This week on our poker radio show, The Final Table, Dennis Phillips and I talked with the always entertaining commentator on ESPN’s poker broadcasts, Norman Chad.
We discussed how they edited down the 17 hours of November Nine coverage into 2 hours of primetime TV in such a short turnaround time, and how many of those hands he and Lon McEachern watched live. We asked Norman how much of an impact Dennis’ 350 friends and family in the audience had on ESPN’s increased ratings at the Final Table, why no pro since Chris Ferguson has won the Main Event, and why, this year, ESPN will only show no-limit hold’em events (no pot-limit omaha, no HORSE, no stud).
Since we got such strong response to last week’s segment with Joe “The Poker Coach” McGowan — in which we talked about strategies you can use in the early rounds of a WSOP event — we moved on this week to mid-tournament strategies such as how the introduction of antes should affect raises, what to do when your table breaks and you’re faced with a new group of players you haven’t seen before, and Dennis’ own perspective on eating, drinking, and sleeping during the long hours of the tournament.
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