I was shocked how many bets, calls, raises and 3-bets there were with both players holding crap hands. It was a great HU battle. I fell asleep around 1:30 or so, but woke up just in time to see the final hand. I also really like not seeing the cards until the end. Easily the best (virtually) live streaming final table ever.

"Commentary by Antonio.... Lon McEachern and Norman Chad is BRILLIANT..! Antonio's analysis is clear , unconfused ,well explained "
World Series of Poker 2011 MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE LIVE PART 1 4/4 (more parts here: http://www.youtube.com/user/holdemTV ... I think I might just RE-watch this sometime soon, partly to hear the commentary, partly cuz it really was that good a HU, hopefully the entire FT was interesting and a lot less of the "bad call, hit your 2 outer" BS of previous years' Main Events )

espn.com's link in the US was horrid... so my news of it came from NVG <puke>.
NVG claimed all the spewing was from a secret deal amongst the final 3.
I mean, fk...if 3rd place is paying 4 millionz, and any of those 3 are compelled to cut a deal,
something iz terribly wrong.
I can't say I saw enuf 2 form an opinion. [godamn espn.com!!!]
My guess is that it had the feel of PS play chippies

imo they made a good compromise, a 15 minute delay and only showing the hole cards at the end of the hand.

only pain for the viewer was when they uber-tanked for 5+ minutes, and you had no idea if it was hollywooding/trapping or an honestly tough decision. Can't imagine what a non-poker-fan would be thinking/feeling during those moments, not "getting it".


There was one particular case where I recall the tank-call had TPNK on a Q-high board, but his opponent had turned a straight and valuetowned 2 streets, the tanker was seriously considering folding but losing would not have crippled him (left him about 20bb, IIRC it was when the "stacks-are-within-10bb-of-each-other" boring show first turned into the "Heinz-now-has-less-chips" exciting show).

Another hand Heinz had flopped a set of Aces but the board played out pretty wheel-y, I can't remember what the other guy's hand was but it took almost 10 minutes to finish that hand IIRC.


But most of the time they had >40bb each, so there was room for 3betting and 4betting preflop AND multi-street play post-flop. Wasn't just a lottery FT like some big tournaments *coughwptcough*

The format was great for ring games IMO.
Lots of new fish that think they are Pius Hines.
Lost 3 buyins before I could adjust. Even the regs are playing differently   
Just gotta remember they gonna call your river bet with bottom pair if you cbet flop then checked the turn.

consistly checking the turn is great -- they will call a "missed flop draw" river EVERY TIME, easily bet 80% pot or even 120% and Valuetown baby! And with mediocre SD value if you check they will often bluff THEIR missed draw or bottom pair... cuz they see the "pros" barrel all 3 streets so they figure your checking the turn MUST mean that you are giving up