The final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event is going to take place in July this year, like it did before 2008. That means the November Nine is no longer a factor in the WSOP Main Event.
The decision to do away with a 4-month delay in the WSOP Main Event’s final table is one of several changes made this year. The biggest announcement is the fact ESPN is planning live coverage for the entire Texas Hold’em main event, according to a press release from the sports network on Monday.
No More “November Nine”
From 2008 to 2016, ESPN wanted to have a months-long gap in play. That allowed the network and countless online gaming media sites to hype the November Nine for 3 and 1/2 months, building anticipation for the final stages of the year’s biggest poker tournament.
This represents the first time ESPN has provided live coverage of the entire week-long WSOP Main Event in July. In earlier incarnations, the WSOP coverage was pre-packaged, showing only the most compelling moments involving (what ESPN thought was) the most compelling players. Over the past several years, pay-per-view allowed wall-to-wall coverage.
Ty Stewart Promises Wall-to-Wall Action
Ty Stewart, ESPN’s executive director of the WSOP series coverage, said of this year’s changes, “We look forward to delivering to our faithful audience wall-to-wall action from the outset for the very first time.”
In the format which ran from 2008 to 2016, ESPN would film the WSOP Main Event, then package it into a made-for-TV, tape-delayed extravaganza. The Main Event coverage would run for several months, allowing viewers to get to know the event’s finalists. When the November Nine resumed play, TV executives assumed the viewers would have fan favorites and least favorite players.
Almost-Live Coverage of the WSOP Main Event
The new format includes 40 hours of “almost-live” coverage. Regulations require a 30-minute delay in the poker tournament’s coverage, to avoid any creative sorts trying to give players tip-offs. The full ESPN coverage includes more than 100 hours of original packaged TV content.
Under terms of the new deal, Poker Central owns the global television and digital media rights. The deal allows Poker Central to stream to the world any coverage that ESPN does not air. Those video streams will go through Poker Channel’s digital channels.
Seth Palansky on WSOP Format Changes
Seth Palansky, WSOP’s spokesman, said the series once was taped and aired like a reality TV show. ESPN edited out the dull parts and packaged the show like one of any number of reality television series. The omnipresence of the poker media and up-to-the-minute coverage makes the old format next-to-impossible.
Palansky described the changes in the way the online poker community gets its gaming news, saying, “We used to cover it like The Bachelor. They go and do all the dating, weaved in backstories and personalities, and essentially do their grand finale live. But where we are today in the world, it’s kind of hard to keep that information from leaking out.”
2017 WSOP Main Event Schedule
This year, the World Series of Poker Main Event begins on July 8. Like in previous years, the field will be divided into three sections and those fields will be narrowed over the course of July 8-10, with one-third of the field starting each of those three days.
When the final table is set (the Final 9), then the WSOP Main Event will take a two-day break, allowing the players to gather their strength and strategize. On June 20, the WSOP Main Event Final Table begins.
By that time, all nine competitors will have huge chip stacks and the blinds will be quite large. That should drive the action and force an ending with a couple of days of play, though the WSOP Main Event final nine will go until a winner is determined.
