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 Tayshaun Prince Jersey , 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 Shabazz Muhammad Jersey , 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, 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 Ricky Rubio Jersey , we've seen an abundance of questionable poker talents win bracelet after bracelet and the public has grown immune to their
rags to riches stories. When a recognizable pro manages to navigate a minefield
of amateurs and win it's great for poker but when an anonymous logger from West
Virginia wins it's no longer newsworthy. Guess which happens more
often?
3. Poker remains taboo. The UIGEA continues to wreak havoc on the bread and butter of the game, online poker. A 2009 episode where the US
government unexpectedly seized $34 million in online player's funds certainly
stunted the online growth poker desperately relies on. Poker-related programming
is blacked out in certain areas (Utah, of course) of the country due to local
gaming laws. The bottom line is that for every Hellmuth Milwaukee's Best
advertisement you see on TV there are five networks who turned down sponsorship
in fear of reprisal from anti-poker conservatives. Last week's brazen armed
robbery of the $1.1 million cash prize during a televised European Poker Tour
event doesn't help either.
While it's obvious poker will never take over primetime TV Nikola Pekovic Jersey , it still has a few rebuys left. Producers for the World Series of Poker show a willingness to tweak their presentation with
innovative ideas such as creating the marketing friendly November Nine concept
or switching the final table of the 50K H.O.R.S.E event into an viewer friendly
format of no-limit hold 'em shootout.
While adjustments such as these dilute the purity of poker, the game is entering an era where everyone needs to
make concessions to keep poker on TV. Producers and tournament directors need to
lower expectations of monolithic televised events bringing in American Idol
worthy numbers and create a more realistic and sustainable model that can keep
networks happy. If they continue to push gimmicky shows featuring an overweight
plumber going heads up with Phil Ivey, poker fans can expect to be playing an
excruciatingly long game of 52-card pick up in the future.
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