#596 - World Series Final Table #9 - Then There Were Six

David “Chino” Rheem has just busted in 7th place. He’s been a short-stack for awhile and got his chips in with A-K. Peter Eastgate called him with A-Q, then picked up a queen on the flop. This happened at about 5:15 PM, with four minutes left in this level. It appears the clock has stopped.

I’ll take a moment to catch you up on some miscellaneous business:

* During the introductions, Jack Effel noted that Ylon Schwartz said that, if he won, he planned “to go away and disappear.” I don’t doubt his sincerity but I think Pokerstars, his sponsor, might have something to say about that, not to mention plenty of inducements to stick around. Ylon, by the way, is a former chess pro.

* The thing you don’t get on TV is how time is practically an opponent at the table, especially when combined with blinds and antes, other stacks, and payouts. I think this should be an area where ESPN upgrades its coverage, though I understand they have a tough call.

They don’t act like their coverage is live or that they are covering every hand, but they understandably want the viewers to treat the experience of the broadcast like they’re watching a sporting event, which is both live and unabridged. Consequently, especially due to time limitations and the suspense of playing out the board after all-ins, they don’t spend a lot of time documenting smaller moves, or even telling you the blind and ante levels.

This is primarily the ”fault” of the audience and hardly at all due to ESPN. But one of the lowest-skill moments in poker, all-in-and-call, makes for the best TV. Deep-stack small-pot poker is where most of the skill is, but that’s a lot harder to show and create enthusiasm, especially among less poker savvy viewers, and especially when that happens over a large number of hands.

Part of what I’m trying to do is include that part of the action. And I admit that I’ve found the big all-in moments to be phenomenally exciting. But that’s not all there is to playing poker at this level. It might not even be MOST of what there is to playing at this level.

* Jeffrey Pollack stopped by and, gracious as always, asked me how I thought things were going. I told him I thought the only flaw was the difficulty in keeping to the schedule, to which he quickly replied, “But we’ll work on that. We’ll get that right.”

Pollack feels the decision to delay the final table to November has been a big success, and I’m inclined to agree. The ratings (I think I heard this from Ty Stewart yesterday) for the pre-final table Main Event episodes have been the highest in years, and ESPN is devoting more resources to promoting the final table broadcast. And having all these players fresh, alert, bringing their full-on A games in front of an ecstatic, packed theater is much better than having sloppy play in front of an audience that, mostly, can’t wait to see a result and get the hell out of Dodge.

Jeffrey said, “I hope you give credit to Ty Stewart for this. It was all his idea.” Please comment if you think there’s a basis to disagree. I’m lauding Harrah’s here only because it seems right. If you think this experience isn’t/hasn’t/didn’t add to the excitement of the event, comment on this blog and we’ll get the discusison going.

But I think Ty Stewart deserves credit, and anybody who doesn’t agree will probably have a more favorable view when they see the broadcast. It just FEELS like it’s going to look great on TV.

In any event, Jeffrey told me, “There’s no turning back.” The gap between the rest of the World Series and the final table is here to stay. I think that’s a good thing, though I’m interested in hearing if anyone thinks otherwise.

* Chip counts from about 10 minutes ago. Just before the last hand of the level, at about 5:25 PM, Ivan Demidov had the chip lead with almost 40 million chips. Peter Eastgate was second with 28 million. Dennis Phillips, Ylon Schwartz, and Scott Montgomery were in a tight knot between 18-20 million, and Darus Suharto had 9.4 million.

* Level 36 has blinds of 250k-500k/50k ante. Five of the six remaining players start the level with approximately 40 BB or more. (Scott M had a little less but on the last hand of the level picked up a big pot by putting in a third raise, after Eastgate made it 1.05 million and Phillips reraised to 3.45 million. So, for the time being, we’re building toward a short-handed game with pretty decent stacks.