WSOP should publish complete hand histories for future MEs

[memphis57]

I think we need to get to the point in the WSOP, at least, where they publish an entire PartyPoker-style hand history for the entire tournament. Lots of people will object to the info that gives away. But look at baseball, it's the stat-nerd who contributed largely to its popularity and the value of the info there approaches that of poker (read about the early 1900s baseball scouting efforts if you haven't already). And it's only one tournament a year which everybody watches closely anyway, so by not doing it you're not hiding the info from the most interested observers, just from the average Joe fan on the sideline.

[MD2020]

And how exactly would they do this? On the first days, there were what, 2000 people playing? So you would need people to watch what 200 tables are doing at one time, and accurately record their play?

[Miles Ahead]

No way. If I'm good and lucky enough to ever make the final table in a big televised event, then I'll have to accept the hole cameras, but I don't want those things anywhere near me before then.

[joeboe2001]

I was talking to a friend about this at lunch--we were dreaming of having complete hand histories so we could program an interactive game. Players would "take the seat" of whomever they wanted and play through each hand. We haven't worked out how to deal with divergence from the way a hand was actually played, but I suppose we could come up with some kind of AI to deal with it.

[TStoneMBD]

youre quite a dreamer, i dont think you realize the complexity of building the ai that you propose. never going to happen.

[memphis57]

[ QUOTE ]
And how exactly would they do this? On the first days, there were what, 2000 people playing? So you would need people to watch what 200 tables are doing at one time, and accurately record their play?

[/ QUOTE ]


I don't wat to divert the topic from "whether" to "how", but I have actually thought of that. The main question, though, is if we could keep the game real close to its present "pure" form, should WSOP ME publish hand histories. Keep in mind this would only record the publicly visible things, up cards and betting, which the high paid scouts for other big players can see and record anyway, for thousands of games. It's only the public that is missing out,not your major competitors.

As to how, for the cards, just the same way Union Pacific keeps up with billions of railroad shipments and how WalMart rings up a gazillion products sold every year - with bar codes. The dealer has to swipe the 5 up cards and 2-6 cards that get shown at the end of the hand on a reader, and key in seat number. Added time, 2 seconds per hand (assuming mucked cards that finsih the hand are not recorded - if we want to do that, it adds 2-4 cards to the average hand, I'd guess, at most).

Recording the betting would depend on the introduction of the "smart chips" that count themselves, but this part is underway already.