Bugsy Siegel was very clear on this.

One should promote the "integrity of the game"...
(Among other nice sounding platitudes)...
While trapping the stupid mooks in the desert...
And relieving them of their money.

And people like Allen Cunningham...
Are acting like they just invented pay-per-view.

It's been around for 25-30 years...
There is a reason WSOP is not on pay-per-view...
Selling 2,000 subscriptions is a big money loser.

Even actual Poker Regs are too cheap to pay $50...
They will watch a grainy, shaky bootleg stream instead.

Beef Jerky wildcard hand, every hand, for both players imo

Take away the hole card cam???? What in the devil are you talking about??? You can NOT SHOW anyone's cards during LIVE PLAY!! You can't really be that ignorant? That would be like showing their cards on the BIG SCREEN during live play. The only time you see the hole cards during the action, is when it is ON TAPE. It's NOT live then.

Someone said this was 6 and a half hours. Whether or not this is true I have no idea since I fell asleep at like hour 3. The problem was that ESPN showed so many damn commercials. In the first 30 minutes, they showed 4 hands. FOUR!

It seemed like every big hand there was a commercial right after it.

As a person who listened/watch the entire WSOP ME FT for the last 2 years, I found this to be incredibly boring for 90% of it.

I found the last 3 to come back a dumb idea. It's much better if it's just 2.


And this is coming from someone who used to love watching poker on tv.

After reading all I could of this thread, I've come the the conclusion that many here are as stupid, dumb & ignorant as they could be. Let ESPN show it 3 days later, so these fooooools can see the cards. Sound like a bunch of whiney babies. Please keep the little kids & ignorant people off this site.

Hole cards.

Not whole cards.

What exactly is Beef Jerky?
I would buy it immediately...just I knew what it is...

Anyone know the ratings for last night?

And how they compare to years past?

If only the broadcast last night wasn't live. Like if it had a delay of some sort.

I watched a lot of the "live-ish" coverage and liked it - but it's definitely not for everyone. If I were making the decisions I would do things like they did it in the summer - do a semi-live internet feed for die-hard fans but also prepare the edited coverage for the mass audience - if indeed poker has a true mass audience.

I think sequestering the audience also makes sense - this whole idea of coaches on the sidelines not only passing along the hands but analyzing the other players' play - even over such a small sample - somehow doesn't sit well. That said, I don't think that the players managed to adjust to Heinz' light 3-bets on Sunday, so maybe this whole thing is a non-issue.

Guys I am going to propose the idea which I don't think I have seen yet.

The TV should have 2 options: hole cards shown and not shown, sort of like subtitles on and off. That way we kill 2 birds with one stone, making both groups of viewers happy.

I guess I'm a casual player but I actually take it pretty seriously. I have complained in the past that the ESPN coverage was always basically a lie because it only showed the drama hands.

This year, I really enjoyed watching live online for the uncut version and yeah, I did like last night's nearly live coverage. But, maybe I'm not as "casual" as the typical casual player.

I think I agree with those who say most casual players would find this boring. Players who want to improve their game should like it though. And although Antonio missed a lot of reads early on, I thought his commentary was very good.

I watched the entire thing on ESPN. And I'll watch it again next year. But as far as marketing poker to the fish, meh. Maybe the drama version works better.

I totally forgot about it, same as I did the coverage during the summer. I have to admit that I didn't even know who was at the final table.

Over the years it's gotten harder and harder to watch other people play poker.

I'm not sure...let's ask them all.

the final 9 should be on friday and the final 3 on saturday, so the average working stiff can watch without being bleary eyed at work the next day.

sunday was great, but they should have played through. no one, especially casual viewers wanted to watch a heads up match for 4 hours.

next year play through 9---->1 non stop, dinner break every 8 hours.

A possible way to show hole cards and guarantee the hand (or at least all the decisions) is over in 15 minutes is to give everyone their own clock for the entire hand equal to 15 minutes divided by the number of players left, with yours only counting down when the action's on you.

It would probably make players feel too rushed at times though.

I much prefer to see the hole cards when the hand is going on too. I find that the show becomes more about the commentators than the players otherwise.

Heinz's need to chew over every single hand for 5 minutes probably made this twice as long as it should have, anyway, it's a bonus that this was shown, nothing has been removed and there will still be a highlights show as usual.

I loved watching every hand personally.....Felt like I had a good enough read on each of the players I could be playing them. Stazco has a tell btw....

Um, have u thought about the consequences if the hand lasts 15 minutes?

THought it was an epic poker broadcast, but know it would be extremely boring for the casual viewer. Loved not seein the cards, and putting them on hands b4 they were shown.

I think the REAL issue here was there were no talkative players, and it was inaudible when they did say something. Where is Sammy Farha when u need him. Can you imagine how fun it would have been with someone like him at the table?

Did Black Friday change the value of being entertaining at the table? I dont blame anyone for being stone silent the entire time, but b4 black friday there would have been alot more value in being charismatic. As it stood, there was too much to lose for being talkative/entertaining for the individual players imo.

Run it like this

Hole cards up
1hour delay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=631fY...0FCFE0971D7C37

without them no poker
and yes live nlholdem is the most boring thing to watch

+1 The players were boring and so was the coverage. By far the least entertaining coverage of the Main Event ever. I don't want to see every hand, just show me the edited hands and that is good enough.

Of the 6+ hours of coverage, 5+ hours was watching these 2 guys stare at each other. Especially Heinz, even in the most trivial spots over and over and over.

My wife peeked in a couple of times and asked who was winning the staring contest.

Incredibly boring. Please go back to the edited coverage.