Poker on TV

Iggy got me to thinking when I saw this on his site. The amount of money floating around in poker has already been talked about. Now with players cashing in on sponsorships, it is getting even bigger. Natural evolution of the sport.

The gripe of the players is that they cannot have their sponsor shown on a WPT or Poker Superstars broadcast. But they can have their image used to "support" a rival sponsor in their televised shows. I understand where they are coming from.

Watch NASCAR and see how it is when Jeff Gordon wins the Coca Cola 600. Funny how he drives a Pepsi car instead of a DuPont car for that race. Then they jam Coke bottles all over the roof of the car as he drinks the Pepsi.

But isn't this a case of the players benefiting from the WPT? Would they be getting all the deals if they didn't have the WPT? Doubtful. Second, they do not have to play in the tournament. Sounds like they are being selfish.

But this is America. They have the right to try and make as much as they can. If that is by selling themselves, then so be it. I applaud them.

In the end, I think both side will give in a bit. If not, they will ruin a good thing. Or someone else will come along (Harrahs is already there with their WSOP satellite events) that will give in to the pros and that could hurt the WPT. Howard Lederer acknowledges this. He knows it can be worked out. Last thing the WPT needs is for the pros to leave and become an amateur event.

I think the next evolution of the WPT is to have a poker player friendly version of the show. I would like to be able to choose between views I have. If I want to see the hole cards, I can. If I choose not to, I get a show that doesn't show the cards nor does it have Sexton or Van Patten talking about them. You get the audience version of the game. I would watch that version for a while at least.

You would get a real perspective of the game. It may feel like you are there, playing against the top pros as you think about what they may be holding and how you might play. At the end of the hand, they could then show the winners cards. Play the second version on a sister channel of Travel. Hey, I think it could work.

Since my game sucks, I am on a 2 day hiatus. Though I think I played well enough the other day, I am still not winning. That sucks.