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The fall of the World Poker Tour

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by old_tony, Mar 26, 2013.

  1. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Home games used to be dealer's choice nights. Now home games are Texas Hold 'em. And once you've played Texas Hold 'Em you rarely want to play anything else. At least that's the experience with me and all my friends.
     
  2. Quiet Man

    Quiet Man Active Member

    It seems like every home game I'm invited to any more is dealer choice, usually dominated by what I call high school games (draw poker with wild cards, in-between, etc.). Subsequently I never play anymore. I don't claim to be a particularly good player, but without strategy I don't much see the point.
     
  3. SpeedTchr

    SpeedTchr Well-Known Member

    Maybe you can catch some hot action on the Grass Growing or Paint Drying channels
     
  4. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    If I knew when WPT was on, I think I'd watch it more. Last time I remember watching, though, the final table was stretched out over a couple of episodes. If I can't find it in the first place, I don't know if I'm ever going to find it again, and that's with two FSN-related networks on my cable system!
     
  5. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    My point exactly. When it started out and became a phenomenon, I knew that I could find it on Travel Channel on Wednesday night. Now I have no idea when or where (I have DirecTV, so I have about 60 FSN channels to find it. But, unlike Batan in the 60s, it's never on the same bat-time, same bat-channel.
     
  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    One of the problems is as the fad has passed, the core business left in clubs are the lifers -- gambling addicts, probably, in most cases -- and there's no room for the recreational player anymore. I used to go to the local club and play quite a bit, and I could hold my own. Then I'd go to Vegas once in a while and do all right there too. But that was because I was going up against many other somewhat casual players. Now, if you aren't playing A LOT and studying hands and probabilities besides, you're the fish.

    I've always thought it would be kind of fun to be one of those old guys who goes in a couple hours a day, and maybe I will later in life. But until I have the time and commitment to do that, I might as well just hand out money to people on the street for all the good it will do me to play.
     
  7. printit

    printit Member

    WPT should never have left the Travel Channel. Most people, including me, didn't follow them. Completely agree with you that WPT is (was) a big, big part of the poker boom.

    These shows also make a mistake when they let people go. I know Shanna Hyatt (sp) didn't seem like a big deal, but when something is working, don't change it. (call it the Vanna White rule).

    And Rick is right, once the online game was taken away, it just got too hard for a lot of us (again, including me) to play a lot. And that limited my interest in watching the game.
     
  8. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    If I remember right, the WSOP coverage had a crappy hole cam for a year or two before the WPT had the much better version and then the WSOP quickly upgraded the year that the WPT came on. The WPT was a trailblazer, but the WSOP on ESPN was way more influential on the mainstream explosion of poker.

    I've played poker since I was probably 12 or so and watched it a lot when it was first on TV. But after a couple of years, it just got repetitive. I'll watch the WSOP final table and that's about it.
     
  9. A London casino is accusing Phil Ivey and an accomplice of rigging a baccarat game to win $11.9 million, which hasn't been paid out. Ivey is suing the casino for the money.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/uk-casino-accuses-us-poker-star-phil-ivey-of-cheating-wont-pay-multimillion-dollar-winnings/2013/05/15/306b3cc6-bd5b-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story.html
     
  10. NDJournalist

    NDJournalist Active Member

    Probably because nobody wants to watch other people play a card game. Oh, I can't wait until they televise Monopoly!
     
  11. spikechiquet

    spikechiquet Well-Known Member

    Guess I'm a "nobody" then...I have the last 3 episodes on my DVR to watch still after being off a week for vacation.
    And Monopoly WAS a game show:
     
  12. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Search for the web show Tabletop on Youtube. Absolutely one of my favorites.
     
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