The World Poker Tour recently announced a change to the televised final table, indicating that they will be testing out a new blind structure for the Bellagio Cup III main event. It seems that the WPT has set out to please the players, whose main concern has been the rapidly escalating blinds once the cameras start to roll.
At previous WPT final tables, the blinds were usually rolled back to start, then sped up to induce action. While the action may be great for the two-hour program, it creates excessive tension for the players taking the million-dollar coin flips.
This year's Bellagio Cup III will be the first WPT stop to test out the new blinds. The tournament will feature the Bellagio's official blind structure from start to finish. The television crew will have to wait for a change, but the end result should be a program filled with postflop play and creativity. It's also been reported that if needed, the WPT broadcast will be extended to two and possibly three episodes to accommodate further play. Bellagio Director of Tournament Operations, Jack McClelland, is happy with the experiment.
"It's definitely more player friendly," said McClelland. "This is a move that will be popular with the players. After all, without the players, we wouldn't even have a tour."
One player in particular who may have helped move the process along was two-time WPT champion Barry Greenstein, who spoke with the coounders, CEO Steve Lipscomb, and Lyle Berman, about the change. "Lyle Berman is a good friend of mine and I've been telling him for the past year that people don't like the fast structures of the WPT final table," said Greenstein. "They feel it makes it too much of a crapshoot."
Greenstein also voiced his concerns about how poker is viewed by the public. "Steve Lipscomb has always said that the fast structures have been better for T.V. because they didn't really want it drawn out," said Greenstein. "I explained that that was fine the first couple of years, but the poker IQ of the public is going up. Maybe the first year or two the public was still trying to learn the hands and various situations, but now they are ready to see more play and dive a little deeper into the game."
It is unknown whether this experiment will extend beyond the Bellagio Cup III event. The longer final tables may force additional episodes, and that means higher production costs. Of course, it may also mean higher ratings. The WPT is moving to the Game Show Network and will be broadcast alongside High Stakes Poker, a show already known for showing more than your average all-in situation. GSN scooped up the WPT for season six after the Travel Channel passed on its option.
The blind structure for the Bellagio Cup III can be found at its tournament home page, www.cardplayer.com/tournaments/blinds/7810.
