Just got around to watching this. Is it just me or is this the worst ME broadcast since the Varkonyi year? I don't necessarily mind that they cut out days 1 & 2, but if they were going for brevity then why did they give us 4 episodes of day 3 alone? So, so boring.

2003 was a great broadcast because there were only a handful of episodes, so each one represented significant progress through the story. I think the larger field sizes since then have necessitated a higher number of episodes, but there are some seriously diminishing returns when you spend 4 episodes on a single relatively insignificant day.

Yeesh. I don't know what their plans are for this year, but I hope they condense it significantly. It's barely watchable, and I like poker. I can't imagine what it's like for a casual viewer with minimal interest.

You're right,watching more episodes of higher level play with better commentary and live streaming really sucks.

Actually...it does.

It's like watching a 12 hour version of a movie that was originally 2 hours.

Everything....so....drawn....out.

agreed. reason why the broadcast sucked for me because it lost it's cinematic feeling. if i wanted to watch it live, i would watch it live. ME has been special to me every yr and last yr it felt so much different

I think it was a mistake removing the day 1 coverage. Some of the most interesting things happen on day 1. Crazy hands like royal vs quads. Jack Uri slow roll. Chuck Liddell (accidentally) leveling Mark Seif. Celebrities playing with pros and amateurs. These are just some of the examples I can think of.

Yea, I mostly agree.

The four starting days requires a lot of day 1 episodes, but I never really minded that stuff.

I just wish there wasn't so much filler.

Day one and two were my favorite parts, that's what the WSOP is all about.

I always looked forward to the Main Event coverage, but I could not get into it last year. I think two things changed it for me. The first was that when I turned in to the first episode in August, I felt like I had missed out on something when they started coverage on day three. I agree with those who said that some of the best stories come from days one and two. Let's be honest, we watch the ESPN Main Event coverage through the fall for the stories, not so much for the poker strategy.

The biggest reason for my lack of interest in last fall's coverage was the fact that I had seen most of the coverage already in the live coverage. The live coverage was awesome, but I felt there was no reason to watch it all over again in the fall. I hope I can find the 2012 Main Event coverage interesting, since there is no live Main Event coverage this year. With that being said, I am severely disappointed ESPN has chosen not to have the live coverage this year. I was glued to the live coverage last year, as I was the One Drop live coverage last night.

The live coverage of every hand is important for one very specific reason...when they edit only the big hands together, the suck outs the big bluffs the all in calls with KJs and it hits...this gives the new player such a minuscule window into the game and when they come out and play against real players they want to recreate those moves and pots EVERY HAND!! The raise and take it game needs to be shown and appreciated by the masses...when every hand on tv is exciting it's great for ratings but bad for the game...I was glued to the coverage last year as well and I'm a junkie lol but I could appreciate a nice blend of the small game and the big game being shown on tv.

MCG