The World Series of Poker Bores Me

I was reading this post from super poker affiliate Jeremy Enke about the fact that your average affiliate stands to gain more from his affiliate related activities than he does from playing poker. I’m not sure I completely agree with that but he said something that got my big old head nodding in agreement.

I think it’s probably because we’re right in the middle of the WSOP main event, and everybody is caught up in the thrill of poker and big cashes. This is the 6th year that I have really followed the WSOP, and unfortunately I have to tell you; every year the wsop and poker in general bores me more and more.

I find the excitement around the WSOP to be a complete fabrication. Either you’re in Vegas playing or why do you care?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of drama. I have a slight interest in whether or not Hellmuth wins another bracelet or if there’s an unbelievable hand but I really don’t care if some no-name guy finishes first in Event #23423 Deuce to 7 Triple Draw, One Eyed Jacks and Six of Clubs are Wild $11 Buy-in.

Simply put there are things which are exciting and things that aren’t. But the poker media invests so much time and money into the WSOP that they crank out article after article of results from events that have no drama or excitement. Think about it, a big poker news site probably sends three or four journalists to the event. Count up the cost of travel, room, food, expenses and other stuff and the poker site is making a sizeable investment. In return they expect lots of content. But what if there isn’t anything to write about?

It’s a thankless job to be sure and some are better than others at being able to add drama to what would otherwise be one of the most boring jobs around. Wicked Chops Poker deserves kudos for spinning an angle on everything from Vinny Vinh’s chair to mis-focused photos of the pros.

Whenever I talk with people in the poker press they always seem so bored out of their skulls after the first few days. They strain to find anything worth getting excited about.

Because, let’s face it, reading about poker tournaments is pretty boring stuff. That’s especially true since the journalists can’t see hole cards. There’s a reason poker on television didn’t take off until the hold card cam was invented; poker is boring to watch much less read about if you have no idea what any of the players have.

Yet you have dozens of journalists sent down to the WSOP and ordered to crank out 2 – 3 stories a day so they look for anything even remotely of interest and report on it as if they were breaking the Watergate scandal. ZOMG!!! Phil Ivey may or may not have made a $2 million bet on the Lakers in the NBA Finals?!?!

It may sound like I’m trashing the journalists but I’m not. I know they have a job to do and I also know that their employers expect to be getting a certain amount of content for their investment of a couple of grand a day (hotels, salaries, per diems, etc). All I’m saying is that there’s something broke in the system that Harrah’s or the poker press needs to fix.

At the moment I don’t have the answer on how to fix it but some smart people who have an actual financial interest in the solution should probably start putting their heads to the problem.

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