Another great song by SrslySirius
With regard to all the controversy about the WSOP prioritizing ESPN’s interests over those of the players, I do want to ask, “Why shouldn’t they?” I certainly don’t like it and think it is pretty bastardly, but the truth is that they have a monopoly on the greatest poker tournament there is, and most people are going to play it no matter what. Given the choice between the “live feed”, with all the attendant problems of delays, weird schedules, players getting jostled by camera crews, etc. or no “live feed”, I’d opt for the live feed.
That said, that doesn’t have to the choice. Caesar’s could choose to compensate players with reduced rake or to strike a better balance between the interests of ESPN and those of the players. They simply choose not to because ESPN has a lot more leverage than the players do. The reality is that as much as we complain, most of us doing the complaining will continue to play the tournament. Until we demonstrate that we’re willing to vote with our feet and our wallets, it’s silly to expect accommodation. Caesar’s has the best hand, and they are betting it hard for value.
I agree with you, but surely they have some kind of ethical obligation to enforce the rules consistently, right? (Even if we don’t stop playing the WSOP because they don’t do this.) Or are you making a merely descriptive claim about what we should expect from Caesars?
I was mostly making a descriptive claim, but what rules are you referring to?
If I were in Caesar’s shoes, and I felt like ESPN is saying, “We’ll give a ton more coverage to your event, and pay you a lot more money, if you favor us over the players” and players were saying, “We’ll complain but probably play anyway if you favor us over ESPN”, I’d probably do things ESPN’s way in cases where I didn’t feel an ethical obligation to do otherwise. In other words, weird timing for breaks, near-live stream, slowing the pace of the game, etc. would all be on the table but I wouldn’t mess with the random table draws to get certain players onto the feature table.