Reader Believes WSOP Main Event Was Just a 'Luckfest' by Russ Scott on Creators.com

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Reader Believes WSOP Main Event Was Just a 'Luckfest'

Last week's rousing finish at the World Series of Poker main event stirred questions from readers. Let's answer them.

Q: It seems to me that all you have to do to win the WSOP is get your chips in bad and then get lucky. Joe Cada wasn't the best player, just the luckiest. Do you agree? — Jody N. in Geneseo, Ill.

A: There's truth in your assessment, Jody, but that's not the whole story.

Yes, Joe Cada, a 21-year-old online poker pro from Shelby Township, Mich., was extremely lucky to avoid busting out early, then he got unbelievably lucky to make it to heads-up against amateur Darvin Moon, the Maryland logger.

Actually, Antoine Saout of Paris probably played the best poker at the final table. He fought his way from short stack to top stack, but finished third thanks to two late bad beats against Cada.

Poker is like that. The best player doesn't always win. If that were true, Phil Ivey, the only superstar at the final table, would have hoisted his eighth gold bracelet.

Cada told reporters after his $8.5 million victory that ESPN showed his lucky hands rather than those he played well. Fair enough. Only a small portion of the 364 final-table hands made the show, so a lot happened we didn't see on TV.

The reality is that everyone who wins a poker tournament gets lucky at some point. Skill matters, but usually isn't enough by itself.

One thing's for sure: Last week's finale upheld the main event mantra: Anyone can enter, anyone can win.

Q: I planned to go off the grid until the ESPN telecast so I wouldn't know what happened, but I logged into Yahoo on Tuesday to check e-mail and there was a photo of a triumphant Joe Cada! It was so disappointing. There should be a gag order on the press until the coverage airs. — Ken L. in Pennington, N.J.

A: Lots of people try to dodge final table media reports, Ken, so they don't know the results before watching the telecast. That's exactly what ESPN and the WSOP tried to accomplish by scheduling heads-up play to start Tuesday at 1 a.m. EST, 20 hours before airtime.

The plan backfired, however, by taking Sunday as a scheduled day off after Saturday's marathon session that whittled the field from nine to two.

That gave mainstream media, Internet outlets, texters and twitterers plenty of time to report that Cada and Moon had survived Day 1 and that Ivey — the biggest viewership draw — had been eliminated.

The news about Ivey got out, big-time, and was hard to avoid. I believe that's the main reason the show achieved a 1.8 overall rating, or 2.1 million viewers, which was down slightly from a 1.9 rating last year.

A gag order on the media is impractical and too fierce of a solution in a land where the free flow of information is such an ingrained part of the nation's fabric.

However, ESPN has WSOP broadcast rights for at least eight more years, so look for future changes that might address your concerns.

E-mail your poker questions and comments to russ@luckydogpoker.com for use in future columns. To find out more about Russ Scott and read previous LuckyDog Poker columns, visit www.creators.com or www.luckydogpoker.com.

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