Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

Ok, I know Hellmuth loves to guess at his opponent's hole cards, and often announces his opponent's hole cards, if he thinks he's got a good read. He even talks about this valuable skill in the book that he wrote.

So, I was thinking that it would be awesome for TV, if there was a showdown of cards, that each player could be awarded a $5,000 bonus prize for accurately guessing the opponent's hole cards before they must be flipped over. Is this too cheesy for the WPT? It could be done off camera, somehow, as not to disrupt play. Maybe let each player use a touch-screen to put down their guess, so they aren't giving away too much. A player could also simply "pass", if they didn't want to try at the $5,000 prize, for whatever reason.

For a TV audience, it would be really cool, to kinda see how these guys are thinking. I mean, I get a kick out of Hellmuth when he calls out the other player "having jacks" after both are all-in. It would be interesting to see how good, and how bad some of the reads are.

--Cents

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

Err... WPT events air long after they are played out. It means a lot of those hands would be known by many people at the time of broadcast. Should they all just get $5k each?
If you want to make money guessing hands how about you go play some poker?

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

Snippy, snippy...

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

I'd rather see poker continue to be presented as a competition and not be turned into a game show.

Would it be interesting for baseball fans if the batter got a bonus if he could guess what the pitcher is going to throw next?

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

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Would it be interesting for baseball fans if the batter got a bonus if he could guess what the pitcher is going to throw next?

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I think baseball could use all the help it can get. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Seriously though, I agree with your thoughts. I personally would like to see the WPT set to be toned down a bit (I hate the flashing lights, it has to be that much worse for the players and audience members). How difficult would it be to just have a table instead of the WWF cage match thing they have now?

J

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

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I personally would like to see the WPT set to be toned down a bit (I hate the flashing lights, it has to be that much worse for the players and audience members). How difficult would it be to just have a table instead of the WWF cage match thing they have now?


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My father-in-law knows absolutely nothing about poker but the flashy lights and set is what caught his eye. A simple set with just a bare bones table may appeal to us as poker players but the general public needs something more to hook them in.

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

What you'd see is very rarely people reading exact cards. Sayng "a small pair" or "Two Overcards" is a little diffrent than saying "AcTd". You'd also see pros be completely wrong a lot more than they'd probably like.

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

Very good point.

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

DrSavage: My idea was just the players in the pot would have the opportunity to guess. It was an attempt to capitalize on what players are doing anyway: calling the other guy out.

Smasharoo: I agree. There is no way you could call down specific cards. I think calling "aces", or "AK offsuit" would be sufficient. Or if the flop was seen, I could justify "king-high flush draw", or "second pair", or "stone bluff". I think there would be many variables to adjust, but I am talking about raw idea of entertainment value here.

I know everyone reading this post is a hardened poker player, who can see past the hype on the WPT. But, I am interested in bringing as many new poker players as possible to the sport. I don't see a problem in making the WPT as artificial as needed to make it entertaining.

--Cents

Re: Guessing opponent\'s hole cards on TV.
 

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Is this too cheesy for the WPT?

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I don't think anything is too cheesy for the WPT and I would expect that if any of their producers were to read this forum, we'd see this next season. I really hope they don't read this thread. I think you've got a good idea, but in practice, I'm with the earlier post preferring that my poker not be presented as such a game show. WPT is getting there.