Even if it wasn't boring, it's a big problem that the Final Table is still going at 2:30am EST.

Heinz's loud eurotrash rail needs to STFU that made the FT unbearable.

I like it, but maybe a 30 min. delay and show the hole cards?

I liked the format. Casual fans can watch it later with hole cards if that is what they like.

I do like the Todd Terry sequester idea.

who cares what casual fans want? you really want to see cooler after cooler? that isn't real poker lol

The way to do it properly is to show one of the hands and keep the other hand covered. In that way you become the player who is playing the hand verses the hand you don't know. Then you can try to guess what the other persons hand is and what you would do.

Everyone seems to be bitching about how boring it is, and how it's a terrible idea to show this live. I don't see why you can't have both.

The average professional football game is 3 hours and 6 minutes long. Most football fans on this site have no problems sitting on their couch and watching it for 3 hours. However, you could also TiVo that game, spend 2h:45m doing something else, and come back and fast forward through all the commercials, and unimportant plays. Or as many people do, just watch the 1 minute recap on ESPN at the end of the day.

Live play is important to diehard fans. Casual observers just want to know the score so they have something to talk about around the water cooler.

There is nothing preventing ESPN from doing the standard highlight show full of coin flips and coolers that everyone loves watching. In fact, I think it would be fair to direct a lot of rage at ESPN if they neglect to do the standard highlight show.

But I really appreciated being able to see the final table play out nearly live. And seeing more than 2 hands of play from the heads up portion of the final table is a much better than previous years coverage in the "traditional" style.

I usually watch it all. I had it on for an hour while reading my book, then decided to change to something else.

Every single one of the megafish who donate regularly to my live 1/3 game were raving about how they followed the entire final table and couldn't turn away fwiw.

Loved the coverge this is the future of poker, hopefully we will see heaps more of this.

That's interesting. The way that I look at it, they did show the hole cards, so we did get to see the big bluffs. The only difference was we saw the cards after the hand was over. I thought it was really exciting when the pots got big, or when someone said "All-in" and we couldn't see the cards. When that happened, I would think to myself, "This could be it."

And people can still yell "fold you fool" or "call you fool" or whatever they want to yell, even if they can't see the cards.

They should def show the holecards during the hand, and not just after.

I loved it. But i am a hardcore poker fan. Watching this was like doing a puzzle for me. My friend however who is a total newb didn't like it at all. All the whiney bastards wanted to see whole cards. And i imagine they will get what they want. I guess i will have to pay per view it next year.

Espn has to do what is best for their show and ratings. so i guess going back to the old ways of doing this is probable. Which i guess is good for us players. The less they (casual players) know the better we are! If i had to take time to read books and pay tuition (pokerxfactor) and coaching. Then i don't want them getting info for free. Let them do their homework like the rest of us.

Be interesting what the future has instore

I have one friend IRL who is a little into poker, and he said he stopped watching because 'It was taking too long'.

I personally found in completely inthralling.

Also, this ↓↓↓

Yep me too!(like most of MTTc/2p2)
I prefer it the way it is, I like putting them on hands.

Agree

This. Tonight was probably boring to mainstream morons. Tough. I like it, and watched the whole thing. Hope they do it like this from now on. We saw more hours of WSOP coverage this year than ever before. Well played ESPN.

i guess the fact that the announcers said it 15 million times doesn't mean anything?

Nevada gaming law says they can't show the hands until after 15 minutes. Some hands lasted 15 minutes. it was done for the integrity of the game.

loved it

you know what? **** the proles. It's time they stop weighing us down. If they can't wait 30 seconds to have the hole cards revealed then they can throw themselves down a well.

**** money800 or rounders, it was the hole card cam that sparked the initial poker boom

whos idea was it to take it away? ridiculous

the one thing I don't understand is if they already have the delay, I don't see why not they simply can't show the cards at the onset of the hand. The hand is over by the time it's broadcasted anyway so it doesn't seem to make much sense to me in that regard.

Regardless of the level of hole card camera usage, I suspect that many would have gotten bored and switched channels/gone to sleep because it lasted for 6.5 hours. You just don't have the TV-friendly somewhat-predictable time range that comes with most live sports programming.

Not showing hole cards is completely standard fro live poker broadcasts. The EPT and other regular live webcasts never show hole cards. Not even at the end of the hand as the WSOP does.

I understand this is different as it's not actually live but it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone as it's common practice. It's also a legal requirement.

I actually enjoy TV poker without the hole cams. As for the casual viewer, they have a choice between watching the 'boring' live feed or the edited version later on, so I don't see the problem.

The players would have to be locked away from anyone who has seen the feed if they were to show hole cards in a live broadcast. So would everyone spectating at the venue as they could affect the game if they know what cards each player has.

I can see how a 6.5 hours of poker can be to much for non poker players. As for the hole cams? As a hardcore fan I didn't realise how much they depended on this for their entertainment. If it is true that the casual viewer no longer finds poker interesting enough for watching we should consider a double programming: a highlight show on tv for the fish and an online (perhaps pay-per-view to keep it profitable) semi-live broadcast without hole cams. If they do this there should be no compromises in the live version: no hellmuth in the booth! bring on Olivier Busquet and Galfond for commentating.

The sequestering thing (although interesting) isn't going to happen because espn en wsop realy love the whole chanting rail thing

i dont care if no hole-cards is standard or not, we only care about poker in the public space. i personally didnt mind this format - even found it pretty cool at times. but thats secondary to what 95% of the viewership thinks about the format.

today didnt help that cause. public viewership should be #1 priority to be fixed before the concerns of anything/anyone else.

it basically has to be live, and needs hole cards (during hands). then we can talk.

They definitely need more commentators. They should get like 8 or 9 people and rotate a different group of 3 every half hour like test match cricket coverage.