Amazon Room loses its charm at World Series of Poker

Amazon Room loses its charm at World Series of Poker 6 July 2014

By Vin Narayanan

LAS VEGAS -- This is the 10th year the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino has hosted the World Series of Poker. For the bulk of those years, the Amazon Room was the living, beating heart of the WSOP.

You could hear the chips clacking before you walked into the room. Friends, family and poker fans crowded the rail, standing just inches away from famous players and loved ones alike. And there were tables everywhere. The WSOP felt big in the Amazon Room.

Players joked and laughed. They were playing in the Amazon Room! Heartbreak and bad beats reverberated through the room, as did shouts of triumph. For players who started their tournament in the outer rooms of the WSOP, reaching the Amazon Room was a major tournament milestone. You hadn't really played in a WSOP tournament until you reached the Amazon Room. The Amazon Room was special. And everyone knew it. At least, everyone knew it until this year.

The Amazon Room isn't special anymore. The Amazon Room has become poker's biggest sound stage, enabling the production of a high-quality, immensely profitable televised event for ESPN.

Large swathes of tables in the Amazon Room have been replaced by areas with significantly fewer tables, significantly more room for TV cameras and operators to move around and significantly more distance between the audience and the players. In addition to the main TV stage, there are now four TV-friendly tables in the middle of the Amazon Room and another six in one corner. The room's unique charm has given way to the needs of the television audience. The beauty and joy of more than a thousand people playing poker at once have yielded to the modern needs of broadcasting, live streaming and reaching a global audience. The WSOP -- and the Amazon Room by extension -- have embraced progress and modernity. And that's OK. The world changes, and the WSOP needs to change with it. But it's important to mourn what has been lost -- because much has been lost.

One of the special TV-table areas in the Amazon Room. (photo by Vin Narayanan, Casino City)

There wasn't a lot of room to navigate between tables. Just enough space for the massage therapists to do their work and photographers to take a few pictures. And a producer and cameraman to race around the room shooting video. But that was it. And as a result, the WSOP Main Event felt like a poker tournament that happened to be televised -- and not an event built for television.

Fans on the rail had easy access to about 34 tables, not including the featured TV tables. So they could watch some of their favorite players from up close. When you're standing on the rail, you can reach out and touch the players closest to you. You're right on top of the action. You can see the cards, hear the players talk and live every moment as if you were at the table. And there were always a few prominent players in those outer tables. Fans were excited that they were "this close" to their favorite players.

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Amazon Room loses its charm at World Series of Poker