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The first ever WSOP themed event just concluded at the Emerald Casino in Gauteng, South Africa, and nobody gives a damn.

WSOP Africa = Epic Fail?

You didn’t know that there was to be a WSOP Africa event? You aren’t alone. Back before the beginning of the 2010 WSOP, there was an announcement that the WSOP would hold an event in Africa. It was going to be the WSOP Africa. It was revealed that the event would be part of the circuit schedule for the 2010 – 2011 circuit season. And then, it all but vanished from the poker horizon.

The event kicked off on October 26th and had two events along with a charity tournament. Neither event awarded a circuit ring. Essentially, there was no real motivation for going to these events unless you had an itch to play poker in South Africa. Several pros did make the trek for the Main Event, including Maria Ho who made the final table of the event. She finished in 6th place.

From the media coverage of the event, you would have thought this event was the next big thing. Wait a minute. What coverage? Let’s take a look at some of the major poker news sites to see if they covered the event or reported on the event at all. (Putting up an article saying the WSOP Africa has kicked off doesn’t count in this case. I am talking about an article or coverage reporting results and news from the event.)

PokerNewsDaily – Nope
The other “Poker News” site – Nope
CardPlayer – Nope
WSOP.com – Negative

Yes, you read that right. The WSOP hasn’t even reported on the event. What more needs to be said?

Bluff Magazine did actually report on the event and had a blogger follow the final table. Otherwise, we may have never known that (let me look back to @kevmath’s tweet) Warren Zackey won the event.

So what happened here? Did the fact that the events did not award rings disqualify it from coverage? Was it too hard to convert the Rands to U.S. dollars? Were they afraid that Ho would be offensive to people? Allen Kessler’s win of a WSOP Circuit satellite event got more press than the WSOP Africa.

Kind of sad isn’t it? Or do you care?