Poker Forum

check out William Reynolds stance on it: http://www.pokernews.com/video/ept-grand-final-2011-william-reynolds-936172350001.htm

I say a huge NO!
ESPN will be manipulating the WSOP. ESPN does not do this with other sports. Are they going to start sharing coaches play books with the opposing teams every 30mins.? Why not give a live feed inside the coaches locker room during half time, that'd make the Super Bowl exciting???

Well how exciting would the Super Bowl be if they played on Sunday in February and we didn't get watch the game until March?

The comparison to a football game is quite interesting. During NFL games, there are numerous times you see the QB going on images of the opposing team's defense with the coaches. You also see images of the defense going over images of the opposing team's offense. These images are taken from plays that just happened and then the teams looking at them try and adjust or find holes in the other side's system to take advantage of. Now, on one hand you could say this is exactly what could happen in the WSOP and everyone has the opportunity to "look at the tape" and adjust, but it's not so black and white.

Players on the outer tables won't have access to hole card cameras where they can see their opponents' play. They won't have the opportunity to adjust like people playing on the feature tables will. That means, in general 18 players at a time in the WSOP Main Event will have an advantage over their tablemates that other players in the field won't. Amateur players who have made it to the chip lead and are seated with pros will be at a huge disadvantage. Do you guys honestly think Jamie Gold would have won the Main Event if his hole cards were shown on a 30-minute delay? Not taking anything away from Gold's play, but he'd have so much more to overcome and his strategy that he was using over and over to talk to players and manipulate them wouldn't work anymore as people would be able to correctly adjust. Now, if every table has the opportunity to "view the tape" then it's a different story, but it's not going to be that way.

How different would football be if only one team was allowed to see these images of their opponent? Or, how about only the NFC could use images and the AFC couldn't? The teams with the greater ability to make adjustments in the NFC would thrive whereas the teams in the AFC wouldn't even get the chance.

Another thing that's interesting is that on the WSOP conference call that PokerNews wrote a live blog for, it was mentioned:

10:43 a.m. PDT: The WSOP has struck a deal with Shuffle Master to provide automatic shufflers for every final table, and in some instances for even more tables in a particular tournament.

It's awesome that they're finally jumping on board to make things more speedy at final tables, but the problem comes in the second part of that statement where it says, "in some instances for even more tables in a particular tournament."

It either has to be all tables in a tournament or just the final table, that's it. If a tournament has ten tables running and the two feature tables are using automatic shufflers, they'll be seeing more hands and playing at a faster rate that everyone else, giving them an advantage. The WSOP needs to be careful in this area. If players find out some tables are using automatic shufflers and others aren't, they're going to be very upset.

The argument that ... "pros will study amateur play and adapt" in future tables is a nice fantasy. Most pros have their hands full studying other pros at their table to waste time with an amateur. Live streaming is entertainment and visual poker. I remember watching the final table of the WSOPE live streamed out of London for about five hours and it was outstanding! I cannot wait to watch the WSOP live streaming and if ever I make a final table as an amateur ... it means I am good enough to get there and I can hold my own against the other FT people. Ivey studying an amateur's hole cards? Maybe but everyone at a final table is gunning for the amateur so what changes? The benefits outweigh the risks.

There is one thing I think should be allowed is the freedom of CHOICE. A player should not be forced to show his cards at a feature table and players should be paid to show their cards with a donation to a charity. That will shame the players into showing hole cards but the tough guy that wants to be totally anonymous ... he can cover up.

th more coverage th better for those of us wantin to follow th action in vegas durin th wsop this summer.