On Monday, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Academy announced that two Cash Game Academy events will take place in the beginning of 2009. The WSOP Academy’s team of brand name poker instructors, which includes Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, and Joe Hachem, will share their expertise in the world of cash games beginning on January 24th at Harrah’s Atlantic City.
Post Oak Productions handles the operations of each WSOP Academy. Its Vice President, Brandon Rosen, told Poker News Daily, “At first, we were having conflicts because we thought cash games wouldn’t be synonymous with the WSOP brand, but the market is too big to ignore. Most people have to survive in cash games in order to move onto high-stakes tournaments. During the WSOP, cash games are often the big sideshow.” In fact, a portion of the Amazon Room, the site of the annual WSOP, is reserved specifically for cash games. They have become a staple of many major live tournament offerings. Cable station GSN has even gotten into the act and will soon be airing the fifth season of High Stakes Poker.
Two inaugural Cash Game Academy events have been announced. On January 24th and 25th, WSOP Academy instructors Mark Seif, Paul Wasicka, and Alex Outhred will invade Harrah’s Atlantic City. On February 7th and 8th, Seif, Outhred, and Michael Gracz will instruct future cash game champions at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The WSOP Academy will resume its tournament camps on February 21st at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. Seminars and live play simulation will comprise each Cash Game Academy.
The finale of each stop will be a Cash Game Competition, with the winner jet setting to Sin City for the WSOP Academy Tournament of Champions, which takes place before the start of the Main Event. Participation in the two day Cash Game Academy will set students back $1,899 and a variety of payment options are available. Rose commented that the four figure price tag is well worth it: “You’re in a non-threatening learning environment discussing strategy and having your questions answered by some of the most accomplished pros in the game.”
On what players can expect at each seminar, Rose described, “Our material is unlike any other. It is one thing to read a book and get information, but a book can only tell you what hands to play. It comes down to being able to discuss the situation and get into the minds of some of the great poker players.” Seif owns two World Series of Poker bracelets and finished fourth in the World Poker Tour’s World Poker Challenge during Season V for $159,000. Wasicka finished second to Jamie Gold in the 2006 WSOP Main Event and won the 2007 NBC Heads-Up Championship for $500,000.
The WSOP Academy offers several different types of instructional seminars. In addition to its Cash Game and Tournament Camps, Post Oak also runs Advanced Academies that focus on (among other strategies) table image, intimidation, tells, squeeze plays, pot odds, implied odds, and situational raising. Its roster of pros, which features a multitude of Main Event champions along with cash game gurus, is perhaps its top selling point.
Special events run by the WSOP Academy include a poker and golf outing that combines ESPN golf instructors with WSOP Academy poker personalities. In addition, a WSOP Main Event Primer is held just prior to the start of the annual spectacle. Finally, a Ladies Only event includes classes by Outhred, Duke, and FBI retiree Joe Navarro. Visit the WSOP Academy website for a full schedule of events.
Post Oak has looked into expanding its offering further. Rose commented that a HORSE Academy was held in 2007. He revealed to Poker News Daily, “I think we were ahead of the curve. The event was fantastic and we had one pro cover each of the five disciplines of HORSE. However, attendance was a little lower than we wanted. At the time, people were sill Hold’em crazy.” The 2008 WSOP schedule offered three HORSE events, headlined by the $50,000 Championship, which was infamously won by Scotty Nguyen.