Anyone know or have opinions on why it was decided to stop the WSOP Nov Nine?

I have no inside info, but there are lots of places making guesses: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...017-tournament

But in the end, unless there was some regulatory issue which mandated it, I have to assume it all came down to money.

I don't have any concrete knowledge, but my guess is that it just wasn't working.

I think the whole concept behind the N9 was that it would give fans a time to get to know the FT players, give the FT players time to get sponsorships and media exposure, and increase excitement for the FT by not "spoiling" the ending months ahead of time.

In the end, I think it was basically a failure. It didn't succeed in elevating unknowns into major stars that people were excited to see at the FT. Beyond the first year or two, I don't think any of the players got great sponsorships or media attention out of it. And while it didn't spoil the ending, I'm not sure that affected ESPN's ratings at all. A lot of people watched in 2003-2007 when it would've been really easy to just Google the results.

Personally, I'm glad it's gone. It was a really awkward idea to play a FT months after the early stages of the tourney. As others have said, do you think Jamie Gold would've steamrolled in 2006 if everyone had been given months to study his game and get coaching?

Wait, what? They got rid of the november nine? I thought the conclusion was that it was modestly successful and worth continuing. I am glad it's gone though. ESPN will still air the edited WSOP broadcasts in the fall like they did before the november nine? Did they even do edited broadcasts of the final tables during the november nine era? I remember seeing the final tables live occasionally but can't recall watching any of the edited episodes of them.

I hated the N9 and I'm glad to see it go. I'm not a fan of having the final table over three days, though. It could get awkward if one day only lasts a few hands.

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as a player who in their right mind would want a 4 month break between levels in a tournament (so WSOP can sell the coverage to ESPN)?

It's better the way they are doing it now with live coverage from the start to finish with no long breaks.

they have already been covering the tournament live for the past week.

hard to believe it had been 9 years with the NN in place. Personally I like that they keep going and play through a winner being named.

I really don't like this 2 day break either, but it's very understandable for media purposes. The players still get to study each other and they also get a chance for their bodies to recover from the long haul, which should make for a better FT.

I think initially they wanted to have the FT 'conclude' the POY race as well, but I think it's obvious that the POY will rarely come from the ME FT. Finishing off the 'grand daddy' after WSOPE was another aspect they wanted as well.

In the era of streaming/updates it just didn't make sense to try and 'hide' the ME from viewers until the ESPN episodes were aired one/two at a time leading up to the November 9. With the ongoing number crunching at ESPN/Disney they may have wanted a lessor role as well.

Notice the wording .. Poker Central 'won' the distribution rights and 'retains' ESPN (which means pays). PC is way out on a limb here and depending on how WSOP and ESPN are supposed to get their cut this all could crash and burn quickly if PokerGo subscriptions fall flat heading into this down time before PAD starts up.

Does ESPN get all the cash from commercials? Or does PC negotiate those rates and is paying ESPN a flat fee for air time?

This whole thing is very interesting .. The concept is to push aside YouTube and Twitch and create a single 'cable' channel/stream. I paid for the 1-yr subscription but are there going to be enough renewals and/or new users going into the next 3 years for them to keep operating? GL

[QUOTE=synth_floyd;52561286]Wait, what? They got rid of the november nine? I thought the conclusion was that it was modestly successful and worth continuing. I am glad it's gone though. ESPN will still air the edited WSOP broadcasts in the fall like they did before the november nine?

I would imagine not, since, as stated above, they are broadcasting it live. I just gotta say, though, that I really miss the edited versions of the ME, especially back in 2007-09 (at least) when they had extensive day 1 coverage, as well. The editing allowed them to get some great material and show exciting hands. And Norm and Lon could script their best material. Live, it's just so hit and miss and there is a lot of boring hands to wade through. Oh well.

They are still going to have some episodes running on ESPN to fill some time slots, they just wont have the fanfare that they used to. Sit gotta show the non-PokerGo community some of this event! GL

It seems that PokerCentral got the bargain bin rights. ESPN can choose live time slots and will air edited episodes later. All PokerCentral has is the live scraps left over from ESPN. They probably didn't pay an enormous amount of money for those rights, as they'll only attract a hardcore audience.

Most poker fans didn't like the concept of waiting a couple of months and the WSOP attempts to attract more mainstream viewers failed. I remember being in Vegas during the 2009 November 9 (that had Phil Ivey) and when I asked people at the tables, most didn't even know about it.