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has television ruined final table blind/ante structures of poker tournaments?

now that poker is a mainstay on tv, the shows(starting with the wpt and now the wsop has joined in) have begun to have some say in how the event is structured...the results are huge blinds and total lotteries at the ends of tournaments, which are good for the general viewer who enjoys an all-in fest for millions of dollars because of the excitement, but not for anyone who knows poker...so do you share my opinion that tv people have destroyed the integrity of major final tables, and what is the best way to ensure that tv shows display more "real" poker, without costing the networks money by losing viewers? good point about the horse tournament switching at the end, but that final table was by far the best NLH final table structure i have seen in a long time, so it wasn't that bad

Public Comments

1. I'd say it's mixed. I was listening to a radio talk show the other day about a new poker book coming out and they asked how the new rules changed it. The poker player/author said that one of the things changed, aside from bigger winnings, is that in the old days the people who made it to the final table split the winnings. Now they play for who's 1st and on down the line and get paid accordingly. He said that's changed the dynamics alot because it used to be that players would shoot to get up early and then hold their stacks for only the strongest hands because surviving ment an even split, where now if they don't play hard all the way they end up losing/winning far less.
2. nothing can really be done about it. theyll continue doing what gets them ratings, and that is shove fests. notice last years WSOP 50k HORSE event. they played through the rotation until the final table, which they switched to NLH for the "tv final table", since, as a general viewer, would you want to watch a split pot game? no, youd want to see all ins. its a shame, but nothing can be done. but hey, it gets fishies online imitating TV, feeling like they have to get tons of chips really fast
3. I wouldn't say it has ruined it, but it sure has changed it for the worse. The WPT final table structure is a TRAVESTY and makes the game so boring I can't bare to watch anymore.
4. Well in the good old days a couple of hundred players would show up for the main event and take home a million if they were lucky. Now because of TV, thousands show up creating a cash bonanza for the pro-players, both in the tournaments and in the lucrative side games. I think that most pros would probably be okay with some of the bad changes, in favor of the massive earning potential that they never used to have. If you win the main event these days, you not only take home millions, but there are millions more in sponsorship deals and appearance fees.
5. The fact of the matter is that casino owners want a poker tournament to end as quickly as possible. They get to keep the same amount of money whether it lasts 5 minutes or 5 hours, and they have to pay dealers, use floor space, and (most importantly) keep people away from more profitable games. It's best for them to have it end quickly and for everyone to go play slots. It's even better for them to have ring game poker, since there is a correlation between the amount of money the casino makes and the time someone spends at the table. On top of that, now you add the TV crew's time, the lights, the film, the desire for an all-in fest, and the desire for a lively crowd that hasn't been watching for 20 hours straight. These all further push the tournament directors to speed up the blind structure. A while ago, no one would play a tournament if the structure was the way it currently is. However, the prizes are so huge and the demand for tournaments is so high that they can easily get away with it. To summarize, I think television has contributed to it, but the overall popularity/size of tournaments is what's really allowed it to happen. TV is a part of this, but not the only reason. Sadly, I don't know what the best method is to fix this. There have been a few "live" tournaments where every hand is shown, but these don't typically get very good ratings. It seems like the general public would rather get "ZOMG GUS HANSEN RAISED WITH 74 OFFSUIT!!!!!!!!!!" coverage than anything resembling an actual game. I really don't see the coverage changing much until the poker craze starts to die down and it shifts from a more mainstream game to a niche among more serious players.