The main event of the World Series of Poker starts on July 3, with the second-to-last day scheduled for July 15. Thanks to a recent decision by Harrah’s and the WSOP, the final table will be played on… November 11th!
Granted, anyone who makes the final table should be excited enough to put up with this. But that doesn’t make it any better of an idea.
The idea is to enable ESPN to broadcast the final table within hours of its conclusion. I suppose that’s a good thing insofar as they are treating poker like other sports, where the excitement of seeing who wins is a big part of the audience’s enjoyment. But if Harrah’s is going to inconvenience (to understate the matter) the players for the sake of sponsors and a broadcast audience, the players should see something out of it.
In the past, ESPN has been accommodated at the players’ expense in a variety of ways. Play has been extended so that camera crews do not need to incur the expenses of returning for another day. Tables have been broken to allow ease of movement of camera people. And now players anticipating the biggest game of their lives are required to wait four months, return to Las Vegas, and presumably perform for the cameras in the interim. (According to USA Today, “ESPN will air a special Nov. 4 showing what the players have done between the July determination of the final nine and the final table.”)
In many cases, of course, “what the players have done” will include hiring coaches, studying each other’s play, and changing up their own games. Reads that players have gathered will be lost or diminished and skill differentials will shrink.
In some ways, I suppose, that’s good for the game. It’s indisputable that televising the WSOP led directly to the current poker boom from which I have benefited. Presumably, a more dramatic and competitive final table might give the game more legitimacy and make it more interesting to a wider audience of sports fans. If that means more people playing and watching poker, then indirectly it’s good for my bottom line.
At the same time, this is a major pain in the ass for all of the players and a blow to the equity of every strong player who enters the main event. A substantial portion of your equity is tied up in the off-chance that you make the final table, and knowing that weaker players will have months to diminish your skill edge there definitely reduces the expectation of every strong player in the tournament.
Most laughable is Harrah’s “solution” in the unlikely event that a player is unavailable for the final table:
“What if something happens that precludes a player from playing at the final table? The WSOP has accounted for that. A player who does not appear will have his chips “blinded off,” which means they will be paid into mandatory bets for each hand. When a competitor’s last chip is played, he will be paid for where he finishes.”
That’s not a solution, that’s standard operating procedure that absolutely tanks the equity of the affected player. Do I have a better idea? No, but I’m not the one who wants to delay the final table.
As I said, this isn’t all bad news for the professional player. Presumably there will be opportunities for the players to seek sponsorship and endorsement in the interim as well. Nevertheless, it’s preposterous that Harrah’s continues to favor the interests of ESPN over those of its players without compensating those players in any way.
If the tournament is going to be run for ESPN, then ESPN’s sponsorship should pay the costs of running the tournament. No portion of the prize pool should be withheld to pay for staff, space, equipment, etc. As long as the players are the ones paying for the event, then the players’ interests deserve more consideration than they currently get.
Wow. I can’t imagine the sponsorship that’s going to happen. These guys will probably be wearing shirts similar to bass fishermen, covered in company logo’s. I would also guess the competitive poker training site industry will also be all over these guys. Itching to get thier company associated with the players success.
I’ve been reading about this for the past month and, although I can see why any top pro who makes it to the final table would be at a severe disadvantage because of the delay, I gotta come down on the side of people who think this will be a boon for both the players and the poker business as a whole.
If they play their cards right (heh), anyone who makes it to the final 9 should have ample opportunity to rake in a lot of media exposure and endorsement money, perhaps reviving some of the bigger endorsement deals of days gone by. I’m for it.
Please lord, show me your will. Let me be one of the nine who has a legitimate reason to gripe about the new setup.
I’m assuming ESPN is going to pay for each final table contestant’s flight, room, & board come November??