My guess is, Days 1 and 2 are so massive that live broadcasts would be silly and/or impossible to follow--in past WSOP, it has taken as many as four days to finish Day 1. Also, the level of play would be like tuning into the World Series of Baseball to watch a bunch of high schoolers (if that).
What I saw yesterday was interesting enough, but seeing every hand gives viewers a little better sense of how the majority of hands in no-limit hold 'em tournaments end before the flop. The most intriguing thing I saw was Daniel Negreanu (much beloved pro with uncanny ability to read his opponents) folding a small pair when his opponent raised big. He had to determine whether the bet indicated a bluff or a monster hand. He guessed monster, he was right (opponent had three of a kind, aka a set or trips), and because of the new broadcast setup, Negreanu was able to find out a mere half hour later that his read was correct and that his agonizing fold saved his tournament life. I can see where non-players might find all of this monumentally tedious, but it's a great example of how poker really is a game of skill. (Search for Negreanu on YouTube to see him look opponents in the face and announce their exact cards without having seen them. He's like "The Mentalist," but for real, albeit limited to a specific environment.) --Bill Sent from my iPhone. (Man, that thing's really amazing.) On Jul 15, 2011, at 1:20 PM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote: > I thought I had set a season pass for the WSP, but the first program that was > recorded was yesterday, titled "Day 3, Part 2". There are some changes in the > coverage this year - I suppose to some extent a reflection of the troubles > poker has been experiencing lately. > > First, they are televising the Main Event live (but on the Deuce). Usually I > prefer live, but in the case of poker, it means they can not show the hole > cards while they are playing (most TV poker uses a mix of commentary recorded > as play unfolds, mixed with commentary recorded later - and it is only this > latter that is done with knowledge of the hole cards). State law prohibits > transmission of the hole cards while the cards are in play. After each hand > is over they are revealing the hole cards. This is interesting once in a > while (to guess along with the players) but it is much more interesting to > watch on a steady basis when the hole cards are visible. Apparently, the > players are also a little worried about having their hole cards displayed in > almost real time to their opponents (the players can't communicate with any > associates monitoring the action on tv for 30 minutes after the play). I > guess to hedge on this, ESPN moves between two different tables, so only some > of the play of each player is revealed. It also means that, unlike in recent > years, we are not getting "look-ins" at players at other tables. So even > though there are thousands of players in the tournament, we only see around > 20 of them. > > A little looking reveals that ESPN3 is streaming "Part 1" each day, then both > ESPN3 and ESPN2 show Parts 2 and 3. I can't tell if I somehow missed Day 1 > and Day 2, or if they did not televise those days at all. In the coverage I > have seen they have not discussed poker's problems so far, and have not > really given much information even about ESPN's coverage plans. Apparently > they are still going to stop the tournament when they get to the final 9 and > hold the final table in November - though this seems odd, since it seemed > that they did that so they could string out 2 hours of taped and produced WSP > Main Event coverage every week from August to November to lead up to it. This > makes me think that maybe they are still going to have their regular recorded > coverage, in addition to this live coverage? If I knew they were going to do > that for sure I might skip the rest of the live coverage and wait for the > recorded package. > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
