My idea to promote lasting interest in televised poker

[Apathy]

I think televised poker could become so much more interesting if it was turned more obviously into a "season" or year.

Every event shown could acknowledge the existence of a refined or brand new Player of the Year type system and a few minutes of each broadcast could go towards explaning who at the final table was in the running, who the current leaders were and what kind of point were at stake.

For this to be meaningful there would have to be some kind of prize for placing well at the finish besides pride (this is poker after all). I would like to entertain ideas on what kind of prize would be good. Cash for top 5 maybe? How much? Maybe a big freeroll for the top 100 with weighted chip counts depending where you finished with a lot of money on the line?

I think the best example in real sport that this would relate to is the NASCAR standings, all events would be seperate but tied to an overall leaderboard race that everyone is gunning for. Winning any event is great, but its all about winning the whole thing.

This would give the shows opportunity to show the stars briefly on each episode even when they dont do well and would easily create room for new stars to come up and I think would generate a ton of interest from viewers who now wouldnt want to miss an episode.

The one major problem with this is it would need some sort of deal or agreement between the major tournament circuits to make it happen. I consider those to be the WPT, EPT, and WSOP, but I may be missing some.

So what does everyone think? criticisms? thoughts? comments? questions?

[samsdmf]

I cant see why this would make more people watch- or was that not the idea?

[ITILTEZ]

This is a good idea. Only problem w/ the current situation is that events are allways broadcasted somewhat long time after the event has finished and thus most people will know the results.
I dont really known what to do about that, one idea would be to show the final table live, however then people wouldnt see the hole cards. Also its kind of hard to know how long the FT takes. Maybe something that could be tested is that before the FT it will be decided how long the game will last and the points will then be awarded based on the chip counts when the time is up. That could mean some pretty intresting action when some people will be taking big gambles and some people will be just trying to secure their position. Bit like Nascar.

[captZEEbo]

is this how poker superstars worked?

[ericicecream]

I agree this is the next logical step towards bringing poker in for the long haul ala NASCAR.

I think there are a number of stumbling blocks that need to be worked out and this will take some time. A centralized point system is gonna be difficult to work out and get all parties to agree to, plus the problem of events being taped and then broadcast weeks or months later.

But it's good to start working on these solutions while the window of opportunity is open. It won't be forever. NASCAR did it successfully. Bowling, billiards, once popular on TV, wasn't very successful.

[kassdog]

I think there is something like this but it's on the internet. Cardplayer.com player of the year. I think their system is good as is a good portrait of who had the best year for tourny's. So if cardplayer did a weekly episode and talked about who did what during the week. I think it would help a lot.

[Apathy]

[ QUOTE ]
I think there is something like this but it's on the internet. Cardplayer.com player of the year. I think their system is good as is a good portrait of who had the best year for tourny's. So if cardplayer did a weekly episode and talked about who did what during the week. I think it would help a lot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course I am aware of the system, what I am talking about is making something like that a more central theme across all poker shows to promote more interest in the whole "sport"

[Senor Choppy]

[ QUOTE ]
This is a good idea. Only problem w/ the current situation is that events are allways broadcasted somewhat long time after the event has finished and thus most people will know the results.

[/ QUOTE ]

The time to edit a 2 hour program is pretty ridiculous, considering how basic the editing and commentary are. If the turnaround time could be shaved to a few weeks, this wouldn't be an issue.

I don't think this is ever going to happen, as the WPT and WSOP refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the other, and for good reason from a business standpoint.

[Arbitrage]

Isn't this the PPT?

[SA125]

Being primarily a cash game player and seeing all the local tourney donks who fell in love with it, I had the idea to have a cash game televised. I believed showing the depth of poker thinking beyond "All-in, All-in, All-in" would have great appeal. I have no hooks or contacts in TV or media and didn't know where to start.

Next thing you know Henry Ornstein, creator of the lipstick camera, creates the huge hit that is HSP. I should have cornered him in the pit at the Taj. Maybe I'd be rich. Oh well.

I watched CNBC long before everyone got into the internet stock boom/crash. All their shows focused on mutual funds. I sent them a letter with an idea about a show that would highlight individual companies. Have the CEO, CFO or whatever on and go over the company. Markets, financials, competitors, etc. I thought it could work. This was before you could get copies of Annuals online and had to have them mailed to you. They said they weren't interested.

Two months later Bill Griffith was hosting a show at 7PM that did just what I said. It failed because it wasn't their idea and couldn't make it work. Fkn'em. Good for them.

As for the next step in TV poker, I have some ideas that I think would work. Someone else will probably air them shortly. Oh well.