How Much Influence Did Daniel Have?

[jday561 0]

I just don't get this, it's dumb IMO.I wouldn't be able to sleep one day if I made the final table of the ME and was playing for 12 mil. let alone 4 months or whatever it is! Wow

[Patricio87 0]

Daniel said how the am's would have the advantage and all that....exactly why I am against this. I wanna see Daniel win, I wanna see Phil Ivey win. I don't want to sit through another table with Jerry Yang or Jamie Gold *yawn* I wanna see sick plays not am's going all in, getting lucky and screaming YES YES. Atleast the 2006 table had Allen and it made it interesting.

[jday561 0]

Daniel said how the am's would have the advantage and all that....exactly why I am against this. I wanna see Daniel win, I wanna see Phil Ivey win. I don't want to sit through another table with Jerry Yang or Jamie Gold *yawn* I wanna see sick plays not am's going all in, getting lucky and screaming YES YES. Atleast the 2006 table had Allen and it made it interesting.

yea for real, I agree with this post wholeheartedly

[DanielNegreanu 141]

yea for real, I agree with this post wholeheartedly

The rule change will have no effect on the chances of myself or Ivey making the final table. The amateurs have an edge at that point because they have time to study and improve their game, which means it will be LESS likely that a donkey will win since the play will be more sophisticated.

[nutzbuster 7]

The rule change will have no effect on the chances of myself or Ivey making the final table. The amateurs have an edge at that point because they have time to study and improve their game, which means it will be LESS likely that a donkey will win since the play will be more sophisticated.

Great. There goes my chances.

[jday561 0]

The rule change will have no effect on the chances of myself or Ivey making the final table. The amateurs have an edge at that point because they have time to study and improve their game, which means it will be LESS likely that a donkey will win since the play will be more sophisticated.

guess your right there Daniel...

[Patricio87 0]

The rule change will have no effect on the chances of myself or Ivey making the final table. The amateurs have an edge at that point because they have time to study and improve their game, which means it will be LESS likely that a donkey will win since the play will be more sophisticated.

Ok good...lolBut seriously hope you do great again this year daniel we'll all just have to wait it out and see if the final table gets hyped up. Usually atleast one pro makes it every year so it will always be great to watch.

[Zach6668 513]

First and foremost POKER is agame of streaks and who is to say the man dominating the field doesn't go cold,

lol yup

[NaturalNine 0]

What a horrible idea. Let's destroy tradition(what's left of it) for the sake of ratings. If poker was meant to go down to pre-Moneymaker levels then so be it. Daniel, an oldschool highly respected live cash game player(?) now sounds like a Harrah's/internet poker promotion Muppet.There is one reason poker cannot maintain such a high level of popularity(2003-2005), the majority of people found out it's not that easy and LOSE.

[Danny Dingleberry 0]

I cannot believe a bunch of poker players are moaning about 'tradition' and 'fundamentals' being destroyed for the sake of profit. Honestly. It's a poker tournament. Everyone involved is trying to make a profit, it's how it works. Whether you wait overnight for a final table or 3 months isn't going to make a huge difference in terms of the outcome. It is going to make it a difference in terms of quality of broadcast and overall interest in the event.

[Danny Dingleberry 0]

There is one reason poker cannot maintain such a high level of popularity(2003-2005), the majority of people found out it's not that easy and LOSE.

I guess that explains why 2006 and 2007 were the biggest main events yet?

[JustDoIt 10]

I guess that explains why 2006 and 2007 were the biggest main events yet?

Corporate Sponsorships.

[NaturalNine 0]

I guess that explains why 2006 and 2007 were the biggest main events yet?

The Main Event is not a measurement for pokers popularity, it's more of a lottery now, selling a dream. It will always have high number of participants. How about the numbers in every WPT event in the last 2 years? Are they higher or lower?How long have you been playing live cash games? 2003-2005 the rooms blew up, every casino in A.C was building a new poker room. You had to wait hours to sit in most games at the Taj or Borgata. 2006 is when it thing started to die down, the regulars (The ones that got into the hype and decided to pick up The Theory of Poker/Super System 2) were not coming in as much and every casino was laying off poker dealers. Yes you still have have a high traffic of amateurs but only on the weekends and not as much as before. The bottom line is the casino drop (The total Rake) now is lower then it was 2 years ago. Harrah's wants to delay the Final Table for months to help "promote" poker but lobbies against online poker sites. Hey this idea might work and promote poker all you want (it's all good for me) but what a horrible way at doing it.

[SemiBaked 0]

Don't know if this has been brought up and I hope it is never an issue, but what will happen if a Final Table participant dies before the final table?

[cemo76 0]

Hey Daniel, with all due respect I hope the idea works and we get more players to join up andliven up the online and live scene through this Media Stunt. Playing some tournies around town this weekend and everyone was feeling pretty much the same way. Optimistic yet unconvinced that the idea will work. To be honest I guess we have to give it a shot and see what happens. Like others of said it will be HUGE or a HUGE LETDOWN. I think any of us would like to have this problem:) PS. Has anyone thought about one of the final table players selling themselves off to investors for percentages?How can you stop them and govern this or is this legal.For example I make the final table and sell off 50% for $5,000 a point? Gauaranteed money and can play the final tablelike a mad man or how the investers coach me to play?Thoughts

[imaliveru 0]

I'm completely against this change, for a LOT of reasons, many already mentioned. The "Cons" listed in DN's initial blog are spot-on and I believe will be shown to FAR exceed the benefits.

[1]

It totally changes the dynamic

, including the stamina-aspect of the ME (not to mention the reads, rush, etc). Suddenly, poker players are no longer tested by the long hours/intense play. They have 3 months to rest up for the finals. Again, that is not done in any other 'sport.' To me, it's going to take a lot of the excitement away. Sure, the players' names will be the same (as they were 3 months ago) but that's about it.[2] Many people may want this, but

it is a clear advantage (for many reasons) to the poker pros

, and DN admited so much above.

Why is this fair or good?

A well-connected poker player will be able to pick up all kinds of info on every opponent at the FT, whether pro or not...much more so than an amateur player. DN says "maybe 3-4 hands on ESPN" is all he'd pick up. No way. He would be getting info from every friend of his, his extremely connected network of both pros & amateurs & railbirds (and a lot of help from members of this site) who played w/or watched the players throughout, before or since the ME. It wouldn't surprise me if the pros at the FT develop a nearly complete dossier of every other player's ME, style, etc. Plus, of course, the pro is trained to be much more able to use whatever data they acquire.Contrast that to an amateur who doesn't know anyone, doesn't have a website community wanting him to win, etc. He's not going to get nearly the info on non-televised hands. He may have hands from previous tourneys, but pros can change gears much better than amateurs anyway, putting the pros at an even bigger advantage.[3] The public (at least those w/access to Internet)

will

know the winner before the final table airs (albeit just a day before). Let's face it - the vast majority of the target audience isn't getting their news from the "morning papers."[4] The loss of the FT pay-per-view feed is huge. It was the greatest poker show I watched last year. Now instead of being able to see every (or most) hand, we're going to be force fed the typical ESPN diet of all-ins and scream-fests.

I do hope this idea fails and they go back to the way it's been.

[Nimue1995 1]

Yep heaven forbid that anyone try anything new. And if you think any of those amatuers at the final table will lack for resources then you don't know the business very well. Fact is they will likely be inundated with offers from pros wanting to coach them for a piece of the action. Com'on do you really think they won't have a level playing field?

[EdwardGreene1 0]

So my idea halfway down on page 1... was it really that bad of an idea that no one responded to it? I just think they should slowly build to this sorta thing instead of just jumping into it with the ME.Another thing confuses me: are they playing the FT on the 9th, then starting heads-up late on the 10th, or are they playing the whole thing on the tenth?In response to the question of the topic, I think Daniel had a lot of influence, and it seems like that council of poker players have been getting a lot of things they want as Harrah's seems to be incorporating a lot more of their ideas (playing non-Hold em events in the evening among others) and making sure they stay happy, so I'm sure this wouldn't have gone through without Daniel and the others major backing.

[irishguy 14]

I'm completely against this change, for a LOT of reasons, many already mentioned. The "Cons" listed in DN's initial blog are spot-on and I believe will be shown to FAR exceed the benefits.

[1]

It totally changes the dynamic

, including the stamina-aspect of the ME (not to mention the reads, rush, etc). Suddenly, poker players are no longer tested by the long hours/intense play. They have 3 months to rest up for the finals. Again, that is not done in any other 'sport.' To me, it's going to take a lot of the excitement away. Sure, the players' names will be the same (as they were 3 months ago) but that's about it.[2] Many people may want this, but

it is a clear advantage (for many reasons) to the poker pros

, and DN admited so much above.

Why is this fair or good?

A well-connected poker player will be able to pick up all kinds of info on every opponent at the FT, whether pro or not...much more so than an amateur player. DN says "maybe 3-4 hands on ESPN" is all he'd pick up. No way. He would be getting info from every friend of his, his extremely connected network of both pros & amateurs & railbirds (and a lot of help from members of this site) who played w/or watched the players throughout, before or since the ME. It wouldn't surprise me if the pros at the FT develop a nearly complete dossier of every other player's ME, style, etc. Plus, of course, the pro is trained to be much more able to use whatever data they acquire.Contrast that to an amateur who doesn't know anyone, doesn't have a website community wanting him to win, etc. He's not going to get nearly the info on non-televised hands. He may have hands from previous tourneys, but pros can change gears much better than amateurs anyway, putting the pros at an even bigger advantage.[3] The public (at least those w/access to Internet)

will

know the winner before the final table airs (albeit just a day before). Let's face it - the vast majority of the target audience isn't getting their news from the "morning papers."[4] The loss of the FT pay-per-view feed is huge. It was the greatest poker show I watched last year. Now instead of being able to see every (or most) hand, we're going to be force fed the typical ESPN diet of all-ins and scream-fests.

I do hope this idea fails and they go back to the way it's been.

1) Changing reads/rush etc is a weak arguement imo. If I show up drunk, hollering in the background I do the same thing this doesn't exactly give any one player an advantage over the others. Plus there is almost always a day or two off that changes the dynamis anyhow.2) If anything giving amateurs the money and time to improve their games negates some of the "pro" advantage. If you don't think a million players/company's will hop out of the woods to try to be a part of this with any of the final nine I think you are not viewing this accurately.3) Much much much less of the "public" will know the winner before it airs than has in previous years.4) The loss of a FT ppv is huge for you and for many of us but from the wsop view I doubt they saw a huge revenue from this.I've have read countless posts on every forum regarding this and have yet to encounter a well thought arguement against it.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

we're going to be force fed the typical ESPN diet of all-ins and scream-fests.

Okay, I'll admit THAT's the best argument I've heard against it.How about it, Mr. Big-Influence Pro, can you talk ESPN into cutting down on the all-ins and howler monkeys? That would be a service to the game.