Following the WSOP final from Stockholm
After my run this morning and before going off to work, I went to my favourite blogs for updates on the attack in London and the first day of the 2005 World Series of Poker main event, both of which occured yesterday. During work on Thursday and late into the evening, I was alternating between news of the horrors in London on the BBC and updates from Las Vegas. There is a surreal contrast between these two subjects that are both receiving unprecedented levels of attention from world media.
And is it just me, or is the net really slow today? I wonder how much of that is due to RSS...
While there are lots of sites providing updates on the attacks in London (I think Europhobia and the BBC have the best coverage, and Technorati and Google News have the best aggregation), there aren't any sites that are clearly pointing out where to go for WSOP updates. So this is my $0.02 on the subject. As for London, well I AM still going there tonight and I'll post my reflections on that next week.
I wrote most of this last night, and just want to post it before running out as I won't have a chance to get back to it until Monday.
The BEST live 2005 WSOP coverage in the blogosphere
- Tao of Poker - Without a doubt, or any competition that even comes close, the best source for real-time coverage of the WSOP main event is Dr. Pauly's blog. He's been there since before day 1 and knows the game and the players better than any of the other pundits, punters or various miscreants in the fourth or fifth estates. He put almost 18 hours into covering Day 1A, and updated us all as the playing field contracted through 6 blind levels from 1885 to 650 players. He's also living the blogger's wet dream as requests to republish his writing (or to write freelance articles) are pouring in. He's contributing to Fox Sports' WSOP coverage, and even made their front page yesterday. It was big news when the NYTimes hired their own poker writer, but frankly they probably made a mistake by not just hiring Pauly. Kudos to him. I am very impressed.
- Technorati - It would be tough for any single normal human to keep up with the veracity, frequency or acuity of Dr. Pauly, but as an aggregate force the world's other bloggers do a reasonable job. This is a link to the tag "WSOP" on what I think is the world's best blog aggregator.
- PokerRoom.com/blog/ - Rod, Tod & Thomas are representing the home team and all the players that qualified on PokerRoom. They are posting regular updates, and adding some videos, too. It's well-worth checking out. Many people here in Stockholm are waiting anxiously for news about how our players are doing (3 Ongame staff are competing in the main event).
- LasVegasVegas.com/pokerblog/ - A collaborative effort from flipchipro, the poker prof and more. Always excellent. Check out their growing photo gallery, too.
- Lord Admiral Radio - There are a number of podcasters covering the WSOP, but this is the best. Phil Gordon's podcast is also worth checking out.
- PokerStarsBlog - Brad "Otis" Willis is doing an incredible job blogging the event, and his tag-team coverage with Howard Swains (who is focusing on European players in the blog's Europe section) is by far the best blogging effort by ANY of the online poker sites. I'm impressed that PokerStars gets it and are investing appropriately. Of course, 1116 players qualified for the WSOP on PokerStars and that means they have a one-in-five chance (all else being equal, which it's not) of having one of their players win again this year. And if they aren't the place "Where Poker Players Become World Champions" anymore, then maybe they'll reinvent themselves and embrace blogging as the wave of the future (which it is).
- CardPlayer.com - This team is providing some decent coverage, but they're still treating it like publishing a magazine online, although I do particularly like their video gallery.
- PokerNation - Good attitude and writing, though not in real-time. Great pics, though.
Other live 2005 WSOP coverage in the blogosphere
I think these three blogs are notable because of how many of the other sites are NOT blogging from the WSOP. When you spend that much money promoting an event this big and when hundreds of thousands of your customers participate in qualifiers and when this many people are watching the people who beat them out for seats, how can you NOT show up to cover the event on your website? Even if you are a 900-pound gorrilla with 52% of the market, you shouldn't ignore your players, the evolution of communications technology or the fact that the web is all about community. 'nuff said.
So kudos to these sites for showing up and getting it:
- UltimateBet - John Vorhaus writes
- ParadisePoker - Paradise Girl writes
- FullTiltPoker - Jay Greenspan writes
If I missed anything here, please let me know. And good luck to anyone I know who might be playing (specifically Dave Scharf, Erez Savion and Daniel).
UPDATE: Moz just told me that Erez played in Day 1A and survived. According to CardPlayer's tournament ranking results, he's ranked #258 with 29,225 Chips. Now he gets two days off before Day 2. Good luck Erez!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home