Belated Poker natterings
Jul. 28th, 2004 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiSpoilers for last night World Series of Poker programming:
Limit Hold'em:
You know what? Annie was fucking right. What the hell does it prove to win a $1000 buy-in fucking limit Hold'em game in which some of the people in the game aren't allowed to compete? Annie went into a game with some of the top pros in the world instead (and in Omaha hi-lo, which, imho, is the single hardest mainstream poker variant out there), and kicked ass and won. Good on her!
My problem with the main match (aside from the horrible-as-always announcing, which remains the weak point of this show), is that few of the players were engaging. The two most fun to watch were Burnett and Jett. Doan could at least table talk a little bit, but most of them ignored what I think of as a fundemental poker skill. The announcers tried to make it into some sort of gender thing -- "women always bet faster." No. Bullshit. Good players are willing to take time, and that shows. Watch Annie. Watch Clonie. Watch Harman, or Liebert, or Evelyn Ng. They play good poker, and that includes slowing the game down when needed, playing the psychology, etc. The group at the final table, for the most part, was a group of folks who were luckier than they were good.
But seeing Annie win was a nice touch.
Stud:
As for the second event, I still stand by my assertion that Seven Card Stud, while a great game to play, is one of the crappiest tv games ever.
But it was damned nice to see Gaya Atawa win this one. I was rooting for him all the way.
I also enjoyed the looney Swede. There needs to be more goofiness in poker.
Has anyone noticed that they keep showing Phil Ivey, but he hasn't tabled a single event? And yet, for the Nuts segment, they completely failed to interview him, even though he's probably more famous than anyone for wearing headphones? Just curious.
Next week, Razz! I know, I hate Stud, I should hate Razz. But I enjoy games that are so silly, they seem like they shouldn't even be out there at all.
Limit Hold'em:
You know what? Annie was fucking right. What the hell does it prove to win a $1000 buy-in fucking limit Hold'em game in which some of the people in the game aren't allowed to compete? Annie went into a game with some of the top pros in the world instead (and in Omaha hi-lo, which, imho, is the single hardest mainstream poker variant out there), and kicked ass and won. Good on her!
My problem with the main match (aside from the horrible-as-always announcing, which remains the weak point of this show), is that few of the players were engaging. The two most fun to watch were Burnett and Jett. Doan could at least table talk a little bit, but most of them ignored what I think of as a fundemental poker skill. The announcers tried to make it into some sort of gender thing -- "women always bet faster." No. Bullshit. Good players are willing to take time, and that shows. Watch Annie. Watch Clonie. Watch Harman, or Liebert, or Evelyn Ng. They play good poker, and that includes slowing the game down when needed, playing the psychology, etc. The group at the final table, for the most part, was a group of folks who were luckier than they were good.
But seeing Annie win was a nice touch.
Stud:
As for the second event, I still stand by my assertion that Seven Card Stud, while a great game to play, is one of the crappiest tv games ever.
But it was damned nice to see Gaya Atawa win this one. I was rooting for him all the way.
I also enjoyed the looney Swede. There needs to be more goofiness in poker.
Has anyone noticed that they keep showing Phil Ivey, but he hasn't tabled a single event? And yet, for the Nuts segment, they completely failed to interview him, even though he's probably more famous than anyone for wearing headphones? Just curious.
Next week, Razz! I know, I hate Stud, I should hate Razz. But I enjoy games that are so silly, they seem like they shouldn't even be out there at all.