25 entries, but still a disappointing turnout. Agree that the scheduling could be better.

Negreanu didn't even bother to play the 100k and Hellmuth hardly made any attempt to win the jacket. Figured those guys played for more prestige than money but who knows now. Guess just have to get used to all shows being a blend of mashers and wizards

It can't be good for the publicity and prestige of this series that, despite very small fields, both champions were people I'd never heard of a week before they won the jacket.

I doubt the series will last more than 1 more year tops. Nothing separates it from any other group of tournaments besides a cheesy purple jacket. Next year they probably will introduce 1k events and a whole wave of mashers to the field and not just a select few like this year

Is it the 2+2 ”consensus” that online qualifiers is softening the field?! Amazing lol

WCOOP was for sure a factor. I was looking at the results today. There were 4 $5Ks, 3 $10Ks and 3 $25Ks with a lot more runners and higher payouts than most of the poker masters events.

Don't think the posters advocating for online qualifiers understand what I am wanting out of the poker masters. I don't care about how large the fields are. I just want to see the best compete against each other. No disrespect to all the players who put up the money to play, but this year's field just seemed less "elite" this year. I think a good comparison would be expecting to watch a MLB game and watching a bunch of AA players. No doubt those players also have talent but I am hoping to watch only the best play.

Suggest you put up the millions and make it an invitational. Again, you don't seem to understand that poker players are (mostly) motivated only by money and not prestige or fame. They go where the money is. Also, what exactly do these players "owe" you? Your post seems mostly entitled as to what you feel you deserve and your own definition of "elite".

-BD

I'm just looking at it from a fan's perspective. If you had a choice of watching a major league baseball team play or a minor league team play with some major league players also playing would you not rather watch the former? I am saying last year it seemed like all the highroller regs showed up despite other things running like WCOOP and this year they did not come which is disappointing to me as a fan. I can understand reasons why it didn't happen this year but was just wondering if there were other reasons that I was not aware of since I am not too into following the latest things going on in the poker world (I don't even really know when WCOOP starts or finishes). I guess you are also right that my definition of elite may be wrong and this year's new players may actually be better than the players that didn't show up this year. They are all better than me as I'm just a fan but imo it felt like I was watching a lower skill level this year but who knows, may be the live circuits carve out some next level play too.

Also as a viewer and consumer of the product are you not supposed to be entitled? For example if the UFC puts out a poor fight card then all the viewers will choose not to buy it and spend their money elsewhere. Are the viewers still expected to pay to watch lower tier or less known name fighters fight due to not wanting to feel entitled? True the MMA fighters do actually owe the fans something because they get paid strictly if their fights sell and poker players don't get paid anything and only pokergo makes/loses money but I still won't want to give pokergo my money if the players in the field are not players I want to see.

You hit the nail on the head. PokerGo makes the money but not sure if much of it (or any) makes it way to the players. Even ancillary money could help (e.g. sponsorship as a result of the exposure) but there isn't any money for that.

Sponsored tours and events have been tried in the past (anyone remember the Epic Poker League) but there really is just no money in it today. Twitch is the best chance of seeing good content going forward IMO.

-BD

Completely agree. It seems twitch is the only way to watch high quality content. Had hope that the masters series would somehow make it work based on last year's turnout but I guess not. Very sad.

Right but you're not in the position of a pay per view viewer of UFC, or someone buying a ticket a baseball stadium - both of whom are indirectly paying the wages of the fighters/players.

You're more in the position of someone who is in a bar and picks up the newspaper and says "Gee the GreenSox won again!"

In poker the only fans who count are the ones who buy in and play.

I addressed the whole part about fans paying the fighters indirectly in the next sentence.

I am in the position of choosing to continue paying pokergo lol.

You start as a fan of poker before you actually buy in and play. How will the game ever grow if there are no fans?