ESPN PPV: Two Thumbs Up

[VarlosZ]

I guess I'm in the minority in that I don't think Ali was bad. Yeah, his poker analysis was pretty worhtless, but that's not why he was there. He had a good repoir with Phil Gordon, and he helped keep things lively during the many stretches where nothing interesting was happening at the table. That's all you can really ask for from the non-expert chair in these tandems.

[Jeremy517]

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I actually think people would watch it this way if it was available. Commercials are the problem. Every 7 1/2 minutes.

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I don't think commercials are the problem with televised poker. Just get a DVR. I think the problems with televised poker are:

- All-in preflop hands are almost always boring, and make up far too much of what we see.
- Too much money changes hands in the hands that we don't see. Those are usually the interesting hands too. Far more strategy than all-in fests. We don't get to see many hands that don't involve a big bluff or an all-in.
- You can often tell what is going to happen based on the amount of time left in the show
- Not enough hands without hole cards being known
- The announcers know the outcome and script their dialogue based on the results.

[pig4bill]

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Scoot,

problem was he wasn't the color guy. That was Gordon's job.

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I'm confused. Isn't it usually "expert" + "color guy"? Phil=expert, Ali=color guy.

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the "expert" is the "color" guy. i.e., marv alberts does play by play, steve kerr is the color guy.

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Steeeeeeve Kerrrrrrrrr
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Arizona fans know what I'm talking about

[Triumph36]

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I actually think people would watch it this way if it was available. Commercials are the problem. Every 7 1/2 minutes.

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I don't think commercials are the problem with televised poker. Just get a DVR. I think the problems with televised poker are:

- All-in preflop hands are almost always boring, and make up far too much of what we see.
- Too much money changes hands in the hands that we don't see. Those are usually the interesting hands too. Far more strategy than all-in fests. We don't get to see many hands that don't involve a big bluff or an all-in.
- You can often tell what is going to happen based on the amount of time left in the show
- Not enough hands without hole cards being known
- The announcers know the outcome and script their dialogue based on the results.

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These are almost all advantages.

And yeah, VarlosZ - Ali did have a good rapport with Gordon, and I think the haters are being too harsh - remember, this is 13 hours (I only watched the first 8 or so). It can't just be Ali calls the action and Phil intersperses his opinion - that's very boring, Ali has to interject with questions, Phil responds, maybe Ali offers a counterpoint - and that's how you fill that much airtime.

[Ribsauce]

I think someone like Hellmuth in the booth would have been better. He was an awesome guest and we even got a rant about the shown bluff (which was 100% spot on as evidenced by the ace high call)

[AJackson]

I really, really enjoyed the broadcast. Watched from start to finish. A part of me hopes they do this a lot more, the part of me that likes sleep hopes they don't.

I don't think the chemistry between Ali and Phil was great. Too much stumbling over each other.

[dankhank]

i can think of at least one person who would've asked worse questions than ali. norman chad.

[fanx]

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The only thing I would change would be having the final table on a Friday night. It sucks living in Europe!


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FYP [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[kflop]

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I think someone like Hellmuth in the booth would have been better. He was an awesome guest and we even got a rant about the shown bluff (which was 100% spot on as evidenced by the ace high call)

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We really will not know how accurate Gordon was until we see the ESPN broadcast. It seemed like there was not much play going on with that assembled group. But all of us forgot how interesting it is to watch a final table without being spoon fed the holecards.

If you get a chance, watch the 97 tournament where Hellmuth and Kaplan do some analysis of Stu Unger's hands in progress. That was great live analysis but it was edited. I'm sure if they said something stupid (like Doyle is 79) it was taken out.

[poopysales]

I thought the free broadcast was great and may actually pay for it next time if forced to. I don't think i'd want to listen to Scotty though for 13 hours since I can barely understand him....maybe Mouth or Kaplan.
The best part of the broadcast was when Zolotow lost $100 and got the deer in the headlights look and wanted to punch somebody out....good stuff. Great show...loved it.