Post production problems
Yes, some of the players in this year's WSOB are not the greatest tournament players I have ever seen, but they won their way onto the show through qualifiers and I have no problem with them being on the WSOB.
Actually the unknown qualifiers have been kicking the "Pro's" butts so far. It's really like any other blackjack tournament; the players with the luck advance to the finals regardless of skill level, so what’s the problem with this years show?
Something has been off for me this year; it just hasn't been as exciting as past two years. At first I though it may have been because I didn't know all the players, then it hit me last night. It wasn't the players or new gimmicks, but the production that wasn't winning me over.
Again last night I saw several mistakes on the counts with totals changing the wrong way when players lost and I'm sorry but the two guys announcing just are not very entertaining. I hope next year they replace Ben M. with a more knowledgeable tournament play-by-play person. He maybe a really nice guy, but his play by play is as bad as the play-by-play on the "King of Vegas" show.
I also prefer having each hand posted on the screen as opposed to verbally telling us they're on hand 5 after last showing hands 2. It is just all of a sudden different totals and no one knows what is going on and then half way through the hand they let us know they skipped two hands.
Another problem is they're not showing Deanna's (the dealer) face when she checks her hole card. This is something I prefer to see instead of the back of her head and an above shot of her turning to her cards.
I don't have a problem with the "Knockout" cards (just a version of UBT multi-elimination without a set hand predetermined), nor with the "BK" Power chip.
Note I didn't say I like them (I would prefer they didn't have them), but it's "House Rules" so you learn to adjust.