Johnny Chan(credit: Wikipedia)
The World Series of Poker has undergone significant changes in the past decade…especially in the years since Harrah’s took over ownership of the WSOP brand. The USA Today reported today that the final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event won’t take place until 117 days later than it was originally schedule to be played.
The combatants will make their way to the televised final table and have more than 100 days to prepare for it so ESPN can air it as a special, two-hour event starting at 9pm EST on November 11, 2008. The actual final table will begin on November 9 and will play down to the final two. On November 10th, the two remaining players will battle it out heads-up. The champion will be crowned during the ‘semi-live’ broadcast.
When asked about the switch, WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack commented, that “This is no different than the final chapter of American Idol or The Apprentice. It's about building interest and excitement for the final chapter of this story."
Daniel Negreanu, one of the pros players on the 15-member WSOP Player Advisory Board, thinks the move is a good one. He thinks the gap will create a “different dynamic” at the final table, giving players the opportunity to become better players. He hopes that this year’s table will feature “more sophisticated play.” Former WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer (2003) isn’t sure that the opportunity for coaching is a good one. He said, “It might be huge for the continued growth of poker; however, the down side is this long gap allows the players to become completely different people between the time they make the final table and when they play it."
These players will also get the opportunity to watch their own play on ESPN and that of the other final tables. They will also receive ninth place money on July 14th, the day the final table gets set and a round-trip ticket back to Vegas for the broadcast.
In addition to the near-live final broadcast, ESPN will air a special on November 4th showing what the players did between the end of the WSOP and the play of the final table. With their new-found celebrity, players may get the chance to capitalize even before they become WSOP champs. As two-time WSOP Main Event champ, Johnny Chan, reminds us, this will give players the time to connect with sponsors who “come to them and say, 'Hey, wear this patch or wear this logo. We'll give you X amount of dollars.' "
If a player can’t make it to the final table play for some reason (such as injury, death, etc), he or she will have their chips blinded off ‘til they are no more. 74 year old poker legend (and 10-time WSOP bracelet holder) Doyle Brunson thinks that the delay may be ‘overkill.’ He’d also prefer that the players had an alternate, “somebody that’s not considered to be a player with abilities above their own.”
However, if he makes the final table, the two-time World champion quipped, that he’d “try to hang on another four months.”