WSOP Main Event Final Table Resumes With Increased Fanfare
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WSOP Main Event Final Table Resumes At Rio
With Long Lines Of Fans Seeking Entrance |
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event final table resumed yesterday after a 117-day hiatus at the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and the theater "looked more like a sports arena than a poker room," according to Howard Stutz of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Tournament Dir Jack Effel several times "had to admonish fans to be quiet while players were deciding how to play hands." WSOP officials said that fans "began lining up at 5 a.m. Sunday to claim one of the theater's 800 seats" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/10). At presstime, two players remain in the hunt for the $9.15M first-place prize (THE DAILY). In Las Vegas, Jeff Haney reported "as many as 250 people have been lined up outside the theater at any given time since early Sunday morning, waiting for space to become available" in the theater, which has been "configured to seat about 1,000 spectators for the tournament." WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said of delaying the final table until November this year for the first time ever, "Even more than before, there was a greater sense of anticipation for the final table. Before, it wasn't as easy for the players to bring their family and friends here en masse" (LASVEGASSUN.com, 11/9).
ON THE AIR: In Illinois, John Brokopp noted ESPN tomorrow night at 9:00pm ET will air tape-delayed same-day coverage of the final table. Pollack said the final two players "will meet 'heads-up' on Monday, with the match expected to end early Tuesday morning." Pollack: "ESPN will then go and edit those two days worth of play into a prime-time special that will air Tuesday night. But the heads-up portion will have occurred that day, and that's really the historic first." Brokopp noted the final table delay is an "experiment that executives with WSOP and ESPN will be monitoring closely," as no decision has been made on "whether it will be in place again next year, but all indications are that it will be" (SOUTHTOWN STAR, 11/7). In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes ESPN "continues to make the World Series of Poker more time-friendly to TV audiences than [MLB Commissioner] Bud Selig has made the World Series." But as "problem and compulsive gamblers track younger, ESPN should be among the biggest donors to prevention and treatment programs." Mushnick notes among the nine final tablists this year, five are in their 20s (N.Y. POST, 11/10).
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ESPN Must Turn Around WSOP Footage
In Less Than A Day For Tuesday Broadcast |
RATING THE DELAY: The REVIEW-JOURNAL's Stutz noted WSOP officials are "happy with the four-month layoff." Ratings are "up on ESPN," and the episode in which the field was trimmed from 27 to the final nine players "had a 42[%] higher rating than last year's show." The telecasts are "drawing the most viewership since 2006." WSOP Marketing Dir Ty Stewart: "You have to point to the new model. We don't have a high-profile signature professional. But we have nine players' great stories. Overall, this new model has been more efficient." St. Louis-resident Dennis Phillips, who entered the final table as the chipleader, during the delay was "more recognized" than Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols, and other players at the final table also have "experienced upticks in their celebrity status over the past four months" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/8). ESPN Senior Producer Jamie Horowitz said of the delay, "One of the reasons the change was made was to bring new excitement to all things poker. It wasn't just that we thought it would bring higher ratings, but we believed it would create the biggest night in poker. It has created conversation, debate and analysis in the poker community." DAILY VARIETY's Stewart Levine wrote, "From a production standpoint, this is revolutionary." Poker tournaments normally "can take hours, if not days, to complete," and once a tournament finishes, editors "choose the best hands, commentators add their voiceover and an hourlong broadcast is put together." For ESPN's telecast tomorrow night, tape "will be shuttled back and forth between the Rio's poker room and ESPN's editing bay while announcers Lon McEachern and Norman Chad deliver their comments immediately." Horowitz: "We've never done anything like this before. What we normally do in a month we're doing in a day" (VARIETY.com, 11/7).
BUSTED DRAW? In N.Y., Steve Friess writes poker's status as "pop phenomenon, a game that burst from insular casinos to become a fixture of cable television and attracted Hollywood card sharks like Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire, is in trouble." Poker is "drawing fewer television viewers, and it is drawing fewer low-stakes players inspired by the big names to visit Las Vegas." Ratings for ESPN's poker coverage "peaked in 2005, with last year's event drawing 32[%] fewer viewers than the previous year." And while 8,773 players entered the '06 main event, only 6,844 entered this year, a 22% drop. Las Vegas Sun columnist Jeff Haney: "I don't think I'd call it a crash, but there were clear signs the market was oversaturated with goofy poker shows on TV." Pollack: "The goal is to make the World Series of Poker more popular than ever and more relevant." Pollack added poker was "developing a level of awareness in the pop culture that was very significant." But he said of the final table delay, "We stopped to ask, 'If this were taking place on a basketball court or football field, how would we grow it?'" Friess noted the delay is "aimed in part at turning the final nine players into poker-world celebrities." Pollack "views the lack of transcendent poker stars at the Final Table as the charm of the tournament, not a problem." Pollack: "You can't buy your way onto an NBA court. You can't buy your way onto an NFL field. You can, however, enter the World Series of Poker and potentially walk away as a world champion." Friess noted the WSOP in September "wrapped up its second year" of the WSOP Europe, with "offshoots planned for Latin America and Asia" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/9).
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Pollack Plans To Expand
WSOP To Latin America, Asia |
STEERING THE SHIP: The REVIEW-JOURNAL's Stutz conducted a Q&A with Pollack, noting the WSOP "has grown under Pollack's leadership," with sponsors including Miller, Corum, Hertz, Kraft and Hershey. Pollack said of the final table delay, "What we're doing is brand new for poker but well established in sports, especially with the Olympics. Same-day taped events have no trouble attracting viewers. We'll see how it goes this year. We would like to have a few more people talking about us and the final table than we otherwise would. If we can get a little increase in the buzz, and we can manage it so nothing goes wrong, that would be success in year one. Our hope and plan is that if this is a success in year one, we'll bring it back and grow the idea." Pollack said the WSOP Europe was a "smart and natural move." Pollack: "Poker is tremendous in Europe and the United Kingdom. We will go to Latin America and we will go to Asia, maybe in the next 12 to 24 months. Going global was simply a reflection of poker's popularity" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/9).
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