[All In!] *** The Final Table *** - Poker Discussion

Discuss the latest action from the WSOP, WPT, PPT, or all the other numerous TV poker shows! Better yet, share your tips, strategies, bad beats, and poker stories in general! Because we all know that 7/2 off will still crack Aces about 12% of the time!

 

I must admit this is adicting to watch, especially since nothing else is on tv at 1am. I think the Aussie guy is my favorite to watch.

 

High Stakes Poker is by far my favorite poker show on TV right now, though it's currently in reruns. Just for an interesting tournament, I really like Poker SuperStars on FSN. I don't really like those "speed poker" shows.

 

I am an avid poker fan and player. It can be very frustrating to be on the receiving end of bad beats however. I will post more later, but good to know there is a place to discuss poker and its nuances.

 

I'm the same as Horsey. Poker's great at 1am in the morning. It doesn't seem like it would be exciting, but somehow it's riveting.

 

I have to admit, I LOVE watching Poker! I'm not much into speed poker, but I do like WPT, PPT, and WSOP. I love watching the pro's in action and seeing how they handle different situations.

 

The great thing about Poker on the TV is that you know what everyone has got, how and when they bluff and when they pull off taht monster hand before the other players do. It's great watching people throw away chips with no hope of winning, or pulling off a win on the River.

 

I love River wins! My family is quite competitive and we frequently play Hold 'Em. I tend to play slightly ridiculously (and with no set strategy). It dries my brother nuts because I will stay in with a hand that has almost no chance of winning and then pull something cool on the river and beat him. I think its fun. I'm also pretty lucky at poker games anyways, so that helps.

 

I used to watch and play poker all of the time. I ended up losing too much money and too much time to it. I still play on occation and i still watch on occation. Howard Letterer is my favorite player.

 

Well, if you love No limit action, go see the movie Casino Royale. We have No Limit action in this James Bond movie.

 

I'm the same as others have said already: late at night it is way more addictive than it really should be.

Joker Poker is the TV show I've seen the most. They once even tried to advertise it and put it in a prime time slot - lasted about two weeks I think.

But one of those games was incredible; it had one of the best River wins I've seen.

Who was that?

 

What was Joker Poker? I never saw that one. Were jokers actually used in the game play?

 

No, not quite.

As far as the game went, it was simply no-limit Texas Holdem poker. The show itself was just called Joker Poker because the players were always celebrities of some form (often comedians, radio jocks, etc etc). Mainly Australian, although whenever other comedians were around they usually appeared on the show. It was that aspect that I guess was the reason for the name.

 

Oooooh, OK. I wasn't sure. With all the new "versions" of blackjack and poker popping up on TV, I wouldn't have been too surprised to see something with a joker. There's some new blackjack show I've seen with a special card that when it comes up, the player with the lowest chip stack is eliminated from the table.

Then again, I love Pai Gow Poker in Vegas and jokers help out a lot.

 

I apologize for buthering the spelling of his name, but I'm sure you can figure out who I'm talking about from this: Joe Hachem. (I think Joe is his first name). He's my favorite to watch though.

 

You spelt it right actually

I like that guy on the WPT, the one they call the magician and does all those tricks with the chips. I can't for the life of me remember his name though.

 

You did indeed spell it right, however I've never heard of him.

 

I've come to loathe poker on Television.

Yes, I enjoy watching it. Yes, it is good entertainment. Yes, I learn a few things from watching the really good players.

But it's given the game too much exposure. It's got every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Jane thinking they can play poker, and wanting to play poker. That, in and of itself, is not a problem. The problem is that they learn the basics, and never bother to learn anything else. So they chase every river draw. The bet high on every hand that has the possibility of ever turning into a winner. It's almost impossible to play a game of poker with actually skilled players anymore.

Oh, televised poker ... what a double-edged sword thou art.

 

Antonio Esfandiari (I may have just butchered his last name spelling-wise). I like his attitude about the game too. He freely admits he doesn't play as often as he used to, mainly just big tourneys and such. He admits the "poker boom" has made his life much easier with websites and endorsement deals, so he doesn't have to wear himself out as a grinder and he's pretty set financially. That's a nice position to be in and is exactly how I would approach if I was a top level player. That being said, I'll stick with little 10-man $50 buy-in tourneys at home and hopefully I'll break even over the long haul.

 

He won about Aus$10 million a couple of years ago in a tournament in the US. They made a bid deal of it in Melbourne, although, because he was a local boy, it might not have noticed up in Sydney.

 

I've never seen the magician! No fair!

 

We all should try and get an online game going

 

Interesting idea. Purely for fun though? No real money.

 

Oh Yeah. I don't have enough of the stuff for real money games.

 

To some degree, that's very true. But I'd wouldn't say that it warrants such loathing.

In the games I've seen, yes, there's been some real beginners; but there's also been some very smart players too. As the game is played there are commentators talking, one of which is a celebrated poker player. Hearing his comments make it much clearer - once, after two rounds, he picked the winner just off of what he had seen. And he was right.

So it's a toss-up, yes. It's a good game for people to watch, even though it wouldn't be nearly as high quality as professionals. But I don't think it's bad at all - if you really want to see professionals, well then, you'll go see professionals.