WSOB III - did it fail?

S

Sidekick

New Member
What are the TV ratings for this years show? It really isn't a "III" since they introduced "UBT's knockout" and "Celebrity Blackjack Burger King Power Chip."

How pissed would the Poker Pro's be if they introduced that damn Burgen King Chip in this years WSOP?

Sidekick
 
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WSOB didnt fail

But still it remains a TV event not even comparable to poker as presented by Travel Channel. The addition of the Burger Chip and KO cards are annoying but likely good additions to a game that is hard to make exciting on TV. But it is obvious, IMO, the action has become carnival. Not the Burger Chip, not the KO, but the 6 decks. Poker is a game of skill with a little luck, but a true skill game. We need to bring back the skill to blackjack. You know the number one skill the casinos KOed? Single decks. If the tournaments were single deck games it would open the game to skill. It would remove the minimum betting. It would add excitement via advantage plays. 6 players dealt down to the bone. Skill. True Blackjack.

Barney
 
Barney Stone said:
But still it remains a TV event not even comparable to poker as presented by Travel Channel. The addition of the Burger Chip and KO cards are annoying but likely good additions to a game that is hard to make exciting on TV. But it is obvious, IMO, the action has become carnival. Not the Burger Chip, not the KO, but the 6 decks. Poker is a game of skill with a little luck, but a true skill game. We need to bring back the skill to blackjack. You know the number one skill the casinos KOed? Single decks. If the tournaments were single deck games it would open the game to skill. It would remove the minimum betting. It would add excitement via advantage plays. 6 players dealt down to the bone. Skill. True Blackjack.

Barney
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What an intersting concept - actually letting advantage players i.e., card counters have their advantage on a TV show. Who would lose and who would gain?

With 6 players I would like to see a double deck myself with an 80-90% penetration. Then you'd see lots more action, in my humble opinion!
 
Can't comment...

because I haven't seen it but I'm curious as to why you think single deck would make a difference Barney? Is it because you think counting would be more relevant? If so who of the top tourney players (who we assume don't count in tourneys ;) ) would advocate counting as a worthwhile strategy with a single deck?

Cheers

Reachy

Ps. I now averaging about 25 secs a deck. Just need to get TC conversions sussed then I'm sorted :rolleyes:
 
Barney Stone said:
If the tournaments were single deck games it would open the game to skill. It would remove the minimum betting. It would add excitement via advantage plays. 6 players dealt down to the bone. Skill. True Blackjack.
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Tournaments don't offer enough opportunities for skillful play? Boy do I disagree with that! I don't care whether they're dealing from one deck or a hundred and nine. The skills involved in good tournament play are much more difficult to cultivate than the knowledge required to count cards.

Also, why would the TV audience care whether they use a single deck or not? Whatever extra counting skill the players utilize would be completely invisible to the typical viewer.

As for minimum bets, the addition of elimination hands or Knock-out rounds does a much better job of reducing the frequency of minimum bets than switching the number of decks would.

If you think tournaments don't have enough opportunity for skill, I'm afraid you haven't learned enough about the game yet.
 
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Betting and card playing skill with single deck

This just isnt there in the WSOB. This has been obvious by the winners of almost all the events on GSN. The reason the technical players made big bets was they had to at that specific time, not because the door was open to a second deal from a single deck with all the aces left. If it were true skill were the master you would see exactly what happens in poker, the novice players get smashed. In the WSOB and many regular tournaments the first time player wins. Because the format has opened the door wide to luck. In poker you have an avenue of luck but it isnt comparable to the freeway of skill, this is why the pros kick the novices butts. Can you say the same about WSOB? As we increase the number of players in this game it will become more and more obvious that luck is nose to nose with skill. People dont watch poker to see how lucky Gus Hansen is. They watch it to see how he uses his skill. Perhaps its just my prejudice against 6 deck games because they are so boring. But I honestly believe a single deck game would highlight skill of a card player. Fact is I have only played in 27 live games. So what the heck do I know.

IMHO

Barney
 
Switching to single deck would have no noticeable effect on the ratio of skilled to lucky players at the final table.

If you want to mirror the poker results, you'll need to extend blackjack rounds so that you play all day long the way they do in poker. That would begin to favor counting over tournament skills, but god, talk about boring!
 
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