Card Player spoke to Michael Binger at the World Series of Poker just before the deuce-to-seven event.
Card Player: So how has the Series been so far?
Michael Binger: Well, it's been good. There have been some ups and downs. I am pretty happy I have eight cashes. Unfortunately, only one final table. I had a strong shot at several more final tables but fell short a couple of times with a 14th, a 15th, and a 22nd. But overall, a good Series, I am looking forward to the deuce-to-seven today (event #54). I have never played the game in my entire life. I did a practice session with some friends last night and read up on it. I have played a fair amount of triple-draw and a lot of no-limit different games; hopefully, I can put the two together. Sorta brainstormed about the math this morning, so I am feeling anxious and good about it.
[In the deuce-to-seven event in WSOP 2007, Michael finished 20th, for his eight cash.]
CP: Have you played about as many events as you planned at the beginning?
MB: Yes, I pretty much planned to play all day, every day. That is pretty much what I did. I think I had one day off at some point; I am not really sure. I have played about 25 or 26 events.
CP: And the Series this year, what did they do well and what do they need to fix for next year?
MB: I like the payout structures; they are much fairer. I think it is overall much better; they do need to fix the sign-up process, which was really a disaster early in the tournament. It's just a very inefficient sign-up process, particularly in the big-field events.
The breaks are totally inefficient; sometimes you would have a 15 minute break, come back, play another 15 minutes, and then go on dinner break. Early on in the big-field events, the color-up breaks were taking 25 minutes or more. One of the early big-field tournaments, we had more breaks than play in the first eight hours. That needs to be fixed.
