Talking with Jack Effel

Jack is the tournament director for the WSOP and he was around table 1 a lot during Event 40 talking to Robert. During a break I heard another official say to him "we shouldn't even have this tournament next year" and I as I was walking by I said "hey, hey!" and Jack said "this guy likes it!"

So, I passed by Jack a could days later outside of Starbucks and as I did said "don't get rid of triple draw." He came over and started asking me questions starting with what I thought about the rule they use for re-shuffling the deadwood, which varies from the rules used by Commerce. I told him frankly it's moot when not played with rebuys - we didn't have a single reshuffle in 5-1/2 hours at my table. Only when you have rebuys do people call draw 3 bets with a bare deuce and draw 4. I said this mostly because I was afraid to admit I didn't really understand the nuance of their rule discussion!

He asked which I prefer and I said clearly no rebuys and he agreed with me. Doesn't make sense for a limit game. I said I'd rather it be 5k no rebuys than with rebuys, but I don't know if I meant it. On one hand, I don't want to play it at 5k really, and I'd rather go in with a budget and decide whether to rebuy based on how I'm doing. On the other hand, I like when it's played correctly because it's a game I understand. In rebuy periods pat hands are never pat. A number 6 is in real jeopardy during rebuys to be sure. At this point either format is better than no event - that would be really disappointing.