WSOP TV Coverage

The ESPN coverage of the World Series of Poker does cover the idea of the tournament - that is to say the 'name' players, verbal banter, emotional peaks and crushed players. But what it does not cover- is poker.

I understand that there is only a short time (about 45 minutes) to cover sometimes ten or thirteen hours of play. However, it must still be possible to show other hands then only the all-ins, which in the end, once one call or fold is made (usually a straight forward decision in those instances), are no longer in the players hands, which negates any chance to watch strategy and maybe even *gasp* learn from the plays. Watching those hands can come close to watching someone pull a lever on a slot-machine; it will always be entertaining to watch his reactions to winning or losing a million dollars but we aren't watching the clever and highly complex game that we all love.

One instance that really disappointed me was the coverage of the $1,500 No-Limit event where Alex Jacobs, the chip leader and favorite to win, took third and O'Leary came from behind (short stacked) to win. Going by the coverage, I would dismiss O'Leary as a lucky Irish that got good hands at the right time, however, since I actually followed the action almost hand to hand on PokerNews Live I can say that it wasn't the case. Some of the hands during that final table were really worth watching and I was impatiently waiting to see those hands play out live with the ability to see the hole cards, which of course never happened.

How about cutting short the extra 'fun' segments (e.g 'The Nuts')? While instead search through the hours of taping and find those special hands that show thought and strategy from both sides of the hand. That, along with seeing the hole cards would really represent what we love and find entertaining about watching the game.

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Note: If you'd like to see a properly covered poker tournament, check out the Professional Poker Tour (PPT). You can find full episodes on a certain 'popular' video site I won't mention.