WSOP Final Table Ratings and Coverage

by Bodog Poker | Dec 17 2008

After all the hype, controversy, and incessant analyzing, the ESPN ratings for the World Series of Poker Final Table tell a story of success. The two-hour televised broadcast on ESPN received 2.364 million viewers, which is up significantly from last year’s 1.552 million viewers.

It seems then that the 117-day delay and the quasi-live airing of the Final Table was a success for Harrah’s and the WSOP. Their sponsors seemed as excited as you could expect a large corporation to be. Miller Brewing, whose Milwaukee’s Best Light brand is a major WSOP sponsor stated that they were, “very pleased with the television audience and the press attention.” While Miller Brewing probably won’t be accused of grandstanding it does go without saying that, financially speaking, the WSOP televised coverage was a success.

But what about that question that every poker journalist has churning around in his or her heart like an obsessive-compulsive hamster in a wheel, “Was it good for poker?”

Obviously, if more people were watching poker’s biggest event then that has to be good thing. But what could have been improved and what didn’t work as expected?

For one thing, the supposed hyping of the November Nine seemed to be about as effective as Phil Hellmuth is humble. Back when the WSOP Final Table delay had first been proposed it seemed like the November Nine would be gracing the cover of People Magazine, doing the talk show circuit and shaking hands with world leaders. The reality of that “media blitz” was a little different.

When WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack was asked whether he thought the November Nine were marketed during the hiatus to the extent that he had envisioned, he said all of the players had a “pretty decent level.”

Some of the Final Tablists themselves also felt things didn’t work quite as well as planned. In a statement to the Las Vegas Sun David “Chino” Rheem, who finished seventh, said, "By the time they started airing (main event) episodes (on ESPN), it was kind of late. If anyone in Corporate America saw it, it was only two, three weeks before the final table started. It wasn't really enough time for the players to get endorsements and things like that."

Coverage Complaints

For the viewers who watched the two-hour summation of the WSOP Final Table it probably felt like they got the gist of what happened. But considering that at 17 hours it was the longest WSOP Final Table ever, you can imagine how much had to be cut to fit into that two-hour crunch.

Coverage was reduced to essentially seeing little more than hands that resulted in players getting knocked out. Of the 274 hands played only 24 were shown. Most egregious was the reduction of the epic heads-up battle between Demidov and Eastgate to just a couple hands.

As Chris Ferguson pointed out, “The one glaring omission was that the heads-up lasted two hands on television,” said Ferguson. “It really didn’t show the entire battle between these two great players.”

The heads-up action really was outstanding too. It lasted four hours and involved 104 hands. Eastgate started out with the lead with 80.3 million chips to Demidov’s 50.6 million. The Russian came out swinging though and aggressively fought to take the lead. The young Dane didn’t rattle though and allowed Demidov to apply pressure while waiting for his moment to strike and eventually catching him in a series of bluffs eventually leading to his win.

“It’s a shame the rest of the American public didn’t get to see that,” said Mike Matusow of the heads-up coverage. “It would’ve been so sick to watch.”

The WSOP is still currently deciding whether the 2009 WSOP will follow the same format as 2008. Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that the ratings success of the 2008 WSOP will be sufficient to get Harrah’s to repeat the Final Table delay in 2009. Some popular suggestions for how the coverage might be improved include: increased focus on heads-up play, extending the length of the final table coverage to four or even six hours and releasing a DVD set that includes a more complete version of the action.

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