At some point of your pro career you will benefit by being lucky more than you should and obviously otherwards as well, but by being lucky Andy Bloch would not have been the best overall even if he would have won 06' HORSE and the stolen H.O.R.S.E trophy would not have been named by Bloch-Trophy like it has at the moment named by the grace of Chip Reese...and after him...

Viewship would rise, the money from outside sponsers would be there, the players wouldn't complain if he made the final table...I mean really who wouldn't want this guy here. If he did win I'm sure the money would go right back to the poker community anyways...

elix = raitings

At this point no one really cares what game is being played, but how the story is being told.

Johnny and David said it best in the video...this guy is good for poker

The turnout for this year's $50K HORSE event is a disaster, something needs to be done about it. Does anyone disagree with that?

exactly my thoughts

but it is holdem, what i was saying in the other post was that maybe non holdem games, perhaps stud games are not as entretaining for the average viewer as the holdem games, it doesent matter if it is limit or no limit.

Please keep the HORSE tourney HORSE to the end. Sorry Daniel, but I don't think the WSOP should distort any more of their events to pander to the lowest-common-denominator TV audience.

If ESPN wants to air a big buy-in event, they can show the $40K NLH (and $41K NLH next year and $42K NLH in 2011).

I don't get how everyone is agreeing with Chainsaw. I'd feel differently if this was introduced into the WSOP schedule 3 years or so ago as a HORSE tournament...but it wasn't. It wasn't a HORSE tourney in year 1 b/c that isn't what Harrah's and whoever else makes decisions wanted.

Clearly being televised is the single most important thing in regards to this event. If it isn't televised it doesn't really even exist. No one cares who wins a 90 man SnG.

The people making decisions need to do whatever it takes to get this event televised again, and if making the FT NLHE is what needs to be done then it has to be done. Otherwise, this tournament will be gone within 3 years anyways IMO.

There are like 3 other HORSE events and 2 8-game events. This event was created SOLELY FOR THE TV AUDIENCE...if it isn't on TV it is pretty worthless to the WSOP schedule.

a rational thinker, finally.

make the FT a kamikaze and I'm sold.

I hated this idea all the way up until I read Daniel's posts.

I would still hate it if they didn't place much priority on showing the lead up to NL portion and use that opportunity to advance the limit knowledge of limit games. It would be a missed opportunity to take advantage of the built in desire to watch the lead up (well, a TV friendly version) to the final table.

It would be a shame to to not keep a 50k Chip Reese strictly HORSE event though.

Uhhh, this is NVG - yes.

In general you'd be right yes but you're overlooking sponsorship dollars for getting on TV.

lol @ limit poker being the chess and NL being the checkers.

I can dig this, +1

All the poeple are talking about tradition and players tournament etc. You all probably want to get rid of all hole cams too and not delay the final table of the ME either. Maybe even go back to smokey poker rooms. Because those ideas where for TV ratings and how many of you would even be playing poker if it wasn't for Hole Cams?

Bottom line is, yes it's better for DN to have the final table on TV and thus NL, but it's also better for every single other poker player and more importantly, for poker as a whole.

If you don't think outside the box and try new things, we would always be stuck in the same smoking poker room with 100 entrants and people thinking poker is a group of old fat degenerate scum of the earth people trying to gamble and get lucky to win people's money.

Please people, look beyond your little box and stop being so close minded.

Every major sport tries new things to get viewership higher. Because they know that in today's day and age, TV money is too huge and too important for sponsorship money etc. Poker should be doing the same thing. That's why making this a NL final table, as well as delaying the ME FT is a GOOD thing.

Daniel and Todd Terry appear to be speaking the most sense in this thread.