LAS VEGAS, NV ó World Poker Tour Enterprises, a leader in presenting the heart-pounding action of televised, high-stakes, no-limit Texas Holdíem poker tournaments, has announced a new series of events designed to revive the sagging ratings for poker shows. WPT President Steve Lipscomb made the announcement today. ìAlongside our fantastic brands ñ such as the World Poker Tour, the Professional Poker Tour, the Ladiesí Poker Tour and the Kidz Xtreme Pokrrrr Tour ñ weíve now created a new wrinkle to the classic American card game. We call it the All-In Poker Tour.î In a standard game of Texas Holdíem, players can exercise multiple options during the course of a hand as they combine their two face-down cards with up to five face-up cards in the middle of the table. Players can choose to fold (quit the hand), call (match a made bet), or raise (increase the bet).
In major poker tournaments, players usually make their decisions based on a combination of strategy and psychology ñ the biggest weapon in the traditional format is to go ìall-in,î betting all of oneís chips at once and hoping either to have the best hand or intimidate oneís opponents into folding. ìWith our new All-In Tour, itís ëall-in, all the time.í Weíre taking out all the boring parts like strategizing, calculating pot odds, and general-purpose thinking. Instead, everybody goes ëall-iní before the cards are dealt,î Lipscomb explained. ìPlayers get their cards face-up so that everybody, especially the TV audience, can see all the hands at once. Then, the dealer spreads out all five cards on the board simultaneously; no more confusing ëflopí or ëturní or ëriverí or íshowdowní or any of those other confusing Texan words. This way, the cards decide who wins. Itís much faster, fairer and more exciting.î Professional poker player and former world champion Phil Hellmuth, Jr., is among those who oppose the new format. ìEverybody knows I am the worldís greatest no-limit holdíem tournament player. I won eleven ñ count ëem, eleven ñ world championship bracelets by reading the other players. I can see into their souls. I can read their minds by the pulse in their necks. I can smell the fear in their sweat. ìNow Lipscomb wants to take all that away from me? I know that if it werenít for luck Iíd win every single hand I ever played and bust every donkeyfish from here to Atlantic City ñ and now itís only going to be about luck? Since I never get good cards, how am I supposed to beat a game thatís all about the cards? Huh? Tell me how, smartass!î Hellmuth continued his objections while overturning chairs, throwing cards at a dealer and spewing profanities at a passing cocktail waitress. Veteran professional player and two-time world champion Doyle ìTexas Dollyî Brunson has played no-limit holdíem for over fifty years, and was one of the players credited with bringing the game from the dusty back roads of West Texas to the neon-lit casinos of Sin City.
Now nearly eighty years old, Brunson attempted to offer his opinion on the new format with a pithy, funny Texan saying, but fell asleep before he could complete the sentence. ìI understand why some players would be upset at the changes. Sure, they pay their own airfare, hotel and tournament fees. Of course, theyíre very highly skilled, experienced professionals. What they fail to understand is that TV poker is now less about poker and more about TV,î Lipscomb said, responding to the playersí concerns. ìTV viewers donít want to watch fat middle-aged men stare each other down for an hour. If they wanted that, then C-SPAN would be the highest-rated cable channel. ìNobody wants to hear about strategy and pot-odds and hand analysis. If TV viewers wanted to think, theyíd watch ëJeopardyí. What we want is the ëDeal or No Dealí audience. More cards, more luck and more action, less of that strategerization and thinky-type stuff.î source: www.serioussportsnewsnetwork.comLast 5 posts in Poker News
