World Poker Tour :thumb:

[dawgball]

Did anyone else catch this last night on the Travel Channel. They are starting a new reality show (loose definition) about the Poker circuit. It is going to be a weekly show on Wednesdays at 9 pm. Last night was the opening show (2 hours). This was BY FAR the best coverage of Poker that I have seen. The announcers are informative. One thing that always bothered me about the WSOP coverage is that they have a guy like Phil Helmuth that was not comfortable being a commentator.

Anyway, for a novice, it was a very good show. Had little quizzes about odds of one hand versus the other. I know the poker elite here will probably think that the coverage was elementary, but it was very helpful to me. I am an average poker player who would like to learn more.

The tournament itself was great as well. The action was very intense. The guy that finished third said in his post-interview that they guy that won was not a good poker player, and that he would love to play him for these stakes everyday for the rest of his life. "I would be a very wealthy man!"

I rate this attempt at poker coverage very high.:thumb:

 

[acehistr8]

On the contrary I have played casino poker for the last 10 years and found this was the single best show ever produced on poker. It was produced in such a manner that people from poker pros on down to people who have never played could enjoy it. The timelength was great, and I loved how they showed just enough of the hands so you could see the tension that builds up. And knowing how that feels, I have to say after seeing they way they did it on TV, they did it right. After Gus got beat on one hand with a rivered full house, you could SEE the guy looked like he got kicked in the nuts. And I turned to my girlfriend and said, "Wow it looks like he got kicked in the nuts, thats EXACTLY how it feels."

The Travel Channel showed that poker could be produced to be enjoyed by the masses on tv, which is GREAT for those of us who play poker for a lot of reasons. Mostly it paves the way for future shows and possible sponsorship of tournament poker which to those that play on the circuit is like the Holy Grail of poker. It didnt feature and whiny outbursts which detract from this possibility. I dont know if there was a dress code or not, but I imagine the final 6 were told at least to some extent how to dress. Fine with me, again, it sends poker onto the national stage in an extremely good light.

Overall, this is in my opinion the best thing that has happened to poker in the last 10 years.

 

[Blazer]

Wow, I'll check it out. Did you hear if and when they are replaying the first show?:shrug:

 

[djv]

Two hours of good poker. Dawgball I thought the 3rd place guy was just mad at himself for being bluffed one hand. And then his last when Hanson got the draw to take him out was shocked. In away I was to. Hanson forcing all his chips in with what was it a 10 and Queen before the draw. Then to catch two Queens. You need luck some time.
Blazer I did not hear when it will be replayed. But channels like travel seem to do replays a couple times a week on all there programing.

 

[acehistr8]

I dont know about this episode, but this is going to be a weekly series with a different tournament every week. If Im not mistaken this begins Wednesday night on the Travel Channel.

 

[Hamster]

Travel Channel link for poker tour:
http://travel.discovery.com/schedule/series.jsp?series=104312&gid=0

 

[dawgball]

One of my friends and I have discussed pitching a reality show based on poker to execs in the past. I was excited to see that the Travel Channel started this.

I don't think our idea would work because there would be no way to keep professionals out. I do think if they continue to improve this show, poker will start getting some recognition. Before this, it was basically, a 3-4 month delay on seeing one tournament per year. That was all the exposure that this "sport" received.

My only problem is that it is on at the same time as The Bachelor and my friend is on it this season.