Positive EV vs. Guaranteed prize pools?

Give me blackjack any day of the week to watch at a casino over poker. Poker is SO boring (when played correct anyway) its fold, fold, and fold, until you get position or a hand.

In poker the players can bluff, but all in all it's worst to watch then blackjack. At least in blackjack tournaments the rounds only last no more then 45 minutes vs. 8, 9, 10, or more hours each day for a poker tournament.

There is no reason blackjack on TV couldn't and shouldn't be more exciting then poker. Give me a high enough guaranteed prize pool and a willing casino and production crew and I promise I could make a blackjack tournament exciting for TV, at least a lot more then we've seen.

I'm sure that there would still be some rabbits that advance, along with some celebrities just to spice things up, but over all I believe with a good host (such as Matt or Max), along with a really good play by play man (someone that really knows tournament strategies and has a good speaking voice) we could really make a very entertaining and show, while educating the viewing audience.

I think the commercial breaks for this year WSOB were very well done. I also believe I have a few other ideas that would make watching blackjack more exciting, without breaking from traditional play.

However, once again we find ourselves in the same boat! Who is going top give us a chance to show what we can do?

And here's another issue, if we do find a willing casino to guarantee the prize pool, then why shouldn't they get to keep any extra money that comes in? What do we want more positive EV or guaranteed prize pools?

Come on people this is a business, if they are putting up the risk to guarantee the prize money, then why shouldn't they benefit should the events be successful?

I for one am more than willing to risk a $600 entry fee with $300 re-buy and if available $150 2nd re-buy, monthly, knowing that the casino is guaranteed a $40,000 monthly qualifying event with a year end $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Should the casino bring in (lets say $350,000 extra) above the monthly and year end payouts, why shouldn't they get to keep it?

What ALL the players need to realize is "Give and Take"! If we can get a casino willing to GIVE us the up front guarantee's we want, then they should be able to TAKE any additional funds brought in for their gamble.

Sure it would be great if they added it back in, but put yourself in their position. I can promise you that if it were your money at risk you would want to have some more return on your money then "I hope the players stay at our hotel and we get side action from them"!

I'll tell you something else, I think if I could find a willing casino there should be a base prize pool and bonus prize money if the winner is staying at the casino hotel, if not just less the casino has to pay out.

Like it or not, we need the casinos, not the other way around. I'm not saying that positive EV isn't a good thing, but come on people, the good old days of all the freebies are all but gone. Either we start getting with the program or we can kiss any type of organized well-run and formatted open tournaments good-bye!