7/21/2009

WSoP November 9, is already Riggsed....

My jaw breakin' chaw chewin' brudder, went and made me think. I will SO get him back for that the Damn azz.

His opinion can be found HERE, but the general synopsis is as follows;

1) Ivey being at the final table, means squadoosh to Poker's main stream success.
2) Button mashing Fishies are out there.

Well he's right about one thing, I am out here!

For the few years that I have been writing my crap & drivel on the intertubes to share, I've hoped that two simple messages would always come across. First and most importantly, have some fun in what you do. What your doing will NEVER happen again. And secondly, always remember that despite our best efforts, history itself leads one to believe that history.... well..... has a way of repeating itself.

The fun part, any idiot like me should be able to comprehend. If not, I pity you. It's the history part that for some unknown reason to me, mankind as a whole seems to totally blank out on whenever it starts it's crazy cycle.

In a synopsis type nutshell for myself, ('cause I have neither the talent nore desire, to spew forth my self-righteousness to the masses) I want you folks to think NASCAR.

Is Ivy the man that changes the face of Poker for an eternity? Hell no. Is our Phil going to be remembered as the man that helped take a gambling, (and therefore dark and sordid) game of chance to the next level? Damn skippy he could be!

We don't have to like anything that the Poker insiders like Pollack do to our game, by way of changing formats, time frames for the series or whatever the hell they do about the television coverage or schedules for the main event. But if you give an honest effort at reflecting on the NASCAR starting formula and take a good, honest, long hard look at what is happening right now in Poker as a mainstream product, is it really that hard to compare the current day Phil Ivy, with say the past glory of Darrell Waltrip?

Say it's a stretch if you will. This here is my opinion and who am I to tell you what the hell to think?

I'm just sayin' that if you can't see that mold for bringing the ol'ladies TIDE into a sport full of criminals and moonshiners, who had a freakin' fist fight on camera for the first ever televised race in what the current Poker genius' are trying to do, you'd best look the other way whilst Poker runs away without you.

Poker right now is as close as it's ever going to get, to being the once proud game of Past-Presidents. Phil Ivey is a conduit to bigger and better things. Rich men and women far smarter than me, have already started organizing a plan. A plan that they hope, will make them and Phil a whole shitload of money.

So there you have it. I also agree with Riggs on that point too. It's all about extracting every penny you can, from the fish that are we the mainframe of the game. Don't think for even one second like my much loved brudder Riggs, that someone somewhere isn't going to take full advantage of Phil and the November 9. Folks if they can change the recipe for Coke and not go out of business, anything has to be considered possible or at the very least, certainly plausible! Oh and don't give me that crap about how that change almost destroyed the company either! I'll just say think UIGEA and how that totally destroyed on-line Poker and how right now, no one ever plays besides the 36 gazillion still on-line the main three sites.

Hell if I was in the current Pokerati, I'd be trying to find out what Phil Ivey's prop bet on a sponsor is worth right now. I bet it already covers the $8 million main event winners purse!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

3 comments:

Riggstad said...

I get your reference to NASCAR. Albeit a little skewed. Yes, NASCAR was born out of moonshiners running from the law.

But it also strayed far from that notion and focused purely on the sport of racing. There was no other reason for racing to ensue once NASCAR started other than winning.

And back in those days it was for the love of the sport... And about $350 taken from gate fees.

Today, NASCAR has gotten so widely popular because of the millions in sponsor dollars it has gotten from such companies as GM, Budweiser, and Coke.

But those companies feel good about those sponsorship because the illegality, or the immorality of it doesn't exist anymore. Why do you think all of those strict NASCAR rules exist? You think they actually care about the drivers???

Poker is, and always will be gambling. And as long as someone has a brother, or a grandfather or a niece they know who has lost their lives from gambling (yes, it goes that far) the Main stream sponsors will stay away.

Look, the closest thing to a main stream sponsor happened already. Knobb Creek Bourbon sponsored Lederer in 2004. They cancelled the contract after 1 year to "see what type of ROI they got". They haven't been back since.

If by some act of god one of those sponsors do come around, maybe it will work. Maybe they will have success.

But you can see how a Citibank, a financial company, would stay far away from sponsoring a pastime that encourages gambling, or, in other words, a horrible act of personal funds allocation when other matters are pressing.

I can see the tag line now... "We issue loans for Sit N Goes!"

All of these rules in every major sport associations; The NBA, NFL, MLB, NASCAR all exist for one primary reason... To protect the brand and the sponsor dollars that pay for everything.

Poker= gambling with too many seedy characters= Coke will stay away.

Heck even Budweiser chooses Milwaukee's Best as their premier brand when sponsoring ESPN's broadcasts!!

Alan aka RecessRampage said...

I agree with Riggs. NASCAR has done an amazing job to clean up the image and now, the rules seem over the top but when it comes to interviews and the drivers showing up on time to nationally syndicated sports radio shows and stuff, they are one of the best. I used to be very anti NASCAR and though I'm not a fan per se, I have definitely warmed up to the notion because of the brand/image that they created.

play2win said...

ivey is a beast, no doubt he is going to win.