‘It’s just insane’ – Norman Chad on the changes he wants to see at the WSOP

I remember when I was a kid, Walter Alston was the Dodgers manager for like 25 years and he had one-year contracts, but they knew they were going to sign him every year. Anyway, I don't understand why. I'm looking forward to being there if I am there. 

What do you think the biggest story is going to be this summer?

I hope we've gotten past the GTO Wizard at the table thing. It's a bad look for the game and especially for anybody watching and wondering how they can use a computer while they're playing. It's hard to explain. Let's just keep it humans versus humans while we're at the table. 

It's exciting now because of more events and mixing in the high rollers. You want the biggest names in poker to have a big presence in the series. They have a better chance of being at final tables if they're playing $50,000, $100,000, and $250,000 events. We can see Scott Seiver go for another bracelet or Nick Schulman and Daniel Negreanu.  

The WSOP Player of Year is a controversy. But I don't want to get into it because there's no solving that one way or the other, but I like that we have these two levels of entry fees. We can have regular people win the little ones and the big names win the high rollers.

Daniel Negreanu won one of the big ones, the 50K Poker Players Championship, at last year's WSOP.

I understand you’re a big fan of rebuy events.

That would be a no. But I did put a fig leaf out. I've tried to compromise with the multiple re-entries, unlimited re-entry people. 

All I'm asking for is a mix of events so we have a more of a 50/50 thing for those who just want to play what we now call freezeouts, which are poker tournaments.

The fact that somebody with more money for whatever reason, can have two, three, four, even five tournament lives, and plus they play a different game than the recreational player who's just there to play one bullet. It’s just insane to me from a competitive standpoint. 

My suggestion is to have no more than one re-entry in most of the events. But I don't think that's going to happen. I realize the genie is out of the re-entry bottle. It makes more money for the operators and more and more players seem to want it. 

If you had to swap 5% with anybody during the World Series this summer, who would you pick?

I'm biased here because I've become friends with the man in the last five years. He would call himself king of the minor leaguers: Ari Engel.

He’s one of the most delightful people in poker. And he’s the all-time leader in World Series Circuit Rings. He also has four bracelets and is a wonderful tournament player.

He's the friendliest guy at the table. I love when he's sitting next to Allen Kessler. That's definitely an olive oil and vinegar pair there. Two very different people. It's just hilarious to see one spreading joy and the other spreading darkness [laughs].

What improvement(s) could be made to the WSOP?

We've gotten better on the bathroom situation just by switching locations, even though there are still some problems. The basic concern for the players is twofold: The short turnaround times between days and the long days, and then the food situation. 

I would combine them both by something that's been suggested by other people. I would start earlier, get rid of the dinner break, make it a day in which you start at 10 or 11 in the morning and you're done by seven or eight at night. You can actually go to dinner after that.

If they had a dim sum cart, people would eat it up.

 

The second thing is, we want to eat. I've always claimed, if you just had a dim sum cart coming through any of those poker rooms, oh my goodness. If they put a dim sum cart through the World Series or anything, just a vendor, people would eat it up. Just bring some food into the darn playing area.

Is Phil Hellmuth really going to boycott the 2025 Main Event? Norm says no.

This is a tough one for you. Will Phil Hellmuth play the WSOP Main Event? 

I talked to him when he made that announcement. I texted him almost immediately. He said, ‘blah, blah, blah; I’m serious.’ I said, sure, it's serious. 

I don't think there's one chance in a million that he's not playing the Main Event this year. 

He just began working with BetRivers. I can’t imagine that in his first year with Rivers, that they don't want him on the biggest stage in the poker world, where he's going to have TV time and might make a deep run.

Let me increase the odds. I don't think there's one chance in 1.3 million that he's not playing the Main Event.

The 2025 WSOP starts on May 26 and runs through until July 16, when the Main Event champion will be crowned.