Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

The poker and competitiveness of this FT were decent. And the players seemed to show some emotion between hands. But I'm not real thrilled with the development that every player now plays every hand like a zombie, is completely hidden behind a hat and dark shades, and a walking NASCAR billboard from the neck down. Compare that with just a few years ago the Moneymaker or Fossilman final tables.

I don't think this image is going to suck in casual fans anymore than me seeing a highlight of a pro bass fisherman makes me want to start fishing again. It's just so far removed from the everyday experience of the casual participant. I guess we'll wait to see what editing and lighting tricks ESPN can do to gussy this one up.

Maybe things would have been totally different if Khan wins his race against Yang. I got the feeling I was possibly watching the birth of a poker star in his time in the booth with Phil Gordon. Dude can talk. And at 22. Pretty impressive. The utter randomness of Rainkhan making the FT was my personal Moneymaker-moment for this WSOP.

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

suzzer,

I didn't see Khan interviewed by Phil, but I watched his PokerNews bustout interview and he came off really great. Unfortunately, rather than excitement and enthusiasm, his antics at the table came off super idiotic imo.

I think this FT is going to show you the power of editing by a professional team at a big money outfit like ESPN. I'm thinking some well edited shots of Jerry praying to the Lord will help set up an epic confrontation of good God-fearing Christian vs. serious hardcore gamblers like The Russian and The Pro (Canadian Asian dude).

The progression of table talk from "YOU CALL, IT ALL OVER, BABY!" to what we saw at this year's FT is indeed sad. Definitely the most serious (and boring) feeling group of guys in recent years.

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

it really annoyed me how long everyone was taking with their decisions. you don't have to hollywood on every freaking flop. i understand that it's the WSOP, but i'd like to see some turbo-mucks once in a while.

and yeah the more popular it gets, the more produced it gets, sucking out the very elements that made it popular

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

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I think this FT is going to show you the power of editing by a professional team at a big money outfit like ESPN. I'm thinking some well edited shots of Jerry praying to the Lord will help set up an epic confrontation of good God-fearing Christian vs. serious hardcore gamblers like The Russian and The Pro (Canadian Asian dude).

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could we just call it a god's chosen ones vs heathens confrontation?

I agree with the OPs assertion that the players wearing all the logos is bad for the game. Also, the whole, hey, look, my hat, glasses and hands all now cover my face makes it look like the least fun game possible. Yesterday def was not a good day for the future of poker imo.

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

My question is how in the eff does Oliver Tse always manage to glom on to final table players?

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

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suzzer,

I didn't see Khan interviewed by Phil, but I watched his PokerNews bustout interview and he came off really great. Unfortunately, rather than excitement and enthusiasm, his antics at the table came off super idiotic imo.

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Man you missed something with that interview. He had some stream of consciousness thing tying in 9/11, Iraq, and "all the anamalistic qualities that make us young" that was some kind of mad genius.

Also the dancing at the table stuff definitely seemed forced and contrived to me. Like making sure he got one major antic highlight in to jumpstart his poker celebrity. Probably not a bad idea actually. Look at Brandi who is almost legitimate now. Attaining notoriety is the hardest part of becoming a celeb, people tend to forgive and forget how you got there. Khan really needed to last longer at the FT though.

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

suzzer,

From what I saw, not only did he not last long, his chipstack didn't really let him get involved in much of anything. Wouldn't be surprised to see them either largely edit him out or cast him as a complete buffoon.

It'll be interesting to see how the telecast plays out given that the first few were out so fast, but then the last few battled for a long time.

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

[ QUOTE ]
suzzer,

From what I saw, not only did he not last long, his chipstack didn't really let him get involved in much of anything. Wouldn't be surprised to see them either largely edit him out or cast him as a complete buffoon.

It'll be interesting to see how the telecast plays out given that the first few were out so fast, but then the last few battled for a long time.

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On the other hand, it's also possible he gets decent airtime because he was among the chipleaders in the early stages of the tournament, and he probably had cameras on him since Day 2 or so. ESPN could introduce him early in their coverage and do a storyline across several episodes with him.

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

i'm interested to see how they present Jerry Yang. I find him needs-a-punch-in-the-teeth annoying and a complete nutjob, and I'm sure a lot of other people do too, but they might not want to paint him like an annoying lunatic everyone hates, and instead play him up as a mostly quiet deeply religious man who deserves to win. I would have liked to see Khan win as well, with Lee Watkinson also not a bad choice, but he wouldn't bring anything we haven't seen before. Khan would have been pretty cool as WSOP champ. Jamie Gold >>>>> Jerry Yang

another note: despite watching most of the PPV, and reading updated at pokerwire and pokernews, I still wouldn't recognize Jerry Yang if I saw him, I don't really know what he looks like.

Re: Thoughts on the WSOP FT
 

Thoughts:

Just boring to watch. Everybody took like 2 minutes to make what I consider to be pretty basic decisions.

Phil Gordon lost whatever likabliity and intelligence he had over the past year. Then when 2p2 raged on him he got unprofessionally dickhurt about it. The whole broadcast, which in the past has been really fun, was just horrible.

Khan: Yeah, he looked stupid at the table, but stupid in the way your weird awkward friend who is a spaz looks. Unlike other people who have seemed more like attention whores, he's just a nut. His interview with Phil and Ali after was great.

Yang: He drove me nuts tanking over verrrrrrrry obv calls. Just a few moves that said to me "I don't understand some fundamental stuff about poker". He did understand being aggressive, something that seemed to escape the rest of the table.

Frankly, I think the 2nd to last day will be the most interesting broadcast, and that's where we'll see them develop the stories that will make the final table.