NBC Headsup Poker Championship

[freekobe]

Noticed a few promos this tournament scheduled for March. Supposedly, the 64 of the top players will compete in a March Madness type tournament. All one on one matches.

Thoughts? I kinda like the idea. Should be a good lesson on how these guys think about headsup play.

[Vee Quiva]

I think it's going to be a joke. The number of hands they will show on tv in relation to the tournament will be totally ridiculous because they will spend at least 1/2 of the show on those stupid little featurettes, like Doyle Brunson on a Sea Doo.

[freekobe]

Instead of just criticizing it with little to no information, perhaps you should inform yourself before making a comment....
There is going to be at least 5 hours (maybe more) of coverage on NBC covering 63 matches. The WSOP main event got about the same coverage and there were 2,576 people and lots of horrible vignettes like "The Nuts"

Impossible to criticize on this basis before seeing it. Was looking for discussion on the idea of the tournament and how it will play out.


Will it be the live coverage

[Kevmath]

The tournament will occur early March at the Golden Nugget, there is a web site with the info can be found here (www.headsuppokerchamp.com)

Kevin...

[freekobe]

Your link is not right -

It is this - NBC National Headsup Poker Championship (http://www.headsuppokerchamp.com)

[Cleveland Guy]

Just curious - and maybe Greg could answer since he seems to already be in.

Is their an entry fee? or is NBC picking up the tab? It looks like there is rougly $1.4 Million up for grabs.

That would be over $20,000 per entry.

So is NBC funding the whole thing? is it a split - like $5,000 to get in, and NBC adds to the pool? or is each player paying the full amount?

[freekobe]

I believe there is a 20K buyin. Not sure where the rest of the money comes from.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Yes, the buyin is 20K, but PokerStars is happy to pay it for me, as this show will allow the players to wear logos. The rest of the money will be added by the producers.

I suspect, given the nature of heads-up poker, and the fact that these matches probably won't be structured to potentially last for hours, it will actually make all of us look at least somewhat fishy. Oh well, I just hope it makes me some money and gets me some good airtime. I'd hate to go broke in 1 hand and get nothing else on TV. ;-)

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[PuckNPoker]

Doesnt this thing appear to be just a farce for TV poker tournament? The players get a whole HOUR and 15 minutes of playing time before one or the other is eliminated (assuming it is by # of chips), it just seems ridiculous.

Yes, hands do go faster when playing HU, but an hour-ish is just ridiculous IMHO.

[freekobe]

[ QUOTE ]
Doesnt this thing appear to be just a farce for TV poker tournament? The players get a whole HOUR and 15 minutes of playing time before one or the other is eliminated (assuming it is by # of chips), it just seems ridiculous.

Yes, hands do go faster when playing HU, but an hour-ish is just ridiculous IMHO.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where do you get this 1 hour 15 minute figure from? Are you inventing this number?

[Frenchie]

Look at the schedule on the website referred to in previous post.

Frenchie

[PuckNPoker]

[ QUOTE ]

Where do you get this 1 hour 15 minute figure from? Are you inventing this number?

[/ QUOTE ]

"Instead of just criticizing it with little to no information, perhaps you should inform yourself before making a comment...."-freekobe

Yeah, That.

[Cleveland Guy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Where do you get this 1 hour 15 minute figure from? Are you inventing this number?

[/ QUOTE ]

"Instead of just criticizing it with little to no information, perhaps you should inform yourself before making a comment...."-freekobe

Yeah, That.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is really funny cause he provided the rest of us with the link.

[freekobe]

You guys can flame away if you want - the heads up match isn't going to end after 1:15. It's a GUESS. An ESTIMATE. Just like CBS and FOX schedule 3 hours for a football game each Sunday. They don't end the game at 3hrs. Same for these matches.

Now how funny is it Cleveland Guy? LOL or LMAO or ROTFLMAO?

Gimme a break. Most heads-up matches won't even go that long, but if they do, they can accommodate. NBC doesn't care how long the matches go - they'll edit as much as they want.

[Tevyee]

I'm dissapointed that the series will only have about 5 hours of air-time. Subtract commercials and all the side stories, that's only like two hours of actual poker being played. And it will definitely only be the hands considered most "entertaining" by NBC Execs. It's a good idea nonetheless. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[Daliman]

The first HU championships from Voenna were only about 90 minutes and was the best televised poker I have ever seen.

"Let's Go!"

[Cleveland Guy]

[ QUOTE ]
You guys can flame away if you want - the heads up match isn't going to end after 1:15. It's a GUESS. An ESTIMATE. Just like CBS and FOX schedule 3 hours for a football game each Sunday. They don't end the game at 3hrs. Same for these matches.

Now how funny is it Cleveland Guy? LOL or LMAO or ROTFLMAO?

Gimme a break. Most heads-up matches won't even go that long, but if they do, they can accommodate. NBC doesn't care how long the matches go - they'll edit as much as they want.

[/ QUOTE ]

do you have proof for anything you say? or is this pure speculation?

I don't know which it is, but that schedule sure looks pretty tight for them to get way behind early in the first day.

[freekobe]

I am 100 percent certain of this. Of course, you won't believe me no matter what I say or what my sources are, but perhaps you will believe me when I ask you this:

Do you think any pro will buyin for $20,000 and, when the tournament is 75 minutes old and he is down 21k to 19k in chips, he'll just allow NBC to call it a match? Game over? No. Even with the most generous blind structure, many, if not all of these matches, will be over well before 75 minutes. It's just the nature of heads-up. You don't need me to tell you that. And if they're not, they'll keep taping.

If you need further proof, Negreanu posted about testing out blind structures and his matches ended in 30-45 minutes.

Come on, you're smart enough to know that no poker tournament is going to end when a buzzer goes off. The pros would laugh it off and would never participate.

[Jurollo]

They won't have a concrete time the matches end. I was in the WHUPC in barcelona and some matches took 5 minutes, some took 3 hours, NBC guessed as to how long it will be, just like they do with football and basketball games.
~Justin

[Autocratic]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, the buyin is 20K, but PokerStars is happy to pay it for me, as this show will allow the players to wear logos. The rest of the money will be added by the producers.

I suspect, given the nature of heads-up poker, and the fact that these matches probably won't be structured to potentially last for hours, it will actually make all of us look at least somewhat fishy. Oh well, I just hope it makes me some money and gets me some good airtime. I'd hate to go broke in 1 hand and get nothing else on TV. ;-)

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[/ QUOTE ]

Just wondering, does PS generally cover your buy ins? Also, do they still cover Moneymaker's? (As in, will you get that treatment for a little bit after next year, assuming you don't repeat)

[Cleveland Guy]

Thank you for your feedback.

Since your common line is I have my sources, but I can't say - I am going to choose to ignore your comments from this point forward.

You do this on this thread, and others you post, you take your ideas, post them as fact and then say I know but I'm not telling.

I'm not 12 and don't need to play 12 year old games.

Greg Raymer said he hopes the structure doesn't make him look like a fish - that would make me believe they are quick games.

Thank you for your response, have a nice life.

[MicroBob]

I think it's a terrifc idea and I'm all for tinkering with the tourney format.
It's not the 'same old same old'.

I suspect that if they set up straight brackets that there could even be some pools like NCAA-hoops march madness.

In the very least, there will be plenty of debate over whether Raymer overplayed such-and-such in his hand vs. Juanda or if the Ivey-Hansen match was some of the most interesting poker you've ever seen.
What do you guys think of that Hellmuth-Seidel matchup?? Does Phil even have a prayer? I thought Phil was surprisingly sharp in his wins over Cloutier and Negraneau.
etc etc etc.


I'm really looking forward to it.

They did a pretty decent job with the PSI I thought. And the Chan-Hansen match-up at the end was pretty intereting stuff.



don't forget as well...this is the FIRST ever regular poker-coverage on a network channel. Up until now it was all ESPN, Travel Channel, Bravo and Fox-Sports Net......and 2 Super-Bowl Sundays on NBC

Granted, a LOT of people have seen the poker coverage on these channels.
But putting a series of heads-up matches with the world's best players on a major network is really taking it up to the next stratosphere as far as poker-TV coverage is concerned.


Did you also notice how they allowed pokerstars.net advertising during the PSI on Super-Bowl Sunday? regardless of the fact that it was for their play-money site....it is still a significant step.
And they're allowing Raymer to wear his pokerstars gear...so many of the other players will probably be sponsored too and will be all decked out in partypoker and UB and pokerstars gear.


On top of that, a lot of fish will see Gus and Raymer and Hellmuth bluffing with their QTo and will think that strategy should also apply to their full-table limit 10/20 game.
The editing will probably make it look like they are going crazy on every single hand even more than the WPT and ESPN coverage already does.



It's all win-win for the solid player imo.

Thank you NBC!!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[freekobe]

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you for your feedback.

Since your common line is I have my sources, but I can't say - I am going to choose to ignore your comments from this point forward.

You do this on this thread, and others you post, you take your ideas, post them as fact and then say I know but I'm not telling.

I'm not 12 and don't need to play 12 year old games.

Greg Raymer said he hopes the structure doesn't make him look like a fish - that would make me believe they are quick games.

Thank you for your response, have a nice life.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dude. Check out this link
ESPN TOC Deal (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1692758&page=0&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1&vc=1#Post1692758)
"Rumor" I started that has been confirmed (unless you don't believe Negreanu).

I also started a thread on the raid at a NYC poker club where summonses were issued. Everyone called BS. That has also been confirmed. Please see the B&M forum for that.

And now, you're calling BS on the headsup tournament. This is where I know the most information. While I don't need to "prove" anything, I can be of help to this forum on this issue.

The blind structures may be aggressive, but they are in all poker tournaments when you get heads-up. That's the point. The blinds need to mean something. But give NBC credit - they TESTED THE STRUCTURES out at Negreanu's house with some of the pros. The pros have input here. How can you ask for more?

And to insinuate that I'm 12, well, whatever. I can't prove that to you either, but suffice it to say, I'm not.

[freekobe]

[ QUOTE ]

do you have proof for anything you say? or is this pure speculation?

I don't know which it is, but that schedule sure looks pretty tight for them to get way behind early in the first day.

[/ QUOTE ]

I predict NBC changes the website once they officially announce the tournament in a national press release. They will indicate that the 1:15 time block is merely a guess.

I can't believe I'm even arguing this. I'm being called for BS when there is someone posting here intimating that the heads-up matches are going to be timed. That is a joke.

[Luv2DriveTT]

[ QUOTE ]
I also started a thread on the raid at a NYC poker club where summonses were issued. Everyone called BS. That has also been confirmed. Please see the B&M forum for that

[/ QUOTE ]

Nobody called BS in that thread, we all just wanted to know more before jumping to conclusions. It is perfectly reasonable to be concerned with the facts, not hearsay.

TT /images/graemlins/club.gif

[freekobe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I also started a thread on the raid at a NYC poker club where summonses were issued. Everyone called BS. That has also been confirmed. Please see the B&M forum for that

[/ QUOTE ]

Nobody called BS in that thread, we all just wanted to know more before jumping to conclusions. It is perfectly reasonable to be concerned with the facts, not hearsay.

TT /images/graemlins/club.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Fair enough. But there were doubters about the players getting misdemeanors/summonses. Same as in this thread.