Ty Stewart's "blockbuster" idea for the 2008 WSOP

[thatpfunk]

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Horrible idea.

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Why?

[Avatar of Wine]

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Horrible idea.

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Why?

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Because the appeal of poker to the average donk watching on TV is not in the "nuance" of the game, nor even in the strategy - it's in the white-knuckle moments, the all-ins, and the massive bluffs.

This would be terrible for poker, because only good, thinking players would have any interest in watching through hours upon hours of live final table broadcast. The average Joe who watches poker on ESPN would have almost zero interest in 20+ hours of final table broadcast, when the majority of hands never go to showdown (or even the turn).

Open raise/call/c-bet/fold . . . open/resteal/fold . . . fascinating stuff there for your average 1/2NL live player, huh?

I would guess viewers and ratings drop dramatically for the final broadcast.

[newhizzle]

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Horrible idea.

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Why?

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not sure if you read it correctly or not, but it seems he is suggesting playing the world series down to the final table of the main event, taking a 2 month break, then finishing it

[Yeti]

guys are you serious, it would be JUST LIKE american idol!... if the american idol finalé involved 12 hours coverage of rehearsals and set design before showing the actual performances.

[Chunky]

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guys are you serious, it would be JUST LIKE american idol!... if the american idol finalé involved 12 hours coverage of rehearsals and set design before showing the actual performances.

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"...the later portion of the final table would be broadcast live" so there wouldn't be 12 live hours. I guess they'd recap the final table play to a certain point and then show the conclusion live?

[New2NL]

No chance if I was at the Final table would I want this, jesus I have to wait months to get my hands on life changing cash that I paid to win? This isnt a WSOP Freeroll where I loose nothing, I am in the hole 10K and waiting to get my cash.

Terrible Idea he should be shot

[adrockuk]

I've got an even awesomer idea, instead of being busted when you lose your chips as soon as you lose your chips there's a phone vote and you get to swap chipstacks with whoever the American public think has played the worst. That way there wouldn't be any bad beats...... OMG this HAS to happen.

[sapol]

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I've got an even awesomer idea, instead of being busted when you lose your chips as soon as you lose your chips there's a phone vote and you get to swap chipstacks with whoever the American public think has played the worst. That way there wouldn't be any bad beats...... OMG this HAS to happen.

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We could do voting just like in the first WSOP but now over the phone and sms !!

Now for real:
IMO this could be very good for the games.

It's not like the strategy usually discussed on tv is high level. Usually it's more like "i like that bet" or "he puts his opponent on a draw".

However, if that were not the case and discussions involved words like "sklansky bucks", "galfond dollars", "equity", "EV" or "zeebo's theorem" then I'd suggest in the name of 2+2ers not to air it live.

[Bonified]

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I've got an even awesomer idea, instead of being busted when you lose your chips as soon as you lose your chips there's a phone vote and you get to swap chipstacks with whoever the American public think has played the worst. That way there wouldn't be any bad beats...... OMG this HAS to happen.

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That's what I thought. Plus, the time taken wouldn't be a problem. Just whack the blinds up to 1M-2M. It's what the public wants.

[MeanGene]

The only way I see this working is if Harrah's adds A LOT of cash to the final-table prize pool. You're asking people to pick up and leave their lives again two months after the fact--not a big deal for a poker pro, but perhaps a substantial burden for a cardiologist who lives in Australia. Some folks do have responsibilities they can't easily abandon, not even for ten million bucks.

What if a player can't make it two months later? They break their back skiing? They get shingles? They get busted for solicitation (again) and have to spend some time in the pokey? Let's not even think about the possibility that a player might die in the interim. I don't think seeing the chip leader get blinded off for seven hours would make for compelling television.

I'd have to think that the final table players would all receive SOME prize money before the 60-day hiatus--maybe they'd each get the 9th place amount. What happens to the interest on the rest of the prize money? Certainly that's not going to be a huge amount, but that money should of course go to the players. But that's a minor quibble.

I don't really see how the WSOP final table could compare to shows like American Idol or Dancing With the Stars. Those shows do a great job of turning unknown performers, over a period of weeks and months, into people the audience cares about deeply. I don't see how the audience could ever form that sort of emotional connection to the players at the WSOP final table. And the WSOP Main Event is really the only tournament that could possibly be a big enough stage to pull it off.

It's an interesting idea, it's thinking outside the box and that should be applauded. How practical it is, or how successful a live broadcast would be...I'm not so sure.