ESPN Bringing New Changes to 2011 WSOP Broadcast

For years, fans have been able to witness the natural drama of the World Series of Poker on ESPN's family of networks, watching players painstakingly try to deduce (often incorrectly) their opponent's strategy as regular joes knew via pocketcams what each had in their hands.

It's all changed in 2011.

This year, the main event has been aired live '" no tape delay. We the fans have watched as two featured tables rotated into our sights, with by-the-second commentary from WSOP staple Lon McEachern providing the backdrop. Here's the biggest differences between this year's broadcast and previous:

There's a lot more dead time. Those fast cuts between tables with an interesting player or hand are gone; now, there's 20-30 seconds of time to fill (or kill, depending on the previous hand) by the commentators with more in-depth analysis of what just transpired, or more of an overlook at the state of the tournament. The broadcast itself can drag if a period of time goes on without much action, and there are certainly less "all-in" moments because the ESPN producers can only work them in as they come. In addition, the focus is only one two featured tables; a primary and secondary. You never see action at other, outer tables, which severely limits the amount of play and pace the viewer sees.

To fill this time, there are a lot more interviews; for instance, this year's "bubble boy" (the final player who loses all his chips before players are in the money) was quickly snagged for an interview, and other famous players such as actor Jason Alexander and Daniel Negreanu were pulled aside during breaks in the action.

Each player's hole cards aren't shown until after the hand. Previously, viewers knew what everyone had as they got it. Now, we're invited to play along as color commentator Antonio Esfandari, a former player (and current poker commentator) who once placed 24^th at a WSOP main event, breaks down the betting strategy unfolding. He often makes predictions on who has what cards, and relies on his past experience to predict a player's future betting moves (usually correctly).

This is the biggest shock to the whole shebang being live; aside from each of us not knowing exactly what cards are with each player, sometimes ESPN comes back from a break and Lon/Antonio have to play catch-up on a hand. A few times, Antonio had to say "I wish I'd seen the flop so I could know who raised first" or some variant, and then...poof ...the hand is over, leaving a bit of an awkward "what just happened?" vibe to the viewer.

Edit: On day 5, Norman Chad and Phil Hellmuth joined Lon in the booth for the call; it appears the color commentator is a rotating cast of current players.

Overall, the experience is certainly more authentic. We, as the viewer, sees more into the WSOP player experience: Long hours, often mind-numbingly slow waiting times as each takes his two minutes to decide whether to call, raise, or fold, and we get to try and be in their mindset while figuring out what the right play is in a given situation. Should 2012 be live as well? Fan feedback will tell, but they (sorry...we) have a lot of new footage to think through first.