... one of the reasons why I wanted to come on here with you tonight Gary, was to express a concern I do have for some of the advice and some of the moves poker players are making. Because if you want to mainstream a game, and if you're trying to get corporate America to buy into what you're selling, you need Tom Bradys, you need Peyton Mannings, you need Michael Jordans, etc. If we have guys that aren't willing to take that mantle, or the same ten, twelve guys that you see getting a lot of attention at the Main Event early on: the known names for their antics or whatever the case may be. If people want to leave it just to those dozen, they can't grow the game. For all the others, they've got to take advantage of the opportunities that get presented to them, and it's unfortunate that in situations where we had a successful pitch and an opportunity for our players to be on that national stage, they chose not to.They haven't made any decisions about next year's WSOP yet, and don't expect to have the schedule finalized before late January or early February.
...I believe they owe it to the brethren of the poker community to take the mantle and try to elevate the game, just as any poker stakeholder is trying to do.... I mean, you walk into the door of the Main Event, you know the ESPN cameras are rolling, you know what comes with the territory if you advance very far. And it's unfortunate that it simply comes down to "I want the money, but I don't want what else comes along with achieving that success."
Barry Greenstein, a member of the WSOP Players' Advisory Council, was also on the podcast. He said the delay got the November Nine triple what they would normally have received in endorsement money. He also hopes that they'll do a better job for the fans next year, either by making it a three-hour show or bringing back the live stream of the final table.
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One of Dennis Phillips's handlers said: Dennis didn't turn down any media opportunities presented to him.The month before the ME he was doing 4-5 interviews per day. In fact, the WSOP communications department had a media tour scheduled for several of the November 9 the week before the ME and it was canceled because of the financial crisis, election, etc. I cant speak for the rest of the November 9 or their handlers, but none of us would have ever advised Dennis to turn down anything as big as the Tonight Show.
ReplyDeleteScott Montgomery said:
ReplyDeleteumm, i think this whole thing sounds like a load of bs to me.
i don't know any of the other final table players who would have turned down interviews like that. there's no way chino or dennis (the most likely two), would ever have turned them down. i think seth is just spitting out a load of bs to save his own ass for not doing enough publicity
The other obvious point to make is that Seth seems to suggest the players are obligated to promote the WSOP. Seth is paid to promote the WSOP, but the players aren't.
ReplyDeleteHard Boiled Poker had an interesting discussion of this. You should read the entire thing, but here are a few of the juicy bits:
ReplyDeletePalansky.... blames the players. That’s right. Now that the final table has finished, the Director of Communications for Harrah’s has decided it is okay to suggest the players themselves were somehow to blame.... On Wise’s show, Palansky said he wanted to “break” the news that two of the November Nine had been offered the chance to do guest spots on mainstream talk shows... and both turned down the opportunities.... when the final table delay was first announced, WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack made it abundantly clear that nothing in particular would be expected of the nine who made the final table in the way of promotional activities.... Over on the Big Poker Sundays radio show, Schleger suggested that like Scott Montgomery, he was doubtful Palansky was even being truthful with his claim about the Leno/Ellen offers.... Lou Krieger’s recent observation, voiced on his podcast and repeated on his blog, that he “expected to see these guys on all the major TV shows, much the same as you see movie stars trotted out on the talk show circuit whenever they have a new film to promote. It was really disappointing that none of them got a chance to talk poker with Letterman, or play some cards with Ellen, or appear on any of the morning network shows. That would have been a real build up....” I can’t say I see the purpose in throwing the November Nine under the bus this way except perhaps to try to bully the next group of poker players who make the 2009 Main Event delayed final table subsequently to perform more closely to Harrah’s wishes. Which -- even if successful -- would not necessarily produce desired results (to my way of thinking). ’Cos poker ain’t football. Nor will it ever be. I guess there is one aspect of all of this that relates to poker -- the idea of blaming others when things don’t go one’s own way.
The other thing that amazes me is that Seth Palansky is a PR guy: he's paid to say the right things. Why would he make a public statement like this?