Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

As someone who follows most of the online tournament coverage when I can, it really blows that Cardplayer has gotten exclusive rights for WPT events. Not only has it basically put down some sites, but nothing has changed in the actual coverage.

Now I don't know for sure, but in the first two-three levels yesturday, there was several detailed hands, bet for bet on WPT's website(at which point, CP hadn't even started posting, which makes me assume maybe the WPT was doing the updates). When CP began posting about the third-fourth level, we almost had no hand details. All CP does is board AA435 bet, call. And if we're lucky, we get three updates an hour.

I understand its the first day(s) of the tournament, but I have no reason to believe its gonna change from the usual CP shitiness late in the tournament.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

This kind of update is almost an egregious offense of the like: From Cardplayer live-updates
[ QUOTE ]
Gavin Smith Takes a Hit
Danny Wong, and he bets 5,600. Smith thinks then makes the call. The river brings the Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and Smith checks again. Wong bets 14,000 and again Smith goes into the tank. He finally makes the call but mucks when Wong tables 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].

[/ QUOTE ]

Man...this really burns my azz! This is just unacceptable @ any level of reporting. At first I didn't mind b/c there was always other sites to find updates from, but w/ the exclusivity now this is just awful for everyone and poker itself.

Poker needs MASS coverage, not limited. Just a gross injustice for poker by the companies involved here and w/ the WSOP. Really just boils down to another money grab w/o any funnel back to the players yet again. Disgraceful.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

What about this is upsetting to you? That they didn't display the board? Who really cares about details of early-stage hands? In the early stages of the tournament, you can't expect there to be a reporter at every table. I just like for the chips counts for the major players to be accurate and updated.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

[ QUOTE ]
Haralabos Voulgaris Takes Down a Nice Pot

On the board of K43, Allen Cunningham folds and Haralabos calls.

The turn is a K and this time Haralabos bets 13,000. Phillips shakes his head and mucks.


[/ QUOTE ]

although I don't care about hands from early stages, I must agree with OP that this is a fairly embarrassing level of reportage.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

My name is BJ Nemeth, and I a lead tournament reporter for the WPT live update team. A few quick points:

As part of the CP/WPT deal, the CP reporters work side-by-side with the WPT reporters. The content is originally posted on the WPT website, and then automatically fed to CP's system to post on their website. There is no stealing -- the content is effectively identical (by procedure) between the two sites.

There are quite a few technical issues being worked out as the two admin systems are modified to talk to each other. One problem in particular is some player names dropping out of posts as they transfer to CP, and we're assured that people are working on the problem (and we think we have a short-term fix).

The reporters (myself and others) are spending an unusual amount of time adjusting to admin problems. These problems should be resolved soon, and we can then focus our energies entirely on the reporting, and not on computer issues.

The criticisms are fair, and everyone is welcome to their opinions. I just wanted to give you a bit of insight into what's going on behind the scenes.

Back to work for me ...

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

check out this gem:


Frustrated Chop for Joe Sebok

On the board AQ55, Joe Sebok checks and Seat 4 bets out 12,000. Sebok calls. The river is an A. Again Sebok checks and this time Seat 4 bets out 20,000. Sebok immediately says "all in".

Seat 4 stares at the board and finally says "I call." Sebok shows AJ and his opponent shows A10. Both have two pair,and the Queen plays, so its a chopped pot. Sebok sighs heavily and shakes his head as he rakes in his portion.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

Here we go again, another example of the quality we have come to expect from Cardplayer updates..

Mon Aug 27 17:50:20 PDT 2007
"Miami" John Cernuto Doubles
Miami John Cernuto moves all in under the gun for 14,600, and is called by Anna Wroblewski from the big blind. Cernuto tables AJ, and Worblewski shows down KQ. The board falls AJ5310, Cernuto holds and doubles to over 31,000.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

You need to start reading the live updates from worldpokertour.com (which is where the updates originate, like BJ Nemeth said). Here's the same hand, from their site:

[ QUOTE ]
Miami John Cernuto moves all in under the gun for 14,600, and is called by Anna Wroblewski from the big blind. Cernuto tables AJ, and Worblewski shows down KQ. The board falls A85310, Cernuto holds and doubles to over 31,000.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

BJ,

I'm a big fan of your work. You are def. one of the best @ what you do. My post was not a knock on you, just a stale reaction from what I've seen/read so far.

If its true that it is just a feeding thing to their system can't you tell someone over there (Cardplayer) to proofread BEFORE they hit the submit button. Would save a lot of anguish on this end. Much appreciated, and I will follow via worldpokertour.com since that's where the originals are posted now. Thx.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

the coverage seemed to improve drastically towards the end of the day. Gj BJ.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

J.C. Gloves -- I never take the criticisms personally. Like I said, I think your comments are fair for these first few days. There are going to be some growing pains during this first tournament under the WPT/Card Player deal as we reporters deal with new admin systems and the hardworking tech guys in the background try to get everything to communicate properly.

Actually, there is one specific criticism I should address. When a post is sent to WorldPokerTour.com, it is automatically transferred to CardPlayer.com. Unfortunately, if we go back in to change a post (to fix an error, add more information, etc.), the change does NOT update to CardPlayer.com. Unless you're constantly hitting refresh, you never realize how often us field reporters go back and fix our mistakes in the first minute or so. Those corrections haven't made it to CardPlayer.com, but the computer programmers will hopefully have a fix for that soon.

I am very optimistic that the coverage will continually improve. The WPT staff is very committed to creating the best tournament reporting software possible, which is one of the reasons why I signed a season-long contract as their lead tournament reporter.

I don't want to get involved in the philosophical arguments about the various exclusive media deals in poker right now (WSOP/CardPlayer '06, WSOP/Bluff/PokerNews '05, WPT/CardPlayer '07), but my goal is, and always has been, to provide the best possible coverage I can, given the limitations of the medium. (And there are quite a few.)

Suggestions and constructive criticisms are always welcome. I'm planning to set up a dedicated email address (probably after this tourney) where people can send errors during the tournaments, so they can be corrected quickly. Stay tuned, and I promise it will get better.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

BJ is the best in the biz. Without him, this marriage would be doomed to fail.

I haven't chimed in on any of the posts yet simply because the deal is done and it's not going to change. Period. This was a great move by CardPlayer and the WPT needs the money (they're on GSN...think about it).

It sucks that PokerWire is busto since we put together an incredible team that never quite made it onto the circuit (when I came on board there were 2 employees, just before this announcement we were up to 9 including the radio show).

I know all of the people on the floor for the combined team and I think it's only a matter of time before things get better. As long as none of the CP brass pisses off BJ too much, he'll make this as good as it can be.

That being said, there are two primary factors that make this whole deal suck:

1. Lack of complete coverage. I'm sorry but nobody can tell me that having one team of reporters on the floor for one website is better than having 5-10 teams, at least on the first three days. There's simply too much going on to get everything you need to know from six people.

2. The lack of "competition" will reduce the quality of overal coverage. While there has never been a sense of one-upmanship between all of us on the ground level (we left that to the execs at CP and Bluff), there was always a need to give it your best effort with all of the other sites trying to cover the same event.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

You need a standard form for data entry.
Minimize the key strokes for the reporters.

Table # _____________
button ______________
flop ________________
turn,river __________

summary .................
..........................
...........................

Use seat numbers to designate the players. A
legend with the seating should be in a computer
file. This file must be updated with every
seat change. The computer will know the player
by his seat #.
On the final day the top line would be the hand #
instead of table #.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

BJ,

I'll stay optimistic. Again, thx for all of you're hard work. One suggestion: If ever possible, could you guys include stack sizes of the players involved in a particular post b4 any of their action(s) occurs? Would make for a much clearer picture of the gravity of certain bets/calls ppl make relating to their stack ATM. I'm aware that this is probably one of the most difficult stats to acquire on the spot and can understand if it just won't be possible, but wherever it is possible...? Much appreciated [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeremiah,

Sux about what happened to pokerwire and the like. I also agree w/ your two points. At the beginning of a big tourney there is really nothing of note except who is there and where they are. I do wish there was more "meat" in some spots, but this doesn't take away from the detailed coverage that takes place near the ends of these majors.

The competition side of the reporting would make for BETTER coverage, I totally agree. Everyone would want ppl to read their site for accuracy and keep coming back to them. This would continue to improve all coverage and get sites to try new avenues (i.e. the pro blogs during the event addition @ some sites). All for the growth of the message that is tournament poker, bit of a setback now tho.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

BJ, I've always thought you were one of the best in the biz. Plz hire Jeremiah, as just adding one more smart head to the mix will fix a lot of these errors. The more intelligent eyes reading your updates, the more often errors will be fixed before they are published.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

Buy RFID chips as suggested by Andy Bloch. Every
final table could use the same chips. Regular
viewers would easily see the size of player's
chip stacks. No need to waste time counting the
all-in player's stack.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

[ QUOTE ]
BJ, I've always thought you were one of the best in the biz. Plz hire Jeremiah, as just adding one more smart head to the mix will fix a lot of these errors. The more intelligent eyes reading your updates, the more often errors will be fixed before they are published.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sketchy1, I appreciate the thought but I am moving on to a really cool project (along with a few pokerwire peeps...more details soon). Also, I worked for CardPlayer once and there's not a chance I would ever do it again.

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

So this means Pokerwire Radio is dead?

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

[ QUOTE ]
BJ,

I'll stay optimistic. Again, thx for all of you're hard work. One suggestion: If ever possible, could you guys include stack sizes of the players involved in a particular post b4 any of their action(s) occurs? Would make for a much clearer picture of the gravity of certain bets/calls ppl make relating to their stack ATM. I'm aware that this is probably one of the most difficult stats to acquire on the spot and can understand if it just won't be possible, but wherever it is possible...? Much appreciated [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeremiah,

Sux about what happened to pokerwire and the like. I also agree w/ your two points. At the beginning of a big tourney there is really nothing of note except who is there and where they are. I do wish there was more "meat" in some spots, but this doesn't take away from the detailed coverage that takes place near the ends of these majors.

The competition side of the reporting would make for BETTER coverage, I totally agree. Everyone would want ppl to read their site for accuracy and keep coming back to them. This would continue to improve all coverage and get sites to try new avenues (i.e. the pro blogs during the event addition @ some sites). All for the growth of the message that is tournament poker, bit of a setback now tho.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice Post JC!
Ditto

~stephen feraca [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

[ QUOTE ]
BJ, I've always thought you were one of the best in the biz. Plz hire Jeremiah, as just adding one more smart head to the mix will fix a lot of these errors. The more intelligent eyes reading your updates, the more often errors will be fixed before they are published.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

[ QUOTE ]
Buy RFID chips as suggested by Andy Bloch. Every
final table could use the same chips. Regular
viewers would easily see the size of player's
chip stacks. No need to waste time counting the
all-in player's stack.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I remember seeing one of those FTP Live tourneys on TV and they used those in the cards. This would help tremendously.

-Thx for the love Stephen [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

Not to pile on the poor guy or beat a dead horse, but here's a little whoops that might be able to be fixed before too many people notice [ QUOTE ]
The Heartland Poker Tour made its way across the border to the Grand Casino-Mille Lacs in Canada and crowned the first-ever Canadian winner.

[/ QUOTE ]

Grand Casino Mille Lacs is near Mille Lacs lake, in Central / Northern Minnesota. Not Canada, eh? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Boy, are we lucky! CP WPT Coverage
 

Two reporting teams wasn't able to report updates
on two tables. Now it's only one table. Will
we see updates on every hand til they are down
to six players?

Final Table CP Player of Year
 

This final table has 2 candidates for POY at the FT with decent chipstacks:

David Pham is in 2nd in the POY standings trailing J.C. Tran by 748 points. It is his 10th FT of the year

Tom Schneider is in 12th in the POY standings after having 2 wins and 1 4th at WSOP. He is 1,626 points behind Tran.

If I read the formulas correctly, first place will be 1,920 points, 2nd 1,600 points, 3rd 1,280 points, 4th 960, 5th 800, 6th 640, 7th 480, 8th 320, 9th 160.

so if David finishes 5th or better of Tom wins there will be a new POY leader.

Re: Final Table CP Player of Year
 

I like Kimberly. She has nice....um.....eyes.

Re: Final Table CP Player of Year
 

[ QUOTE ]
I like Kimberly. She has nice....um.....eyes.

[/ QUOTE ]

Much better than Lizzy from CP.

Re: Final Table CP Player of Year
 

Was Lacey working for cardplayer? Bc she was my hands down favorite. never has a poker interview been so entertaining..

Closing line for her interview with a second place winner:

"Well, you can't hope for much better than second....... except maybe for first........(nervous laughter)..." And CUT!

Re: Final Table CP Player of Year
 

Oh [censored], I gave up on Card Player coverage along time ago. I usually get all of my tournament updates from PokerListings now. They've actually got writers that no what they are talking about!