Report: WSOP main event final table to be played in November
Related Articles
An article published in USA Today is reporting that World Series of Poker main event final table will be delayed until November for the benefit of television.
The main event starts on July 3, and will continue until July 14, when the initial field will have been whittled to a final table. According to the article, the tournament will stop until November 9; play down to heads up will occur and a champion will be crowned on November 10.
This move will be done so that ESPN will be able to televise the final table almost live — the final table broadcast will take place on November 11.
Excerpt:
For ESPN, there also will be a change in the dynamic. The title figures to be won in the early hours of Nov. 11, with the two-hour telecast of the final table set for 9 p.m. ET. “The champion will be crowned on the day of air. We’re very excited about this change,” ESPN senior producer Jamie Horowitz says.
ESPN will air a special Nov. 4 showing what the players have done between the July determination of the final nine and the final table.
“We want to detail that journey,” Horowitz says.
What if something happens that precludes a player from playing at the final table? The WSOP has accounted for that. A player who does not appear will have his chips “blinded off,” which means they will be paid into mandatory bets for each hand. When a competitor’s last chip is played, he will be paid for where he finishes.
Two-time Main Event champion Doyle Brunson would prefer each player to be allowed an alternate, “somebody that’s not considered to be a player with abilities above their own.” Though Brunson, 74, has reservations about the delay being “overkill,” he’d have no qualms about having to deal with it.
“No, I’ll try to hang on another four months,” he said, laughing.
Whole thing here
