Monday, November 10, 2008

ESPN Reveals Main Event Final Table Results Before Broadcast

They make us wait four months for a two-hour highlight reel of the Main Event final table so that we'll be in suspense, then spoil it for us? I guess I shouldn't have expected any better from what I consider to be America's worst poker TV producer.

I previously said:

... as a poker fan, it's going to be awfully hard for me to avoid hearing the fate of the first seven players to bust out of the final table. I'd like to see the entire final table filmed within 36 hours of broadcast (or less: the last final table took about 16 hours, though it was a particularly long one).

I was right. I did modify my plan of completely avoiding the poker media for 3 days. That would have been very difficult for me. Instead, I just avoided places where final table results should appear. It didn't work... and I've read that ESPN was broadcasting the winner on SportsCenter and their news scroller all day long. Starting the final table 59 hours before the broadcast is far too long a delay, especially when they're expecting us to wait that long to see... wait for it... 25 hands.

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Posted by Self Made at Monday, November 10, 2008
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5 comments:

  1. The PokerStars software is spoiling the results too.
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  2. For me it was actually spoiled by posts on a poker TV forum: someplace where they're supposed to avoid spoilers. By the time of the broadcast I'd managed to inadvertently hear pretty much the entire bustout order. I only saw one poker site handle it responsibly: PartTimePoker.com titled their article "And the WSOP champion is …"
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  3. I did manage to avoid the complete results before the Final Table aired last night. It did involve me avoiding almost all television & Google Reader activity. I was afraid someone might put the results out there so I avoided it all.

    In the future I hope that they make the delay time much shorter or not release the information in such a prominent way.

    Ideally I wish they would go back to the Pay Per View FULL coverage where we can watch the entire thing hand for hand. That is the best way to enjoy the final table in my opinion!
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  4. The pay per view is missed by many, including me.
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  5. This year, it turned out to be 24 hands we were waiting four months for.
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