WPT’s Shot Clock Poll, NBC Heads-Up Cancelled

The WPT’s Shot in the Dark

The WPT is looking to improve its overall product with the help of some of the best tournament players in the world. Following much debate regarding the use of shot clocks, the WPT recently asked players at the LAPC to give their reasons for or against the idea.

The information came to light after Marvin Rettenmaier tweeted a picture of the polling form which outlined three ways in which a shot clock would work:

• Players will have 30 seconds to act on his or her hand.
• If a player does not act on his or her hand in 30 seconds, the hand will be declared dead.
• Each player will be given time buttons that will add an additional 60 seconds to the clock, and time buttons can be used individually or in combination.

Players were given “yes” or “no” boxes to tick and if they answered “yes” they were urged to expand on this and say when they’d most like to see shot clocks used:

• In the money
• Final three tables
• Final table only

From the tweet it was clear Marvin was against the idea of a shot clock but Adam Pliska was pleased with the overall response from players and said that a number of players were in favour of the idea.

Whether or not the WPT will introduce a shot clock next season remains to be seen, but Pliska stated that he will continue to gauge public opinion in an effort to “improve the overall tournament experience.”

No More NBC Heads-Up

The NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship won’t be taking place this year according to Mori Eskandani. The President of POKER PROductions recently told Pokernews that the TV tournament hasn’t been commissioned by the American network; however, he did state that the event isn’t going away completely.

Although he refrained from saying too much, Eskandani promised that there will be some “exciting news” about the event later this month.

Whether this means that another TV channel will be sponsoring the championship is unknown, but if past popularity is anything to go by then it’s likely we could see the tournament continue to thrive.