I'm a huge fan of poker - I've been playing it since as long as I can remember with my parents and grandparents. We always played the standard games, 7 card stud, 5 card draw, nothing too outlandish, none of that 3's and 5's are wild, Q's redeal, etc. Just good ol' poker. Since I love playing the game, I've always watched the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN - it was the only poker you could find on TV and since it really is the most revered tournament in the world, it was easily the best tournament to watch on TV. At first, it was just an hour or two long, but last year, it went to six hours - which is all fine and well since there's a lot of tournament to cover.
Apparently, the WSOP has been getting bigger and bigger ratings, and last year, the Travel Channel rolled out the World Poker Tour (WPT). It travels from city to city, country to country, staging tournaments for huge cash prizes and in the end, the winners of all the stages advance to the final showdown. It was fun to watch, but each city was condensed to one hour and you really couldn't see all that happened - you just got the best showdowns, the best hands. I enjoyed the WPT, but it was no WSOP (though the WPT was weekly while the WSOP was yearly).
From what I can gather, the WPT was a huge hit for the Travel Channel because the WPT keeps gaining steam and, just last week (Thanksgiving to be exact), there was a six hour tournament from the Sands in Atlantic City on Fox Sports Net. I recorded it and watched it all in one sitting - it was amazing. That was the kind of poker I liked to watch - it was filled with true poker players - the biggest of the big - the real poker players - not those like the ones featured on Bravo tonight.
Following the success of the WSOP, the WPT & various other poker shows on television, Bravo tonight rolled out the Celebrity Poker Showdown - a glitzed up poker tourney (if you want to call it that) with five celebrity players, the winner advancing to the final table in 5 weeks. There's a celebrity announcer, the token "poker expert" and then a live studio audience cheering the celebrities on. And while I love to watch poker on television - this isn't poker. It's a bunch of rich celebrities trying to show off (though they are competing for charities) in some weak tournament that, even though I really hate watching, I'll probably watch every week since we don't have another WSOP for quite a while.
As a fan of poker, I play online in freerolls (no money tournaments) and it's been lots of fun to watch poker take off as it has the past year, but I really hope that somehow the game doesn't get diluted by a bunch of wannabes who might have watched one WPT show or the Celebrity Poker Showdown and think they know how to play poker.
URL: BRAVO > Celebrity Poker Showdown
Apparently, the WSOP has been getting bigger and bigger ratings, and last year, the Travel Channel rolled out the World Poker Tour (WPT). It travels from city to city, country to country, staging tournaments for huge cash prizes and in the end, the winners of all the stages advance to the final showdown. It was fun to watch, but each city was condensed to one hour and you really couldn't see all that happened - you just got the best showdowns, the best hands. I enjoyed the WPT, but it was no WSOP (though the WPT was weekly while the WSOP was yearly).
From what I can gather, the WPT was a huge hit for the Travel Channel because the WPT keeps gaining steam and, just last week (Thanksgiving to be exact), there was a six hour tournament from the Sands in Atlantic City on Fox Sports Net. I recorded it and watched it all in one sitting - it was amazing. That was the kind of poker I liked to watch - it was filled with true poker players - the biggest of the big - the real poker players - not those like the ones featured on Bravo tonight.
Following the success of the WSOP, the WPT & various other poker shows on television, Bravo tonight rolled out the Celebrity Poker Showdown - a glitzed up poker tourney (if you want to call it that) with five celebrity players, the winner advancing to the final table in 5 weeks. There's a celebrity announcer, the token "poker expert" and then a live studio audience cheering the celebrities on. And while I love to watch poker on television - this isn't poker. It's a bunch of rich celebrities trying to show off (though they are competing for charities) in some weak tournament that, even though I really hate watching, I'll probably watch every week since we don't have another WSOP for quite a while.
As a fan of poker, I play online in freerolls (no money tournaments) and it's been lots of fun to watch poker take off as it has the past year, but I really hope that somehow the game doesn't get diluted by a bunch of wannabes who might have watched one WPT show or the Celebrity Poker Showdown and think they know how to play poker.
URL: BRAVO > Celebrity Poker Showdown
posted by Blake | 23:56
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