2026 World Series of Poker May 26th - July 15th
Its an absolute joke that the leader of the "Player of the year" has 122 bullets fired and 6 cashes. Its a pathetic competition that only rewards volume.
Deeb also had 6 cashes in WSOP Europe (including two 2nd place finishes). I’m not sure how many events he played, but WSOP Europe is only 15 events.
He wouldn’t be close to the POY leader is you didn’t count Europe. Maybe you think Europe shouldn’t count, but those are the rules, and he’s just following the rules.
The main clearly should be worth more points but it's tough to balance because you don't want to push it where the main event winner doesn't have to do much else to get it. Though I hope they adjusted it because winning the main and the ppc should kinda all but win poy basically as long as you filled out the rest of that sheet with decent points cause that was a bit absurd.
Why would you wait until everyone is staring at you to look at your cards? wouldn't it make more sense to look before it gets to you?
For me personally, I find myself prematurely mucking my cards before the guy on my right has had a chance to throw them away sometimes. Also, if I look at my cards, I feel like I can't say anything, because times where I actually have a hand I might want to be quiet. If I don't look I get to have conversations for longer.
At the beginning of the tournament I didn't do this because I thought it might slow the game down too much, but as I got a better hang for the live environment, I started doing it more and more.
If you are incentivized not to play the flagship, most prestigious tournament of the series, there is something wrong with the formula. Imagine a "Tennis player of the year" which incentivized players not to play the Grand Slams, but rather ATP events. Its common sense.
Grinder winning it AND the PPC and not winning POTY last year is another example of how bad the formula is.
For me personally, I find myself prematurely mucking my cards before the guy on my right has had a chance to throw them away sometimes. Also, if I look at my cards, I feel like I can't say anything, because times where I actually have a hand I might want to be quiet. If I don't look I get to have conversations for longer.At the beginning of the tournament I didn't do this becau
I think the "looking at your cards gives away information" is massively exaggerated. If I played in a tournament with a 20s preflop shot clock Id definitely look at my cards as soon as possible.
Even IF I were to give away anything at all, I really dont care if people can see if I consider my hand a VPIP or not. Its not as if Im sitting there shaking with excitement if I have AA.
The biggest reason to delay looking at your own cards isnt fear of giving away information, its using that time to look for other people who might give away tells when looking at their hand. This really only applies to big recs. There are players out there who will telegraph if they have a good hand by changing their posture, sitting up straight etc, or who will sit there basially premucking if they ahve a bad hand, allowing you to steal very profitably. As long as you are self aware enough not to give off obvious physical tells like this, theres really negligible downside to looking at cards early. Certainly such a small downside that a few extra seconds to make your preflop decision makes up for it.
Grinder winning it AND the PPC and not winning POTY last year is another example of how bad the formula is.
so just ignore the other 128 tournaments?
yeah i can't get behind that (and i'm glad the ppl in charge can't either)
Myself and others were bitching about PokerGo because the coverage we had *before* PokerGO was vastly superior. It might not have been as professionally polished, but there were often multiple live streams every night. Nothing fancy, just a overhead webcam showing the action and picking up the table talk. Sometimes with a commentator and sometimes with none. But we were abl
This is a great post that sums it up, except I would say we DO need to see hole cards in order to follow the action
^ "PokerGo coverage (compared with prior free streams) was vastly reduced"Would disagree with that, those early years only final tables were shown, and some didn't have hole cards. Past few years PokerGo gave us Days 3-5 of PPC all with hole cards. Amazing comprehensive coverage.But yes this year completely agree, just show the poker. Budget could have been 10-20% with more vi
https://web.archive.org/web/201506151331...
I think people forget just how much ESPN used to live stream. You'd have 2-3 links, one with hole cards and others just a straight up barebones operation. PokerGo was a huge downgrade and never got on this level even though the technology has evolved.
One of the big mistakes PokerGo (and the current operation) made was turning the WSOP final table into a game show stage. Production values are through the roof and for no good reason. Poker doesn't need a flying camera rig that swoops over the table. The WSOP in its current form should never have such a ridiculous production value. I'll never understand why they don't have one big stage for their marque events and then have a basic simple streaming table for everything else.
In the era of every small card room from Ohio to Texas being able to stream a table, the phrase "its just too expensive to stream everything" is such a b.s. line. We had the tech to do it 10-15 years ago and its only gotten cheaper and better.
Anyone know how to watch the WSOP of each day? I can't for the life of me navigate ESPN and I still haven't seen the footage for these days in normal time. I only saw the French version on YouTube so I could see all the hands versus opponents quickly while avoiding ads. My family told me they were comparing me to Ed Sheeran and I'm kind of curious what all was said. I tried browsing around on ESPN, but it appears the only categories is sports so I'm wondering if the replays are just lost in the ether or if there is some way I can access it. I'd also be curious about watching all the other days as well.
The on-demand section has all the streams. On Tuesday the curated episodes with Lon and Norm air on ESPN 2.
The on-demand section has all the streams. On Tuesday the curated episodes with Lon and Norm air on ESPN 2.
Thanks for this. ESPN is not user friendly at all and all their icons for each day aren't even labeled.
I think people forget that the entire Jerry Yang final table was live-streamed. What was that, 2007?
Anyone know how to watch the WSOP of each day? I can't for the life of me navigate ESPN and I still haven't seen the footage for these days in normal time. I only saw the French version on YouTube so I could see all the hands versus opponents quickly while avoiding ads. My family told me they were comparing me to Ed Sheeran and I'm kind of curious what all was said. I tried bro
There’s a YouTube channel with lots of broadcasts; you can find and watch the recordings there.
Thanks for this. ESPN is not user friendly at all and all their icons for each day aren't even labeled.
Yeah the app that they want to charge $29.99 a month for is absolutely horrible.
I still have no idea how to browse to the WSOP, but search 'poker' works. The results generally, but not always, come in reverse chronological order.
Good luck on your navigating ESPN journey!
I think people forget that the entire Jerry Yang final table was live-streamed. What was that, 2007?
The 2003 *Moneymaker* table was live streamed. I know because I watched it.
I guess my counter is that if it's not hard to hide tells, it shouldn't be hard to hide indifference or interest.
That's my thought too.
When everyone waits for "their turn" it slows things down, especially seems like a lot of people have a "routine" to try not to give off tells.
should be simple. Quickly glance at cards when dealt. Hand on cards, watch action, act in turn.
Yes, it sounds simple. But it isn't. Even very strong experienced players, who look at their cards right away, are usually easy to read. It can be 90% obvious when they have a guaranteed fold. When you get 2-3 players like that on your left, you can open your button range in mid-position. And when they aren't obviously going to fold, you tighten up your opening range by a lot. IME, it is a huge leak for the vast majority of players who look at their cards right away.
Seems exploitable. Look at your cards early, feign no interest, mid position person opens lighter to steal, chuck in a raise.
Seems exploitable. Look at your cards early, feign no interest, mid position person opens lighter to steal, chuck in a raise.
Sure, if you can reliably and convincingly feign disinterest every hand you play, sure. Problem is that to feign disinterest you also need to kind of be not paying attention, which means you're potentially losing information, including potentially missing action and misclicking as a result. And, to Greg's point, most players can't reliably and convincingly even remain neutral, much less give off a particular false tell.
The reason it's so easy to tell when people are disinterested is because the harm isn't to the disinterested player (it's to the rest of the players who might have a playable hand), so people don't bother concealing it since there's no self-interested reason to do so. It's a collective action problem.
Sure, if you can reliably and convincingly feign disinterest every hand you play, sure. Problem is that to feign disinterest you also need to kind of be not paying attention, which means you're potentially losing information, including potentially missing action and misclicking as a result. And, to Greg's point, most players can't reliably and convincingly even remain neutral,
It is harmful to the disinterested player because it reveals information about their hand when they -don’t- seem disinterested.
Also, a disinterested player isn't "harming the rest of the players" any more than if a player stood up from the table to use the bathroom before the hand was dealt.
Some players' routines only feel acceptable because most players don’t copy it. If everyone waited for action, squared their cards, looked at the players in both directions, then finally tank folded J4 offsuit for 20-30 seconds, the game would be unplayable. That’s the fallacy of composition - individually fine, collectively awful.
That's where my beef lies, with players who have these rigid unnecessary routines.
Yes, it sounds simple. But it isn't. Even very strong experienced players, who look at their cards right away, are usually easy to read. It can be 90% obvious when they have a guaranteed fold. When you get 2-3 players like that on your left, you can open your button range in mid-position. And when they aren't obviously going to fold, you tighten up your opening range by a
On Day 1 I noticed this for a particular hand. I was in HJ. CO, BU, and SB all looked disinterested in their hand. I wasn't too sure about BB, but I opened 32o and it got through all 3 of them. I don't think I've ever opened 32o in HJ in my life until then. Honestly might have been relying too confidently on the read since 32o is so weak, but did end up HU vs BB where he check/raised my cbet on flop and I folded.
Some players' routines only feel acceptable because most players don’t copy it. If everyone waited for action, squared their cards, looked at the players in both directions, then finally tank folded J4 offsuit for 20-30 seconds, the game would be unplayable. That’s the fallacy of composition - individually fine, collectively awful.That's where my beef lies, with pla
For awhile, I felt I would slow the game down if I waited to look so I didn't, but I think you can start to get a feel for when to look at your cards. So if the player on your direct right is looking at their cards or even 2 over and they both act quickly, I think it can make sense to look at your cards, because by the time they are done folding or putting in a bet you can make a decision. So I don't think it needs to be a precise science, but it also isn't extra headache to think about not leaning back in the chair or positioning your cards a certain way as to not give something away.
I think for me sometimes I can be a bit expressive so it can be really good to wait at least sometimes. Sometimes pros read more into what is really happening and it can flip in my favor, but I think I prefer not giving stuff away if I can help it. The mind games can be fun though especially if I'm aware that they're aware.
I think people forget that the entire Jerry Yang final table was live-streamed. What was that, 2007?
The Yang and Gold final tables were ESPN attempts at offering PPV on the internet. Those two were streamed on delay with hole cards and the Hachem year was streamed on PPV without hole cards. Watching Yang just utterly steam roll the table with ridicules raises was amazing to watch.
All of it is lost media though. I remember torrent sites back in the day had them but those videos are long gone of all the old PPV ESPN Final Tables. In fact I'm pretty sure all of the regular bracelet events that ESPN would stream on ESPN3? from 2007-15 are pretty much lost media. There is a ton of streaming media back from the Binions days that is long lost that used to be hosted on Google Video. I know XM radio did a play by play of Raymers FT which is long lost.
