If you check out some of the discussion going on in many of the poker oriented chat rooms, a big topic seems to be whether or not the World Series of Poker final table is going to be offered on Pay Per View next November. I don’t think it is going out to far on a limb to suggest that just about everyone who visits this site loves the game of poker. Those who are not here for the love of the game are probably just entertained by the bright colors and the pretty pictures. They don’t really count. Even though the majority of people reading this are poker fans, would most of us really shell out thirty or forty dollars to watch poker on Pay Per View?
There was a time when the WSOP Main Event Final Table was a Pay Per View event. Last year ESPN and Harrah’s agreed to move the whole thing to November, and show it as part of the sports channels regular programming. While many are not in favor of the change in date, it seemed to make more sense than forcing people to pay to watch it live.
There is a reason that Boxing, MMA, and Wrestling all do well in the Pay Per View genre. It is because there is a lot of action, usually blood, and in all three have managed to work women in bikinis into the equation. People will happily shell out there hard earned cash for sex and violence. When it comes to poker, you are paying to watch people sit. This is like handing over the contents of your wallet in order to watch the tide come in or witness a couple of tortoises consummating their relationship.
The only time PPV poker has been wildly popular was when the word “strip” was added to the event. Let’s hope ESPN keeps bringing us the final table for free, because nobody wants to pay to watch that.
