WSOP Main Event Final Table 'Rumours'

HighFinance

Crib notes by BJ Nemeth here http://taopoker.blogspot.com/

Could it happen? Should it happen? What would you do if it happened to you?

Massive story with potentially massive implications.

Whatcha reckon?

b.

tipp86

I sort of like it been honest. Cant see many negatives.

Clareman

Have to admit to not liking it, you can't play for 3 days, take 3 months off and then go back into it, 1 of the things about winning the ME is the stamina required, also, the players would be able to see what way their opponents play if it's all going to be on ESPN.

I wonder if the players would be flown back and put up for free? Saying that, if I was in the position of waiting for the final table I wouldn't be able to sleep for the 90 days, I'd be a wreck come time to play again

bohsman

I think 90 days is way too long but seems a good idea other than that. 30 days at most.

cooker3

I don't see how they could possibly keep the result a secret if they wait 2 days to air, will there be a crowd there?
Imagine if you won it, how could not tell anyone you won it?

HighFinance

bohsman wrote: »

I think 90 days is way too long but seems a good idea other than that. 30 days at most.

Ah ha! My good lady thought exactly that and said so. And i blustered something about TV etc...and she went..."Shi*e"

So maybe youse have both got something there.

phantom_lord

Clareman wrote: »

I wouldn't be able to sleep for the 90 days, I'd be a wreck come time to play again

i wouldn't sleep either, I'd be too busy getting coaching off cts!

Marq

looks like just another aspect of the wsop that would benefit ESPN at the expense of the players and the integrity of the competition.

Slat3

Screw that knock me out 10 give me the million now and no hype thanks.It would Make some great t.v

opr

This sounds ludicrous to me for so many different reasons.

Opr

FungiWalsh

Imagine making it to the final table of the WSOP Main Event with 7BB, and having to wait three months to ship it in.

NickyOD

I like the idea but a 90 day gap is ludicrous.

Jesus Wept

loadahbollix.

ArmaniJeanss

BJ Nemeths point that you could negotiate a serious sponsorship deal in the 'gap' would be the key point for me.

Sure you'd probably also get an appearance on Tubridy or the LLS as well as all the poker programs.

It would be much more practical to get family and friends to Vegas for the final table as well.

I like it.

Lazare

I think it's pretty pointless tbh Bren. The fundamental reasoning (it seems) behind it is to boost the industry and intice more players into the poker economy. They're going to run the FT, then spend two days editing it to make it presentable before airing it 'live'. I just don't see the point. What's the difference to the average Joe watching, he's still watching an edited show. Maybe the point in delaying is so that when 'average Joe' is watching, nobody knows the outcome, but that in itself is silly, because the target audience are 'non poker' people, who won't know anyway.

Am I missing something?

RoundTower

I don't think there's much upside for the players. I'd like it if this meant someone would dump a load of money into the game but I don't see that that's likely.

DeVore

F**kin ESPN.

DeV.

Grimebox

I like the idea of turning the FT of the ME into a proper specatator sport event. You could get to know all the players over the 90-days and have your favourites goin into it. I'd defo prefer to watch that over a few beers than watch the super bowl to be honest! Although it does sound a little big-brother-esque

For the players its awful.. but i dont see myself making the final 9 anytime soon

ditpoker

its a FANTASTIC idea...

effectively you play the wsop to the final table... great well done, everyone guaranteed a half million pay out... then there is 3 months of build up, the usual espn tournament review shows leading up to the final table, as they say a player from lubbock, texas will be all over the texas tv, get a bucket loads of money, say a gary gets to the final table, he comes back to dublin, is all over the tv, newspapers, interviews etc etc, sponsors falling all over themselves to get a piece of the action... viewing figures for the final table would be huge/worldwide (possibly even more than the "60 billion" that watched live|aid)... family/friends etc etc can travel too...

basically what grimebox said above!!

zuutroy

FungiWalsh wrote: »

Imagine making it to the final table of the WSOP Main Event with 7BB, and having to wait three months to ship it in.

lol, so true! It's a great idea for a media circues WWE style buildup, but for the players and the game, and the WSOP as a 6-week 'festival' it kinda sucks.

ianmc38

lol donkaments

Clareman

zuutroy wrote: »

lol, so true! It's a great idea for a media circues WWE style buildup, but for the players and the game, and the WSOP as a 6-week 'festival' it kinda sucks.

Alan Cunningham taking a chair to Jamie Gold would have been a massive spike in the ratings, either that or imagine Terry Yang coming off the Rail with a splash on the South African guy. It's real to me goddamnit

Van Dice

Apart from 90-days being far too long, it seems like a great idea to me.
Have to wonder what the 90-day interest would be on 8.25m?!

cardshark202

Surely its possible to have a highlights show cut after every day and aired the next day? I hate the idea of a 90 day delay.

bops

i like the idea for the live show etc, but i'd rather the players be in their true state of mind - ie fuked up, tired, tilted, twisted, confused etc - not all fresh and ready for the FT

RoundTower

cardshark202 wrote: »

Surely its possible to have a highlights show cut after every day and aired the next day? I hate the idea of a 90 day delay.

no, because the highlights show is focussed on the players who eventually make the final table. So they don't know which bits to show until the final table is ready.

Also, they would want to show an episode every week instead of every day for a week. It's much more traditional for TV and it allows them to advertise it during the week/for word of mouth to spread that this is a show to watch.

ocallagh

This offers nothing new to the average viewer. It's still just another poker show on TV where the winner recieves millions. What's new about it? They have them on every week! Nobody particularly cares anymore. Celebrity poker was a better idea IMO and I hated that.

cardshark202

RoundTower wrote: »

no, because the highlights show is focussed on the players who eventually make the final table. So they don't know which bits to show until the final table is ready.

Also, they would want to show an episode every week instead of every day for a week. It's much more traditional for TV and it allows them to advertise it during the week/for word of mouth to spread that this is a show to watch.

Ok I know poker is not a sport, but isn't this how a lot of major sport events are shown? IE: highlights every night, live final.

DeadParrot

FungiWalsh wrote: »

Imagine making it to the final table of the WSOP Main Event with 7BB, and having to wait three months to ship it in.

LOL
Horrible

cuterob

i think the only people who are gonna be interested by it are poker players who are gonna watch it anyway knowing the results or not.. like ocallagh said the general non poker playing public will just see it as another poker show

hotspur

I would much rather watch the whole ESPN main event highlights series before seeing the final table. There is something about knowing who won that makes the shows less interesting. I watched the final table live online, but then didn't bother watching the ESPN main event series when it came out. And if I have that attitude I'm sure people less enthusiastic about poker certainly do too.

I have always firmly been of the opinion that poker should be character driven as a TV endeavour. I was bored watching year's main event live with a bunch of people I had never seen before. I think delaying the final table until the broadcasts have aired would help immensely to build up the interest in the characters.

Whether it can fade the negatives I'm not sure, probably not. But the main event final table has become devalued in terms of entertainment due to the fact that numbers dictate that it will likely be randomers who ran good. I don't want to watch a table full of randomers whether it's the WSOP main event final table or not. Somehow seeing them get there for weeks, and reading about who they are prior to it would elevate them to the status of a character at least.

crip17

LOL at anyone actually thinking that this could happen. please :rolleyes:

U think Negreanu et al. will not laugh at the proposal

PokerPissTaker

What if they did a 7 day delay And did there editing on site i.e. edit day1 on day 2, day 2 and day 3 etc Then show the show teh highlighted event whilst the ft was being played and then the edited ft the next night. And, this being the important point, ESPN become the official sponsers adding, say, $2m to the prize. I'm not a big fan of the whole idea to be honest but i think this would be a whole lot better then waiting 90 days and the would be something in it for the players also, As well as the fans, who would want to wait 3 months to see the final of anything after all the hype etc of the event has died down.

Just a suggestion

Slash/ED

It's a sevear disadvantage to anyone on the feature table alot during the highlights vs someone who got no tv coverage on the way up in terms of reads. That's a huge disadvantage if half the table are unknowns and half the table have had their run to the FT covered in full.

eagle eye

90 days is far too long.
There is no way they could keep the result secret after the final.
Other than that its not a bad idea.
It would definitely work in favour of those who make the final table. The sponsorship deals could become huge. If the event the first year had a huge audience, you would have airlines, car manufacturers and all that looking to get logos on the players who make future final tables as well as the poker sites.

Kamaldihnio

PANTS Idea IMO.

RoundTower

cardshark202 wrote: »

Ok I know poker is not a sport, but isn't this how a lot of major sport events are shown? IE: highlights every night, live final.

what other sporting events have 5000 people all competing to be filmed though?

shrapnel222

RoundTower wrote: »

what other sporting events have 5000 people all competing to be filmed though?

any city marathon, but it's more like 30000 people

RoundTower

shrapnel222 wrote: »

any city marathon, but it's more like 30000 people

good example actually, but they still have a good idea who is likely to win it before the race even starts, where in a poker tournament it is impossible.

KINGofHEARTS

What a bad bad bad idea,

Whats next, the European Championships in the summer qualify for the final and then take 90 days off before playing the last match

loly mac lolicus

cooker3

It's confirmed. Final table in November

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/poker/2008-04-30-WSOP_N.htm

shrapnel222

what a load of crap. this is just so wrong.

HighFinance

crip17 wrote: »

LOL at anyone actually thinking that this could happen. please :rolleyes:

U think Negreanu et al. will not laugh at the proposal

Ahem...from the article "While poker pro Daniel Negreanu also applauds the timetable, he says it will make for a "different dynamic" at the final table. "You're going to see some really kind of more sophisticated play," he says."

45 min press conference today around 7pm BST to flesh out what it all means.

Marq

ffs. that's just not cricket.

Fatboydim

Oh that one of us should be in that happy situation lol.

jimmii

Marq wrote: »

ffs. that's just not cricket.

QFT.

Its all well and good for those living in Vegas having it delayed a few months but for people travelling from Australia or Europe etc it is far from convenient, especially for the non-proffesional players who may have bosses who aren't so happy to give all this time off for a poker tournament. As they say in the article it should improve the quality of the play which will be good.

On a related note what sort of numbers are people thinking will be in the ME this year?

Ollieboy

there doing their best to kill the game. The amount of coaching etc will dont change the set-up on the final table. It will bring bigger financial gains to the players, ie sponsorhip etc, but its just wrong.

Interesting, if I have the biggest stack at the final table, hire a hit man, kill the other 8 and just show up. Think I could do that for 10 million. I'm sure something will happen before the final table to make this a media hype event.

jimmii

Post 2 of this thread is class.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=192747

It brings up a good point latter on. FTP offer a $10m bonus to a winner who got in from an FTP sat. Hmmm I have an idea. Get hold of everyone at the FT find out who got on through FT and dump their chips to them and add $10m to the prize pool which they split evenly. If they agreed to do that and split everything evenly then they could all pick up around $6 million which seems pretty decent to lock up. Its a ten year contract thingy but let the young guy win i'm sure most wannabe pro's would be happy to have that.

YULETIRED

What if you were ill 90 days later? (much more likely to be ill in November) Do they blind you away until you are well again? What if you get killed by an ungrateful tramp? Can your brother play for you.... 90 days is way too long and kind of leaves the whole event hanging for too long without resolution... Also if you make the final table you life will be a circus for 3 months, what if you are the type of person that will take the money and run happily back into obscurity.......they are making an American Idol thing out of it......next some Simon Cowell will be analysing your play calling you a donkey and America will vote if you are a donkey or not, big fkin Hee haw banners in the background .......

but If I were on it, I'd be back in November pronto coughing all over the final table if I had to.......HHHEEE HAAAAAW.

RoundTower

Ollieboy wrote: »

there doing their best to kill the game. The amount of coaching etc will dont change the set-up on the final table. It will bring bigger financial gains to the players, ie sponsorhip etc, but its just wrong.

Interesting, if I have the biggest stack at the final table, hire a hit man, kill the other 8 and just show up. Think I could do that for 10 million. I'm sure something will happen before the final table to make this a media hype event.

wouldn't this make even more sense if you were the smallest stack?

redzerdrog

think it is a terrible idea