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Poker.

Why Do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.

Ever since poker started to be aired regularly on TV I watch it whenever I can. I know I am not the only one. Poker has become a phenomenon. Its growth can be compared to how Reality TV took off when Survivor hit the big time. In many ways poker is the TRUE reality TV.

The growth of poker has created a great deal of debate of whether it is a sport or a game? I am not going to bother with this argument. Either way it is great TV.

Poker is everywhere now. You can scan the dial at any time of the day and there is a good chance you can catch poker on somewhere.

The game most broadcasted is Texas Hold ‘Em. This is by far the most exciting style of poker to watch on TV. Texas Hold ‘Em is a game where each player is dealt two cards, called the hole cards. After a round of betting three community cards called the flop are dealt. Any player at the table can use the community cards for their hand. Two more community cards are dealt called the turn and the river. Each player makes the best five card hand out of the two whole cards and the five community cards. The thing that makes Texas Hold ‘Em so exciting is that most of the time it is show on TV we see the No-Limit variety of it. This means that on any given hand a player can bet all of his/her money.

While Texas Hold ‘Em is the most popular type of poker on TV I however will pretty much watch any type of poker. I really like Razz. That is a game where each player tries to get the lowest possible hand. It can lead to some of the players pulling their hair out, which is hilarious to watch.

The drama of Texas Hold ‘Em is what really has thrown poker into the mainstream. One turn of a card can change everything. The fact that millions of dollars are on the line in these tourneys just makes the drama even more heightened.

It has gotten to the point that when I am watching TV if I start to browse around during a commercial break and I see poker on I will check it out regardless of what I was previously watching. I even watch those celebrity poker events they put on TV. Heck if a particular celebrity performs well on the show I gain respect for them. How messed up is that?

The Programs

There are some poker programs that are better than the others. Probably one of the best known poker shows is the World Poker Tour. It is aired on the Travel Network in the U.S. and Citytv in Toronto where I live. The commentators for this show are Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten. Both of these guys are poker pros and are decent commentators even though Van Patten can get annoying at times. The real star of the show is WPT hostess Shana Hiatt.

Oh how I love thee Shana. Most of the poker shows seem to have some sort of female hostess. Hey most of the people watching this stuff are males and it doesn’t hurt to have a cute girl. Compared to all the others Shana Hiatt is considerably better. While the others may be pretty they do not have Hiatt’s charm and humour. Ok I am going to stop gushing before I sound like a stalker.

The other really well-known poker show is the World Series of Poker aired on ESPN in the U.S. and various networks in Canada. The hosts are Norman Chad and Lon McEachern. Chad is so loud and obnoxious you barely know hear a peep from McEachern. Chad likes to attack players for mistakes and make bad jokes.

I could go on and speak about other poker shows but for the most part it can be confusing to tell some of them from each other. Some of the shows are set tournaments; some just seem to be a camera crew showed up to some random tournament.

Other then the hosts there are certain aspects of how poker is presented on TV that can make one broadcast better than the other.

The Technology

What makes poker really great is that the public knows what every player has. Modern technology allowed TV broadcasts to put little cameras on the tables so that the public can see each player’s whole cards.

The thing is some shows miss the whole cards of each person. Some broadcasts skip over the whole cards of people who fold quickly. This can be very annoying. For players trying to learn, like me, I find it helpful to know what hands people fold. It can also help to identify a players style, if he plays tight (only puts money in the pot with good cards), loose (plays anything) or mixes things up depending on his/her chip stack and table position.

Perhaps the ghettoist (is that a word? If not I am inventing it right now) way to get a whole card is a show produced by Sky TV. For those that don’t know that is a British network and they have a show called Poker Millions which appears on TSN here in Canada. I am not sure if any network in the U.S. has picked it up. Basically they have glass at the edge of the table and the players put there cards there. It looks stupid but it does work.
More about this show. The one thing I REALLY like about this show is that it will show how the chip stakes of players have gone up and down over the course of the game. This is a very cool function that is not done very often on most American produced shows.

Production Value

In many ways this plays directly into technology. So what I admit it. I like bright pretty colours. I know poker is a dark dingy game that has its roots in back alleys and basements but that does not mean it has to be televised that way. Some of the more fly-by-night broadcasts have lame and confusing graphics. The lightning can be horrible in some instances. The World Poker Tour makes things bright and flashy. While this may upset some people I prefer this “fake” style to the more “real” style. I don’t want to watch something that looks like some dudes just set up two cameras by a poker table.

Game Play

Due to the length of a poker tournament it is not possible to show a tournament in its complete format. Most broadcasts will take four or five hours of coverage and condense it to one or two hours. Many of the hands where everyone folds or ones with very small pots are not shown. The broadcasters want to focus on the big hands where there is more drama. Even the most diehard fans do not want to watch every hand. Some of the bigger tournaments take three of four DAYS to sort out who the winner is.

Almost every production will show just the final table of players (6-10 players normally). There are a few programs which do broadcast the “middle rounds” of the tournament. I personally do not have a problem with that. I do admit though that I am a hardcore fan who would probably sit through hours and hours of poker. It does however bother me when a show “ends” without no result and essentially a “to be continued.” I feel cheated!

While I understand that most of the programs I watch are essentially “made for TV” the average viewer can get some serious misconceptions just by watching poker on TV and not actually playing it. The main one being is that every hand is an important hand. A good player folds way more hands then they bet on. By watching poker on TV you don’t get the value of patience that a good poker players must have.

In Conclusion

I have tried to stay away from talking about poker the game since my column is supposed to focus on TV. But just incase anyone cares I will give a brief background on my poker playing experience. I do play poker online, mostly play money as I am poor. I have played in three No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments that involved my friends. I have actually won two of three of them. Not this weekend but the next I am going up north for a bachelor party weekend which everyone knows will turn into a weekend long poker tournament.

The popularity of poker has created many new players. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not. I have no moral qualms about gambling but there are major consequences to people who are looking for that “big score”. Luckily I do not have an addictive personality so I can control my love of poker, besides the fact that I am incredibly cheap and don’t like losing money.

While I may be able to control my playing of poker I am addicted to watching it. I love everything about it. When I was a child I idolized athletes like Ken Dryden, Joe Thiesman, Larry Bird and such. Now I want to meet and hang out with Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey. I dream of winning a hand against Gus Hansen or Phil Hellmuth.

My name is Matthew Romanada and I have a problem.

I love watching poker on TV and the problem is that it’s not on 24/7/365, at least not where I live.