I acknowledge I"m speaking from a point of view that it has affected me massively,
Is it right that a non-main variant of poker in PLO takes up 40% of the Team Event games?
I completely understand where you"re coming from Warren, however I"m not sure that PLO is considered a "non-main" variant of poker any more - in my opinion, PLO is now considered to a be a core variant alongisde NLHE, and is not really a "mixed" game any more.
Personally, I would support an even wider variance of mixed games within the Team Event. Yes 40% of the published profile is PLO..... but from the opposite standpoint, is it right that such a prestigious event should be made up of 60% NLHE? With a much wider mix, the team that wins would generally be the team that is able to dominate across multiple disciplines and variants, rather than just conventional NLHE. I suspect a major problem with mixing it up though would be dealer availability and cost.
Interesting discussion though...
Understand the flip-side view that 60% is taken up by 1 variant in a World Series championship, however whilst PLO is I agree the the most popular of the other variants by the very nature of it not being the main form it automatically excludes the majority of poker players that would like to rep there country.
Those that love the other variants have the side events to enjoy PLO AND still have the option to rep their country at the team event by playing the main game of poker.
As we are a amateur set up by name I would suggest upwards of 90% of members don"t have the game for PLO that is good enough to play at a level to achieve a team selection, so it could be said a main world championship team event excludes 90% of the members it serves?
Interesting side discussion for sure
*90% figure plucked out of air!