So there was a media conference call this morning and there were some interesting things to come out of the call:
- The pseudo-live coverage of the final table will be on ESPN3, which means if your ISP does not provide it (or you live outside the US) then its fairly likely you will not be able to watch the proceedings short of proxies/other hackery. Obviously it will not have hole cards (Ty mentioned that Nevada is more \”conservative\” than Europe in that regard), but it will have community cards and a video stream.
- James Hartigan will provide the play-by-play and pros will provide additional commentary (which means, basically, they are doing a very similar format to the EPT Live coverage, right down to the commentators).
- Mizrachi is on a lot of poker media member\’s minds: including his tax issues. ESPN noted that while they are talking about it, but its not a big part and they are dealing with the \”Year of the Mizrachis\” angle, at least they had been until the final table.
- Some of the storylines of the final table: youth of the table + the experience of the players + the international flavor of the FT (even if the majority of players are American, some players were born elsewhere).
- The WSOP and ESPN are definitely enforcing the 3 player patch rule. Players were informed about the rule and they understand the situation. (One thing that didn\’t get asked in the call was if players would essentially be able to swap patches with a non-patched player if a patched player is eliminated.)
- Walk-on music will combine with other aspects that will give the final table a more choreographed feel. (As Ty Stewart put it: \”More pomp and circumstances this year.\”)
- Changes to the Penn + Teller Theater: More seats to the public, fewer seats to friends and family.
- Editing the final table is pretty much a non-stop endeavor, and they actually record voiceovers for more hands than actually get shown depending on how the story of the final table plays out. Voicing gets finished while the 1st hour of the final table coverage is already on the air.
- The NGC, Harrah\’s, and federal regulators feel like online poker is illegal, according to Ty Stewart (but for some reason have no problem taking ad dollars from said people).
Some pretty important topics were addressed (how ESPN is going to deal with Mizrachi\’s tax problems, how FTP is going to deal with its push to actually get a main event champ in the stable, etc.) and as the November Nine gets closer some of these may come more into focus.