NBC HeadsUp Poker Championship - Semis and Finals - Sunday, May 20

[sticking hands]

It's funny that Shannon subscribes to some new age "law of atraction" BS and can't wait to talk about it in every interview.

Fast forward to that moment when she's pleading under her breath for that ace in the hand when Paul rivers broadway. Maybe, she forgot to turn off that wish in favor of willing a ten to appear?

[Admo]

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There are some who like to see replays - very often, you'll see a dunk or a TD multiple times, both in and out of break.

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Apples and oranges.

There is little added value to the replay of a poker hand's conclusion, unless it is truly remarkable, ie. Hellmuth throws or falls out of his chair again.

Where is the suspense in replaying the river card I already know is coming?

Feats of sports awesomeness are different for obv reasons, yes?

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Re: Ali - I'm not defending him (or Matt Vasgersian) - I was simply curious as to what people considered to be "bad" or "stupid" commentary.

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Vasgersian does a capable job (outstanding voice talent), and can be enthusiastic without the Nejad hyperbole.

Kaplan however, was sorely missed. He's the Holy Grail of color commentary: funny/witty for the non-playing public (what you guys want) and just enough morsels of strat/analysis to keep poker players from gouging our eyes out after hearing about the Lalwz of Attrakshen and Pozzitivity.

FWIW, the toned down Nejad is far less annoying on PAD, and some of his stuff (not much) is genuinely clever.



What you guys do well in post-production: framing the current match by brielfy cutting back to previous matches, esp. if there is history (Farha/Forrest) or luckbox-edness. (Brown/Forrest)

[thesnowman22]

Did anyone else notice Clonie Gowen hanging all over jeff madsen during the ShannonE-paulW match?
Is the 21 year old gonna slam him an older broad?

[Taso]

I asked you to pay me $100 because I don't see any reason to go through the effort of re-watching this terrible show just to point out something for you. but, I changed my mind, after realizing it'll probably only take 5 minutes of watching to hear something stupid. However, the website you linked to is really choppy for me? I used to be able to watch the nbc PAD stuff fine on there, but the heads up stuff is choppy, anyone know why/how to fix?


Actually, it seems to be the entire nbcsports website that is running choppy. I've tried to delete my temp internet files, to no avail. Every other site runs well.


Edit again: Anddd, it seems a smiple restart did it.

[Taso]

Okay so just a few examples

1) this actually isn't the type of stupid crap I was referring to, but I'll throw it in. Chad Brown/Gav Smith, pretty far into the match, Gavin Smith calls a bet on the flop with just A high, Ali says, soemthing like, "these A high calls have not been working AT ALL during this match" when the very first hand they played, Smith made the same call and hit his card on the turn to win the hand.

2) much later in the hottie/wasicka match, Shannon checks a flopped pair, and right away Ali goes and says she has become too "gun shy" after that big all in when Wasicka caught the straight on the river. She had been checking and playing weak post-flop the entire match. That was not the first time she checked a pair on the flop, one cannot make the claim that she did it because she was snake bit.

And more to come later, I cannot watch anymore, I need to attend to social activities.

[mblax10]

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Did anyone else notice Clonie Gowen hanging all over jeff madsen during the ShannonE-paulW match?
Is the 21 year old gonna slam him an older broad?

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And Madsen had some 21 year old girl on his other side. Odds that they did meth and wrangled up a 3 way after the match?

[ChuckyB]

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2) much later in the hottie/wasicka match, Shannon checks a flopped pair, and right away Ali goes and says she has become too "gun shy" after that big all in when Wasicka caught the straight on the river. She had been checking and playing weak post-flop the entire match. That was not the first time she checked a pair on the flop, one cannot make the claim that she did it because she was snake bit.


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Wasn't she trying to push Wasicka around early? IIRC he came out with in a semi-passive small-ball gear.

[BozMan82]

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I'm an interested party...

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Constructive criticism unrelated to announcing.

If you've just broadcast an entire hand from start-to-finish, is it really necessary to show an abbreviated version of the same hand before going to commercial? I mean, it just aired like two seconds ago.

Then, when coming back from commercial, is it again necessary to recap the same hand again?

Couldn't believe I was watching three versions of the same hand within five minutes of each other.

I've liked the HU coverage in past years-- this year was unwatchable and I didn't make it through a few of the broadcasts.

ps. Ali Nejad is horrible for many of the reasons stated here. Not Brian Mollica bad, but bad nonetheless.

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All points are well-taken (both from you and the poster above). There are some who like to see replays - very often, you'll see a dunk or a TD multiple times, both in and out of break.

Re: Ali - I'm not defending him (or Matt Vasgersian) - I was simply curious as to what people considered to be "bad" or "stupid" commentary. Often, people post things on these boards without backing them up. Now that I know where people are coming from, I have a better understanding of what the issues are.

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Here's an example of some bizarre commentary from Nejad. Towards the end of the Elizabeth-Wasicka match, when Elizabeth still had a big chip lead, Nejad says something along the lines of "If you didn't know who Shannon Elizabeth was and just tuned in to this match, you would think that she's a pretty good professional poker player."

Then when Elizabeth started playing timid and weak, Nejad criticizes her for playing in such a way and not being able to shake off Wasicka rivering the straight... But only minutes earlier he said SE was playing pro-caliber poker. Which is it??

[ChuckyB]

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Here's an example of some bizarre commentary from Nejad. Towards the end of the Elizabeth-Wasicka match, when Elizabeth still had a big chip lead, Nejad says something along the lines of "If you didn't know who Shannon Elizabeth was and just tuned in to this match, you would think that she's a pretty good professional poker player."

Then when Elizabeth started playing timid and weak, Nejad criticizes her for playing in such a way and not being able to shake off Wasicka rivering the straight... But only minutes earlier he said SE was playing pro-caliber poker. Which is it??

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Watching that, I was shocked at how badly she shrunk at the table. So I think Nejad was right on both counts. She was playing very well (against a tough HU player) and after that commercial break, she was a totally different player. And it didn't feel like a conscious change of gears. It seemed like she started playing scared (folding AJ hurt a bit to see)

[Slim Pickens]

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Did anyone else notice Clonie Gowen hanging all over jeff madsen during the ShannonE-paulW match?
Is the 21 year old gonna slam him an older broad?

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And Madsen had some 21 year old girl on his other side. Odds that they did meth and wrangled up a 3 way after the match?

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Clonie seemed to turn really cold toward Madsen about the time she and the other one switched places. I'm gonna go with Clonie is just looking for a free ride and lost it to a younger, more nubile female. In conclusion, gg Jeff Madsen.