Five Thoughts: 2016 WSOP Begins, PNIA Allegations, and Allen Kessler Takes on the GPL

The 2016 World Series of Poker kicked off Wednesday with the usual soft start that is the $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em event.

The single-reentry tournament drew a healthy total of 731, but was clearly the calm before the storm.

The convention center at the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and Casino will surely be buzzing Thursday when the first two of six flights in Event #2: $565 Colossus II go off.

The event has an affordable buy-in, a $7 million guaranteed prize pool, a $1 million guaranteed first-place prize and set records last year when 22,374 showed up to play.

Less-Than-Bold Predictions

I’m going to go out on the strongest of limbs here and make the less-than-bold prediction that the 2016 WSOP’s $565 Colossus II will be the biggest live poker tournament ever held in the history of the game.

The evidence that this is a definite possibility is simply overwhelming. The current record stands at 22,374, set in this very same event at the 2015 WSOP, and this time around, there are two additional starting flights.

There was a lot of buzz in 2015 that the $638,880 winner Cord Garcia received wasn’t enough. This year, the WSOP answered the critics before they even asked, guaranteeing a $1 million first-place prize.

Plus, the poker community’s appetite for low buy-in events that feature multiple starting days and big scores has been proven time and time again at venues all across the country throughout the year.

Without a doubt, Colossus II is going to be huge, just be forewarned, that also means line-ups for everything from registration to the restrooms, will be as well.

Allegations Rocks Poker Night in America

Last week, accusations were made that rocked the poker community when Jaclynn Moscow levied a series of allegations against members of the Poker Night in America crew in her blog. Claims of mistreatment in her 2014 appearance on the show included allegations that WSOP Media Director and the show’s former creative director Nolan Dalla sexually harrassed her, show host Chris Hanson made anti-semetic remarks to her, and show creator Todd Anderson generally treated her like she was the object of a colleague’s lust and he didn’t want her there.

While Hanson has remained mute, Dalla took to the Internet to deny everything, and Anderson crafted an official response from the show doing pretty much the same.

Moscow went on Joey Ingram’s podcast and presented some relatively damaging proof in the form of text messages between her and the show’s public relations pro, Chris Capra, admitting something happened that was untoward, while player liaison Matt Glantz leaked an …

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