By James Akenhead
When I first started getting into poker I used to watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN and enjoyed it. Other than the entertainment value I actually thought I was learning a few things. It is a shame now to say there is really not much at all to be learnt by these broadcasts.
After watching the final table of event #2 I was shocked at how ESPN portrayed some of the players and their game's. Focusing on myself first off, there were a few key hands which I was sure they were going to include but decided not to. These were hands that would be 'good for TV' and maybe show a little more about the flow of this final table. As for the heads up match, this was astonishing. I feel Grant and I had a great battle with lasted over TWO HOURS and yet the public get to see two hands, one of them being the final hand.
As for Grant, ESPN make it look like he did not have too many tough decisions and that the deck favoured him. Maybe this is true to some extent but I think he played great poker and deserved to be heads up.
I think all this banter about Theo is not called for. Again it is obvious ESPN thrive on creating these 'situations', 'good guy, bad guy' etc, with the intention of making their program more exciting to watch. This is not a soap opera, this is the world's best poker players coming together and playing poker and should be taken seriously. Theo Tran has been made out to be the bad guy in all this and I do not think he stepped out of line at all. For all of you that have ever made a WSOP final table you will know how nervous and excited you can be and Theo, along with the rest of us were just that.
I realise that ESPN have limited air time so they need to edit the footage on a big scale. This precious time should be filled with poker rather than drama. Better still, stretch each final over three if not four episodes. It is not as if poker is not one of the most popular sports on the channel.
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
My thoughts on the final
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3 comments:
people want a snapshot not the 2 days of passing.Get over it
Thanks for the kind comments James.
Going into the final two tables the two players I felt were playing the best poker were you and Theo Tran. I was very satisfied with my table draw for the final two tables and eventually the redraw for the final table.
Like you, I was also disappointed that they did not show more of our heads-up match. I thought you played extremely well and it would actually show some pretty interesting hands as well as give some context to the final hand. There were two hands in particular that I thought for sure would make it from our heads-up match that were omitted.
I understand that ESPN has to cater to the general public and in their editing they lean more towards the dramatic all-in hands and also their stars (Ferguson). However, I thought they did a disservice to your play and the great heads-up match.
Good luck in the future,
Grant Hinkle
well said james and well said grant. i am all for making the final tables exciting, but i also want to see a lot of hands and get a better idea and understanding of how players play.
john kelly.
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