At the real money poker site I used to attend before I joined Replay, there was a very interesting feature, and I wonder if it could be proposed here, too.
Any time during the week people could watch the final tables with open cards of some of the most popular Sunday Hold’em tournaments. They were all tourneys with buy-ins around $ 200, in which many excellent players participated, and obviously with high prizes.
It was intriguing to watch the strategies, the moves, the tricks (and also the mistakes) of players who had gone a long way to reach the final table.
Maybe one could show here weekly the final table replay of some Sunday 250,000 Hold’em or Omaha hi-lo tournaments. That would be fun to watch and also instructive for many, and might give rise to some lively and interesting discussions in the Forums.
Since players who sign in those tourneys would be aware that the final table is monitored and tacitly agree with it, there wouldn’t be any violation of privacy.
This is a very interesting suggestion. I for one would love to watch replays of final tables with all cards showing. A group of great players and all their tactics, that would be something I would definitely learn from. If players have no problem with their cards being shown in the replay (for only certain high stakes tourneys), that would be brilliant.
Is it doable in Replay?
If all the players are aware of this twist, it could be very instructive. But, I think the “agreement” would have to be more affirmative than merely “tacit.” Perhaps a check box when registering?
I’m sure Replay will think of all the necessary details to avoid conflicts.
Absolutely. Players need to be aware of the situation and agree to it. Since it would be exclusive for a specific tourney, players should only be allowed to register to that tourney if they agree to the condition.
Personally I would definitely agree to it if I was to play such a tourney.
i think for the start it might be better that Replay give a shot of such a tournament and see how many players are interested in watching the tournament with open cards. if it turns out that a larger number of players are ready to watch such a tourney (or only a final table) then Replay would might to consider about direct presentation.
Interesting suggestion! I might be inclined to both watch this and be willing to agree to have my play watched. That said, an additional “wrinkle” to add is that those folks that wish to view this would pay a “fee” for the experience, as it’s bound to be educational, and that fee would increase the ITM payout.
It would need to have a time delay rather than live in order to prevent cheating. If this idea gets the go ahead I would suggest a 24 hour delay and ask the players to spend some time online during its screening to answer questions and explain the logic behind key actions.
I concur with this.
But of course there should be a time delay! The final tables can only be shown after the tourneys are completed!
The tourneys I mentioned in my post have sometimes prizes between 6/7,000 and 25,000 (or more) real dollars. Don’t you think that if the final tables were shown “live”, all would ask a friend to tell them by phone what cards their opponents held in their hands? That would be a temptation even for the most honest of them! The same can obviously happen here.
Why should anybody be compelled to justify or explain publicly their moves at a poker table? Logic? Sometimes there is none, as all poker players know.
People can discuss about the games in the Forums, if they like, and the players can join the discussion, but ONLY if they feel inclined to.
I don’t really agree with it. If your reason is only the educational aspect, one should require a fee to read the blog, too, for example.
The cards are shown only in the replay. Not in the live hand. That’s how I understood the suggestion.
I agree with @miri123 . There should be no fee whatsoever. It’s the same thing as watching any replay of hands in any tourney. We already watch replays for free, and some of the cards are shown at the end of each hand. Why would it be any different if all the cards were shown? It’s still a replay, educational and free to watch, just with an extra option.
Note the first word in your quote from my post. ASK . In case you missed it, it was ASK not compel.
What possible better way is there for new players to learn?.They get to ASK the best players here to share their knowledge and experience. It has been my experience that the true leaders and experts in any walk of life are more than happy to share their knowledge with those that care to listen and learn. Nobody cares to ask the 5 greatest donks of all times why they donked off all their chips but a tip from the player that took them all out, well, that’s gold, and i’m sure there was a whole lot of logic involved. The reason I suggested a 24 hour delay was simply that if players are free to play at a certain time one day they are more likely to be free at that time the following day.
maybe its because when they play, they only get to play %50 of the time. happens a lot to me, just now,so right now i’m going to a ring game and going give my chips away.I’m done with this abortion.
just blowing off steam,must be the comp
I am not sure if it is technically feasible, of course, but I figured in my mind following procedure:
The final tables of certain tournaments, chosen by the management, will be monitored. I suppose Sunday’s tournaments would be the most convenient, because more people can participate.
When ALL those tourneys are completed, on Monday, there will be 2-3-4 links (depending on the number of the monitored tournaments) in the list of all tournaments. By clicking on them all people will be able to watch the replays of the final tables with open cards. Any time during the week, till following Sunday.
Was I clearer now?
Of course, MANY good players will be more than happy to explain their moves and their strategies, and to help beginners, but in my opinion it should be their initiative. One can start some discussions in the Forums, in which they can participate, but only if they like.
Some might be too shy for it, for example, and maybe they would feel embarrassed. Not to forget that some players here are extremely laconic and reserved.
It’s the same with many artists who wouldn’t be able to express in words their works of art, or with many authors who could never explain the meaning of their writings. For that there are art or literary critics. 
The name of this site is Replay Poker, so what could be more appropriate than the replay of some interesting tables?
Shakeraise is very aware of what you’re referring to and would like to add that to Replay as well. The functionality won’t be possible until we finish our big projects, but we’d love to add something like this, as we want to do a lot to encourage poker education on our site.
I play almost strictly tournaments Towards the end of the tournament I seem to be playing against the same group of players and over time get to know how they play. Each player has his or her style that seems to work for them. I have tried at times to emulate some of them with the results being it bit me on the fanny. I think you need to develop your own style that works for you. The common mistake I see over and over is taking too much stock in an ace x and overvaluing pocket pairs even aces which win about half the time.
I think you misunderstood the concept. Nobody is trying to imitate anyone. We’re all developing our own styles, and watching other good players’ strategies and moves helps us learn the game better, not copy their styles.
Have you ever watched poker games and tourneys on TV? They show you each player’s cards, and then you watch them bet and play, it’s always entertaining and you can always learn from them without the need to copy anyone’s style.