I Hope You Have A Lot of Vacation Time
2008-05-01 09:55:16
By:
Gene Bromberg
Of course you know that there are several ways you can
win a free seat in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event here at UltimateBet. You also know that after you win your seat you'll have to clear your calendar for about two weeks in July, because the Main Event is set to run from July 3rd until July 15th.
Or, it was.
In the biggest change to the WSOP Main Event since, well, ever, Harrah's will today announce that the start of the final table of the Main Event will be delayed until November 9th, with ESPN broadcasting a two-hour show on the final table and then showing the heads-up battle for the bracelet live (or on a brief delay) on November 10th. During that nearly four-month hiatus ESPN will promote both the event and the players, hopefully leading to a massive audience tuning in to see who takes it down.
ESPN,
USA Today and
PokerNews have already published articles about this change, and this afternoon WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack will hold a media conference call to give the official word and answer questions. And no doubt there are going to be lots and lots of questions.
Even during the 2007 Main Event there were rumors that Harrah's might want to delay the final table and broadcast it live. The reasons for doing so are obvious--by the time the Main Event episodes air just about everyone on the planet knows who the eventual winner is. And so whatever drama the final table might hold is all but destroyed, no matter how much money the victor wins in the end. Holding the final table live would make it a spectacle even non-poker fans would want to see--who's going to be the next World Champion? Who's going to win that multi-million dollar first prize and see his (or her) life changed forever?
And by moving the final table three months into the future it gives ESPN (and the Disney media machine) a lot of time to promote the event and the players taking part. Reality TV is of course huge right now, and the World Series of Poker Main Event could become one of the biggest reality shows of the year.
To be sure, there are going to be a lot of people out there howling that this is a terrible idea. To poker purists, holding the final table 3 months later will probably seem like cheap gimmickry. There are practical concerns as well--when you play with someone you develop a feel for how they play, and good players can learn things that give them an edge. How well they'll be able to remember all that info three months later is open for debate. There's also the fact that players who make the final table, especially amateurs, will no doubt undergo a three-month crash-course in No-Limit Hold-Em tournament strategy, possibly enlisting the aid of some of the best players in the world. The dentist from Spokane who ALWAYS overplayed Ace-rag might return in November a far more sophisticated and dangerous opponent.
There are other issues to be ironed out. The money, for one--from what I've heard everyone who makes the final table will immediately be paid 9th-place money, with the rest of the prize pool held in escrow (and collecting interest) until the final table is played out. There's the potential for collusion among the final-table participants, of hidden deals and alliances no one else knows about. Harrah's will pay for the players to return to Vegas and will pay for their accomodations as well.
There's one potential problem that I'm curious to hear Pollack talk about--what would happen if a player died before the final table (or couldn't return for some other reason, like a foreign player not being able to secure a visa). According to the USA Today article that player would be blinded off, which seems a rather stark solution to a sticky problem. It would be a serious downer for the broadcast to have an empty seat looming over the proceedings.
Is delaying the final table and broadcasting it live good for poker? It depends on how you look at it. Does it risk compromising the integrity of the game. Possibly--that's something that Harrah's will have to watch like a hawk. Does hyping the final table and the players risk turning poker's biggest event into just another game show? That also could happen.
But this could also bring a lot more people into the poker tent, both poker fans and those who don't know what a flop is. If there's a show airing where someone could win eight million dollars, and no one know who's that's gonna be, it's going to get a lot of attention outside the poker world. It could lead to a resurgence of interest in the game and get even more people playing. That's what poker players are hoping for--Harrah's and ESPN are no doubt shooting for higher ratings and bigger tournament fields. It's possible that delaying the ME final table and broadcasting it after three months of hype will make everyone happy. One way or another, we're going to find out if this experiment works or not.
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