Now that we\’ve finished with the 2008 WSOP, and made our various criticisms of the November Nine, it\’s time to plan for next year\’s WSOP. Most people who watched the final table found it a bit lacking, especially the heads-up play between Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov, as 105 hands of headsup play lasted 2 hands on ESPN.
Here\’s my suggestion for next year: I suggest a shorter delay from when the final table is established to when we find out who is the winner. Move the start of the WSOP back one week, and with whatever schedule they choose to make up with the last tournament being the Main Event. ESPN starts televising the Main Event July 21, 2009 with the same nine weeks of coverage as this year. You can still do the Final Table preview show September 22, with the final table scheduled for September 27. The other big twist, instead of nine players making the final table, you play it down to six. This way, one-third less players helps increases exposure and sponsorship opportunities to those remaining. You even get an alliterative nickname for the final table:
The September Six
Schedule the final table for September 27th, 2009 with the ESPN final table broadcast on September 29. Having only 6 players should also reduce the stress the production team has in editing the final table and gives you the opportunity to show more creative hands to help show the flow of the final table. The idea that you start the heads-up play at a late hour so that the newspapers won\’t be able to let their readers know who won didn\’t work exactly as hoped. If this idea was tried pre-Internet it would work better, but when the network that\’s showing the final table repeatedly lets its viewers know who won, it completely defeats the purpose. Start the final table at a reasonable hour on Monday afternoon and play it out. If heads-up is a great back and forth battle, maybe you can dedicate the last 30 minutes to the action instead of two hands where it looks like Eastgate held over Demidov the whole way.
Anyways, it\’s just a thought that I\’m sure people can pick apart, but I\’d still suggest Karridy to start buying up those September Six domains.
