Pro Pool on TV -- Making it Watchable

9BallPaul

9BallPaul

Banned
Biggest drawbacks of professional pool as broadcast on TV: Too antiseptic, too phony. Those of us who've been treated to real live gambling among world-class players know very well that tournament pool on TV is a shy cousin of the real deal. Check the action room of the DCC if you doubt my word. Tension is thick, testosterone runs high, and cash is carried in and out by the suitcase.

Why not take a page from poker and let players play for their own dough on TV? Of course, the promoter pay an appearance fee, much as Poker After Dark does for its players. The hitch is, they gotta put that money into play. At the end of the week, one guy walks away with all the dough.

Forget sending players to chairs when they're not shooting. Mike them and let them bark at one another, bark with the crowd, or with the broadcasters. (Norman Chad, anyone? Just for his wit?)

And encourage the players to side bet on anything they wish -- sports stats, upcoming football, whatever. At heart, all poker players, and all pro pool players, are gamblers. Give us a show that highlights that, shows off the personalities, and encourages the kind of tension and playfulness that anyone can witness at a top-notch action room.

Poker After Dark is the model. Any takers?
 
9BallPaul said:
Biggest drawbacks of professional pool as broadcast on TV: Too antiseptic, too phony. Those of us who've been treated to real live gambling among world-class players know very well that tournament pool on TV is a shy cousin of the real deal. Check the action room of the DCC if you doubt my word. Tension is thick, testosterone runs high, and cash is carried in and out by the suitcase.

Why not take a page from poker and let players play for their own dough on TV? Of course, the promoter pay an appearance fee, much as Poker After Dark does for its players. The hitch is, they gotta put that money into play. At the end of the week, one guy walks away with all the dough.

Forget sending players to chairs when they're not shooting. Mike them and let them bark at one another, bark with the crowd, or with the broadcasters. (Norman Chad, anyone? Just for his wit?)

And encourage the players to side bet on anything they wish -- sports stats, upcoming football, whatever. At heart, all poker players, and all pro pool players, are gamblers. Give us a show that highlights that, shows off the personalities, and encourages the kind of tension and playfulness that anyone can witness at a top-notch action room.

Poker After Dark is the model. Any takers?
Click to expand...
I think what you are missing is no one except poker players watches the poker either they have casinos as sponsors. Who is going to pay for the air time put on pool? Pool has no sponsors, zero. It doesn't matter what the format is, who is going to pay for it? Pool is a bust out sport without a dime of sponsorship.
 
Yeah, it'd be nice. But I'm sure some government folks would want to step in and shut the whole thing down unless it was in a place like Nevada where gambling isn't so frowned upon.
 
9BallPaul said:
Biggest drawbacks of professional pool as broadcast on TV: Too antiseptic, too phony. Those of us who've been treated to real live gambling among world-class players know very well that tournament pool on TV is a shy cousin of the real deal. Check the action room of the DCC if you doubt my word. Tension is thick, testosterone runs high, and cash is carried in and out by the suitcase.

Why not take a page from poker and let players play for their own dough on TV? Of course, the promoter pay an appearance fee, much as Poker After Dark does for its players. The hitch is, they gotta put that money into play. At the end of the week, one guy walks away with all the dough.

Forget sending players to chairs when they're not shooting. Mike them and let them bark at one another, bark with the crowd, or with the broadcasters. (Norman Chad, anyone? Just for his wit?)

And encourage the players to side bet on anything they wish -- sports stats, upcoming football, whatever. At heart, all poker players, and all pro pool players, are gamblers. Give us a show that highlights that, shows off the personalities, and encourages the kind of tension and playfulness that anyone can witness at a top-notch action room.

Poker After Dark is the model. Any takers?
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, we shot a pilot using this same concept early this year. So far no takers though. It's tough to sell a new show. I may make a copy of the pilot available soon though.
 
jay helfert said:
Believe it or not, we shot a pilot using this same concept early this year. So far no takers though. It's tough to sell a new show. I may make a copy of the pilot available soon though.
Click to expand...

Great news, JH. Personalities sell poker (think Matasow, Hallmuth, Doyle and so on). We both know that pool personalities take no back seat to the poker dudes. Why not showcase that?
 
9BallPaul said:
Biggest drawbacks of professional pool as broadcast on TV: Too antiseptic, too phony. Those of us who've been treated to real live gambling among world-class players know very well that tournament pool on TV is a shy cousin of the real deal. Check the action room of the DCC if you doubt my word. Tension is thick, testosterone runs high, and cash is carried in and out by the suitcase.

Why not take a page from poker and let players play for their own dough on TV? Of course, the promoter pay an appearance fee, much as Poker After Dark does for its players. The hitch is, they gotta put that money into play. At the end of the week, one guy walks away with all the dough.

Forget sending players to chairs when they're not shooting. Mike them and let them bark at one another, bark with the crowd, or with the broadcasters. (Norman Chad, anyone? Just for his wit?)

And encourage the players to side bet on anything they wish -- sports stats, upcoming football, whatever. At heart, all poker players, and all pro pool players, are gamblers. Give us a show that highlights that, shows off the personalities, and encourages the kind of tension and playfulness that anyone can witness at a top-notch action room.

Poker After Dark is the model. Any takers?
Click to expand...

Won't work, Keith and Ronnie are retired. Chris Bartrum wuld have to carry the wold on his shoulders.
 
There first needs to be a pool dedicated channel with service providers. Sort of like a 'FUEL tv'. They dedicate all their air-time to surfing, skateboarding and so forth. Interviews, events, How Tos, etc. I mean its a place to start. I always want to watch pool 'ON DEMAND' but TimeWarner doesn't even list Billiards as a sport on their menu, yet there is Outdoor sports on demand. Also, I think a celebrity type pool tournament would be an awesome idea. Kinda like celebrity golf tournaments.
 
Let's try this betting amongst players in baseball, football and soccer first. If enough players get injured, there will be more empty air time needing to be filled by pool, and not just by the ancient matches on ESPN.

Perhaps an economist in the crowd could explain how betting between players improves their financial situation.
 
I am not sure why Pool is not a hit on TV, maybe many players prefer playing to watching? But could it be there is a more fundamental point we maybe missing.

The biggest sports Worldwide are all team based sports, The Summer Olympics, Soccer, Football, Rugby, Baseball, Cricket. We have the perfect vehicle to get it started the Mosconi Cup, if only we could get TV stations here interested in showing it live! Perhaps that may be the in we need, after all it's the USA and people love to support the country! Some other idea's if we could get that start we need, maybe a Team based Pro League by City or State, that again would give people something to identify with and a Team to support. Perhaps Pro Am Teams at Major Tournaments like the US Open etc giving the average supporter a chance to play with the big boys on the biggest of stages.
 
Watching pool on TV today is like watching paint dry. It's no wonder that mainstream America can't get into it. Heck, I thoroughly enjoy a good pool competition, but on TV, it is quite boring sometimes, but what's worse is when they chop it up and provide snippets of the match. I'd rather just not watch it at all when they do that. :frown:

To get pool back on the radar, there needs to be a Minnesota Fats-type player with personality and an agent to promote him/her, much like Jeanette Lee does. A new pool movie like "The Hustler" would be kind of cool, but today's pool is quite different now. We've got tournament soldiers more so than road agents in the year 2010. I'm not sure how to spruce up a pool movie about tournament soldiers, but maybe a good writer could create a good plot to attract viewers.

I still say Matt Damon is the best candidate to star in a pool movie because he can actually play. Ben Affleck ain't too shabby either, but he's too much of a pretty boy, IMO to be a pool player. Well, I take that back. He'd make a great tournament soldier. :grin:

ESPN has done pool an injustice in the United States with their chop-chop programs, but they're the only game in town, it seems, willing to take a chance on pool. Kevin Trudeau managed to get a little air time with the Versus channel when the IPT was up and running, and I'm sure he poured thousands of dollars to effect that happening. I'd love to know the viewer numbers on that, but since the IPT sank quicker than the Titanic in about a year's time, well, I think I already know the answer.

So, personality, interesting dialogue, and players not afraid to show their emotions, that's what might elevate pool. :smile:
 
If Matt Damon could make a movie about pool, like he did for poker in "Rounders," well, I think we'd have a win-win! He does play pool and likes it. :smile:
 

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Tried and Failed

This idea has already been done and it failed miserably. The show was called Ballbreakers. It was on the Game Show Network in 2005. Each player had cash to bet while others could make side bets on matches, shots, etc. Ewa, Sal Masekela and the chick who won the first ANTM show were the hosts.

The pool was awful, the show was unwatchable and it got canceled. If memory serves, I believe Melissa Herndon was on the pilot. From what I recall, they even had a celebrity event, although the celebs were fairly d list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballbreakers
 
I see Fox Sports is taking a shot with pool !

They are going to be at the Miz 10-ball for the finals.
Don't know much other than that.
Live? Or When? Anybody know ?
 
oldzilla said:
I see Fox Sports is taking a shot with pool !

They are going to be at the Miz 10-ball for the finals.
Don't know much other than that.
Live? Or When? Anybody know ?
Click to expand...

Hey, that's good news. When you find out about this, please post back some more info. Cool! :smile:
 
BryanBpool said:
No Allen Hopkins commentating...

Am I the only person who finds him wildly irritating on the ESPN-C reruns?
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I actually love Allen Hopkins commentating on TV, but it might be because I know him, so I enjoy his contributions to the match. He is not only a great pool player, but he's a great man who is very generous to his friends. I cannot say enough good things about Allen Hopkins.

He's still got game, too. Make no mistake about it. The man can play, aside from the commentating. He's a monster on a field of green with that one-punch stroke. :p
 
JAM said:
I actually love Allen Hopkins commentating on TV, but it might be because I know him, so I enjoy his contributions to the match. He is not only a great pool player, but he's a great man who is very generous to his friends. I cannot say enough good things about Allen Hopkins.

He's still got game, too. Make no mistake about it. The man can play, aside from the commentating. He's a monster on a field of green with that one-punch stroke. :p
Click to expand...

No doubt he is a hell of a player....

Maybe its just because I know how to play the game, his preemptive shot by shot comments drive me nuts...

"Hes gonna shoot this with top left... hes gonna do this.... hes gonna do that.."

Maybe that approach is better for the pool layman.
 
Ditto on Allen. Norman Chad brings a lot of brains and wit when he announces poker, even if he doesn't play it. Maybe he could apply those skills to pool.

But in the format I'm talking about, it's the table talk that should dominate the broadcast.
 
9BallPaul said:
Great news, JH. Personalities sell poker (think Matasow, Hallmuth, Doyle and so on). We both know that pool personalities take no back seat to the poker dudes. Why not showcase that?
Click to expand...

I think the opposite is true. Personalities do not sell TV poker - it is the poker that sells the personalities. The established personalities in poker are seen by viewers as archetypes participating in the drama of the game. I think the direction pool should take is to present itself as a dramatic contest. Success at this will produce the "personalities".

Now what are examples of drama for the average non-pool-playing TV viewer? The best example for me has not been the 3rd round loser-side match up at the U.S. Open. Nor has it been a race to 30 for $10,000 winner-take-all at the DCC. On the contrary, the best example I've seen, by far, is the WPBA's Saturday night final 16 matches that are played to determine who will play on TV the next day.

What makes these final 16 matches dramatic is the immediate clarity of the goal, the sure knowledge of what victory or defeat means, and the variety of possible outcomes. And it is all going to be decided in a couple of hours in front of your eyes. You will have the favorites and the long shots, the journeyman player who has come close, but never quite got there and the unknown low-ranker who is suddenly on fire. Drama is not winning the prize, drama is the struggle to get a last chance to win the prize.

Can this struggle be presented to TV viewers as the drama it is? I have my doubts.
 
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