Quality vs. quantity in televised events

I've watched a lot of televised poker over the last four years. Most notably the WSOP and WPT. Initially I was thrilled to see any event because it was all new to me back then. Over the last year or so I have become somewhat disillusioned with the WSOP main event and the WPT final tables.

My problems with the main event are similar to those expressed by many others: the field has gotten out of hand, too many qualifiers, too many bad players. If an event is going to crown the poker world champion it should largely be a test for the best players in the world. As it stands now the winner seems to be the player best able to navigate a minefield. The field needs to be thinned out a little, let the donkeys play in the smaller WSOP events. On a side note, how is it that so many people can afford to drop $10,000 entering a poker tournament?

I can't wait to see the H.O.R.S.E. event which is scheduled to be televised this week. I'm starting to think this should be the true championship event of the WSOP.

With the rise of the PPT I probably won't be watching the WPT nearly as much. Give me a field of pros any day of the week. I also like the format of watching the tournament as it evolves rather than just seeing the final table.

In closing I'd like to know what you all think is more impressive: someone wading through a field of thousands or someone beating a much smaller field made up of the top players in the world.

I like the PPT better, too. Wasn't it cancelled, though, or not renewed for the next season? I don't mind watching non-pros play but agree that it's more exciting to watch a small field of good players than a megafield of all kinds. Will look forward to watching the televised HORSE event.

With the WSOP not accepting online qualifiers next year the field should be much smaller.

The PPT is on hold until they get another network to carry it. Hopefully GSN or Bravo will step up. The Travel Channel stuck it in a crappy timeslot and then bitched about the ratings & dropped it.

I too would like to see some early action in the WPT events like the WSOP & PPT show us. I actually like watching the Ultimate Poker Challenge and PokerDome the best because there's more regular (amateur) players who make more mistakes to learn from.

The problem with the televised WPT events is that they only show the final table which doesn't give a real picture of tournament play. The table starts out short (6 I believe) which brings more hands into play. The blinds increase faster than earlier in the tournament which forces more all-in plays. So you're watch a small part of the event that isn't the same as the most of the tournament has been played prior. This leads to the donks we see online all the time that watch WPT events and think that's how to play poker.

I have a hard time watching WPT any more. I much prefer when the show tourneys from the begining, showing how players build their stacks etc. Much better than all-in preflop every other hand.

PokerDome is my favorite right now - they show more hands than the ESPN and Travel channel televised events and, yes, they are amateurs making amateur plays, which is nice to see. The heartrate thing is pretty slick, albiet a little cheesy.

Try the Heatland Poker Tour. Wow, true amatuers fighting for the top prizes of $40K or so. I just saw one episode where the chip leader - a woman who had been playing 3 months - in the final table folded not only the best hand to a big bet but a full house!!!

While I enjoyed the PPT, the annoying thing about it was how much the analysts continually try to convince you that this is the most coveted title in poker! I don't buy it.

As for the huge fields in these events, why not! I love to see pros who think they're God's gift to us get knocked out by some nobody from nowheretown. If the pros really played great all the time they would last well into any of these tourneys. In the WSOP, I remember watching the bone headed plays Helmuth tried only to get rocked again and again. The fact is, he wasn't playing with premium hands and he felt he could outplay the others at the table.

Finally, although the WPT is not the best show to get a representative feel of how the tourney evolved, one of the best thing about the show is Mike and Vince. They're just awesome.