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March 25 Deron Williams Womens Jersey , 2010
The nationally televised 2003 World Series of Poker victory by everyman Chris Moneymaker inspired a boom in poker that produced impressive results: everyone from Don Cheadle to George Constanza was lining up to register for exponentially growing tournament fields.
Seven years later, the honeymoon is over. The dwindling fields at nearly every major poker circuit are evidence that dead money dreamers are no longer willing to take blind shots at being the next Mikey McDermott. Rich flounders once willing to plop down 10K for a casual afternoon of degeneracy suddenly find themselves pinching pennies at the Circus Circus buffet line. The donkeys are officially dead.
On the surface, the 2010 Heads Up Poker championship provides the perfect remedy: the opportunity to market poker's brightest stars in a 64-player free for all on national television. What better event to revive the dormant mainstream interest in poker than watching Cheadle's gutshot take down an irate Phil Hellmuth's pocket aces?
The problem is no one's watching. Ratings for the star-studded event (by poker standards) have dropped over 54% since it's inaugural 2006 season. Both the WPT and High Stakes Poker (a favorite in the poker community) were dropped by their respective networks for the second straight season. The quick hook NBC gave poorly produced Face the Ace after just two episodes is further proof that poker's biggest names aren't appealing to audiences outside of die-hard poker fans.
The 2010 heads up championship provided its usual array of bracket busting upsets: Annette Obrestad took down Hellmuth in the first round, Monkeymaker toppled Patrick Antonius and Leo Wolpert to fight his way into the sweet sixteen. How about Jerry Yang deposing of Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein? Such earth shattering upsets have to help spike the ratings when the event airs in mid-April, right?
Expect the heads up championship to be dealt in last regardless. Here's why:
1. The spoiler effect: Joe public already knows who won. While the diehards will watch anyways, the casual fans televised poker needs lose interest because they already know the outcome. This is a problem poker producers have been trying to solve by shortening the gap between the actual event and airdates but the necessity of editing holecam footage make delays unavoidable. Imagine the dip in NFL ratings if fans already had access to final boxscores or the difference in box office returns for a movie if the audience already knew the final twist when deciding to watch the film?
2. The underdog factor just isn't the same. In the poker world Chandler Parsons Womens Jersey , Jerry Yang beating Barry Greenstein in a best of three heads up match is the equivalent of your local community college beating UNC in the first round of the NCAA tourney. The rub here is that David beating Goliath in a couple hands of tournament poker doesn't generate buzz because upsets are more the norm than exception in poker. Post Moneymaker |
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posted on: 06/22/2016 12:53:48 AM
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