Where Are the November Nine
Jeffrey Pollack, the WSOP commissioner said that during the 117 day delay, players would have an opportunity to line up sponsorships, coaches, review the play of all their competitors, participate in other tournaments, and take advantage of the new publicity and promotional opportunities that would be available.
We are about a month away from the date set for the WSOP final table and I am just wondering what happened to the November Nine? I have yet to hear anything about them and I have not heard of any big sponsorship deals that were signed. Where is all this big publicity that was supposed to generate so much more attention and interest in the WSOP? At this point I think the final table will be anticlimactic as many of the people I have spoken to have lost interest at this point. I only hope that next year the final event will be changed back to the original format.
Poker tournaments are meant to be played until their completion and not broken into segments like a television game show.
Comments
It has been rather disappointing. I know Cardplayer is writing some articles, but that’s it.
I think the other issue is that the public likes to root for or against players. And if they don’t know the players, you need to tell a story that captures their interest. Nothing like that has been done, and really needs to happen.
I am going to try to help out the PPA and sell my no limit book by linking it to the final event the day it’s shown on TV.
Of course, right now, most people are worried about their own investments in Wall Street rather that what will happen in WSOP.
Keep up the good work!
Mitchell
I am with you on this one. I wasn’t really for it, but I thought I would give it a chance. I mean, if they could market it properly and get the publicity out there they were promising… and that subsequently helped the world of poker… well, it was a sellout I thought worth doing.
However none of that has happened. I have seen one commercial for Pokerstars with five of the nine that they have signed. I saw a Full Tilt commercial with the three that they have signed. ESPN’s “Poker Edge” podcast has featured half of the players.
However, the ads were run during WSOP broadcasts. “Poker Edge” is a pretty obscure podcast likely only heard by die-hards only. So I don’t see how the little publicity I have seen is going to increase interest in the game.
Ivan Demidov’s 5th place finish in the main event WSOPE was the most interesting story to come from this, and wouldn’t really have been possible had the WSOP ME finished… exciting as it was, I hardly think any of it as being worth all the inconvenience and loss of excitement from waiting two months.
So the overall goal of attracting new customers with added publicity really seems to have failed. The only thing they have left is the “big ratings” they’ll hope for for the broadcast. Which has only ESPN and Bally’s to benefit, not the average player or fan.
It all comes down to the same reason the majority of baseball games are played at night; It’$ about the dollar$. The suits figure they can squeeze some extra revenue by stretching it out. I think many people will just lose interest.
ESPN has run the WSOP into the ground with replay after replay while awaiting the playing of the final table. Whenever I see poker on ESPN its an automatic channel change. Hopefully WSOP will return to its original format. This format hurts poker rather than promoting it.