THE INSIDE STRAIGHT:

Planned delay took steam out of WSOP

By Jeff Haney (contact)

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008 | 2 a.m.

World Series of Poker

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Alex, Jeff Haney and Andy Samuelson set the stage for 2008's final table.

WSOP: Determining the Final Table

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World Series of Poker

When: 10 a.m. Sunday (final nine players); 10 p.m. Monday (final two players)

Where: Penn & Teller Theater, the Rio (spectators welcome)

TV: 9 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN (Cox cable channel 30)

1st: $9,119,338

2nd: $5,790,024

3rd: $4,503,352

4th: $3,763,516

5th: $3,088,013

6th: $2,412,510

7th: $1,769,177

8th: $1,286,672

9th: $900,670

Dennis Phillips, Cottage Hills, Ill., $26,295,000

Ivan Demidov, Moscow, Russia, $20,400,000

Scott Montgomery, Perth, Ontario, Canada, $19,690,000

Peter Eastgate, Denmark, $18,375,000

Ylon Schwartz, Brooklyn, N.Y., $12,525,000

Darus Suharto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, $12,520,000

David Rheem, Los Angeles, $10,230,000

Craig Marquis, Arlington, Texas, $10,210,000

Kelly Kim, Whittier, Calif., $2,620,000

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

World Series of Poker officials announced May 1 that the tournament’s final table would take place after a hiatus of nearly four months, a first in the event’s 39-year history.

It was a risky move but one that showed creativity, imagination and a sense of fun, opening a spectrum of intriguing possibilities.

The break began July 14 after the field of 6,844 entrants in the $10,000 no-limit Texas hold ’em championship tournament had been whittled to nine players.

The revised format was designed to generate extra publicity around the final table, to increase interest in big-time tournament poker and to boost ratings for ESPN’s television coverage of the event — worthy goals all.

Perhaps the most appealing selling point, though, was the notion that the final nine competitors would become virtual folk heroes during the interim, newly minted poker celebrities with their own fan bases and the concomitant mainstream endorsement opportunities.

The new-look World Series has failed to deliver in this area. The so-called “November Nine” left the Rio in July largely unknown to the general public, and they return the same way for Sunday’s resumption of the tournament, which carries a $9.1 million top prize.

Besides the mandatory appearances on ESPN’s reliably strong coverage of the World Series, the nine finalists haven’t made much of a splash outside of the insular world of hard-core poker enthusiasts.

Poker pro Phil Gordon, a tournament specialist and host of a poker show on ESPNRadio.com, was hoping a greater sense of excitement would have developed around the November Nine.

“I’ve been personally pretty disappointed with the level of media coverage,” Gordon said. “I thought there would be a lot more media buzz and coverage of the final nine.”

Other concerns about the new format proved unfounded, Gordon said. No one died or became ill in the interim, for example. None of the nine finalists has admitted to undergoing intensive coaching to overhaul their games.

“I think the same nine players who finished up (in July) are the same ones who are going to come back,” Gordon said. “I don’t think anyone has changed their game a whole lot in the interim.”

A late surge in poker hype, capped by ESPN’s same-day coverage of the final table Tuesday, could enhance the visibility of the November Nine personalities.

And it’s possible the bold scheduling move came in about the worst possible year for the World Series of Poker. Since mid-July, an exceptional sequence of world events ranging from the tumultuous to the just plain distracting has kept the attention of would-be fans riveted on anything but the final table of a poker tournament on hiatus.

After all, consider some of the events that have grabbed the spotlight since the tournament broke up at the Rio:

• A historic presidential election campaign was marked by political passion, as well as the most copious use of the term “maverick” since the show about the old Western poker player went off the air.

• A massive financial crisis caused feelings of anxiety among Americans, incidentally contributing to an economic scene distinctly unfriendly to poker players seeking long-term endorsement deals.

• The Olympic Games made a national hero of swimmer Michael Phelps, who subsequently became a minor poker phenom in the card room at Caesars Palace.

• Capping a series of compelling pennant races, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series of Baseball, as it’s known among gamblers.

• Poker fans joined the rest of society in mourning the losses of Paul Newman (“Sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand”) and David Foster Wallace, who had a devoted following among poker players with a literary bent. (They considered the writer a kindred spirit given his skewed views of straight society.)

It’s no wonder the November Nine have been out of sight and out of the mainstream mind.

Still, regardless of any distractions, as finalist Ylon Schwartz told Gordon, you’re asking for trouble if you halt a marathon at the 25th mile to allow everyone to rest and then run the last 1.2 miles as a sprint.

We should chalk this up as a noble experiment that fell short, or, to paraphrase Wallace, a supposedly fun thing we’ll never do again.

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By gold1020

11/6/08 at 10:39 a.m.

Suggest removal

Next year-DON'T have a 4 month delay. Run the tournament from begining to end as one event. That way-people watching the different segments on ESPN can watch the tournament in its entirety.
By denro

11/6/08 at 10:51 a.m.

Suggest removal

Seems like the delay took all the juice out of the momentum, though it may have sounded like a good idea at the time.
By Launce

11/6/08 at 3:26 p.m.

Suggest removal

Jeff, that's not what took out the steam of the WSOP. Funs as it has been, people just can't play it anymore. They are dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. A few members of the New Gilded Class built by the Bushies and their friends might have the money and time to throw away their investments into silly high-risk games.
But most Americans are coming to realize that high-stakes poker is like the Social Security privatization scam promoted by the corporate Republicans, a "game" benefiting only a teensy tiny number of fat cats. And that doesn't attract a big teevee audience.
Anyways, good luck at the tables. Always enjoy your columns.
By azsk8fan

11/7/08 at 7:11 a.m.

Suggest removal

But look what the time did give them - time for endorsements and what-nots - so for the players it's a very lucrative delay.
By recordweb

11/7/08 at 5:31 p.m.

Suggest removal

It's a funny thing. 3 months is too long and 3 months isn't long enough. If you are looking for corporate sponsors, most have their budgets wrapped up 6 months to a year out. Recordweb Communications put out a press release today stating that any player could accept a sponsorship patch for one of five pre approved domain names that generate income from click throughs. Recordweb Communications estimated that with over 90 million potential viewers and only a 3% click through ratio, that the player wearing the patch could easily make an additional Million dollars in advertising revenue. With only two days left, none of the players have taken Recordweb Communications up on the deal which is a bit surprising considering that players 8 and 9 would double their income for just wearing a patch.