 minutes long, well produced, and should help dealers from all over the country conform to a reasonable standard.

The dealer break room is gone, but it has been moved to a slightly larger space and will be used by all WSOP event employees, as it should be.  The need for the break room is simply to give a place for dealers and other WSOP staff like chip runners, cashiers, registrars, floor people, even supervisors to retreat to on the convention side of the property.  The casino break rooms are nearly a mile away and the catacomb walks required to reach them would surely consume any reasonable break time.  They can also bring out light meals to this break room and avoid having the surplus event staff overpopulate the employee dining room.

After our orientation, we were required to do a few simple things like clock in/out to make sure our badging worked.  This preparation wasn't done last year, and while it seems simple enough, the day of event hiccups can really amount to quite an ordeal, so checking things out early is well worth the time and effort.  We all had to register for an event, which gives the dealers first hand experience and the ability to answer many of the players questions.  We are the front line of customer service, and anyone in a vest gets frequent stops and queries - I found out real quickly last year that I was not prepared to provide much more than a smile.   It didn't take long for me to get the info necessary for the standard questions, but there was so much initial confusion, I know that I wasn't initially very helpful last year.  That won't be the case this year.  Just moving the registration to its own separate convention space near, but outside of the Amazon room, will be a huge improvement for the players this year and help with overall congestion.

No poker will be played in the player's pavilion this year!  This was a huge improvement, as last year the air conditioning just wasn't adequate and the comfort level out there simply did not meet the standards of such a prestigious event.  This year the pavilion is split into a couple of purposes, a V.I.P. lounge area and a commissary for all players, spectators, media, etc.  It is an appropriate use of the temporary structure and seems to be better designed for comfort as well.

The quadrants in the main tournament area of the Amazon room are now color-coded, and each region has its own table numbering, so customers and staff will be able to navigate and find table assignments much more easily.  Registration cards have been redesigned to take advantage of this.  There appears to be more room between the tables as well, and even though the room was not completely setup, I imagine that should help with spectator control and traffic corridors.  The satellites are all being held in its own convention space across from the Amazon room, and they have their own registration/cashier's cage.  Another improvement that should help with congestion and navigation of the Amazon room.  

There is also a dedicated cashier's cage for the live action tables, and this year players will get their seat cards for live action games from the board manager podium.  Floor will circulate through this section and pick up seat cards when they open, rather than requiring dealers to scream over the top of the public address system just to get the attention of those working the waiting list board.  We will still hold some live action cash games in the Amazon room, but there is another convention space that will be made available to WSOP on June 6th that I think I heard will be used for the high limit cash games.  Most of the low limit cash games will be spread on tables in the regular poker room near the bowling alley.  All of this means that many more tournament tables are being effectively used for events in the Amazon room.  There is still overflow available for the biggest events, plans have been made to utilize these other areas as well as the space outside of Buzio's seafood restaurant.

Food service for the players and spectators has been expanded and improved.  There is an Asian cafe with sushi and a noodle bar, Pizza Hut, Krispy Kreme, premium coffee kiosks as well as the standard cafeteria fare previously provided.

It's really pretty amazing how many changes and improvements have been made.  I purposely left off the delay for the final table of the main event, because so much has already been said.  I'm not yet convinced that change will turn out to be widely received as positive.  More on that later.  Oh, and yes, I know the badge lanyard in the picture says "2007".  I'll manage to get another picture up in its place soon enough.