ESPN Poker Coverage

[KVNSTV]

I’m in the UK so have been downloading the ESPN coverage from the web so forgive me if I’m a little behind the times. When something I see annoys me I often play a little game with myself to think of the word that is the exact polar opposite of what I’m seeing. Viewing Mr Hellmuths display in $3,000 NLHE tournament the first word to enter my head was humility.

He must be horrible to sit with at the final table or any table actually, as he said to Ben Fineman who dared to play a pot with him “It’s not about you Kid”. Annoying to have your spotlight moment completely railroaded by the ‘Superstar’ grand standing every call/fold/check and making terrible insurance bets with Phil Ivey. Ivey really is mugging him off as well, Hellmuth took some horrible odds and it all just made the game look so degenerated. Any way the self same “Kid” got crippled when he was a 3-1 favourite against another player and showed pure class by accepting the beat with a shake of his opponent’s hand. Phil might be the best NLHE tournament player in the world but he clearly has a lot to learn from the “Kid”.

The $5,000 pot limit Hold’em was clearly the worst of the all the shows so far for grandstanding. Whilst watching the antics of a certain Mr Brenes I played my little game again and the first word to enter my head was dignity. I remember one of the players at the table (Alan Cunningham) I think asking where his prop was? The final tables ESPN have chosen to show are clearly not the most star studied and obviously not the most interesting from a poker perspective (would love to see the 10K pot limit Omaha with Doyle and Antonius) so they must be choosing them for there entertainment value. Personally I would rather chew my own arms off than watch Humberto go through his act but I guess some people want to view this sort of thing.

I was interested in other people opinions on what the effect this kind of exposure has on poker? Other than being forced to sit next to some idiot dressed like superman or having some Muppet wave a shark in you face every five minutes is there any other negatives I have not considered? Is the TV coverage worth it? What does it give poker other than sponsorship for a very select few top tier players? After all the vast majority of players have to pay to sit down at the table, shouldn’t the event sponsors and TV people be adding to the prize pools?

[Biggerstack]

People like Phil & Humberto make the game interesting. If everybody sat there twiddling chips and saying nothing it would get boring pretty quick.

[corpseartist]

Hellmuth is funny to watch. Humberto makes my head hurt.

[KVNSTV]

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People like Phil & Humberto make the game interesting. If everybody sat there twiddling chips and saying nothing it would get boring pretty quick.

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If you have paid good money to enter an event why should you have to put up with these players behavior? You have paid to play not be entertained by these jokers. If TV is not putting money into the prize pool or otherwise contributing they are getting a free ride at the players expense aren’t they?

I appreciate its more interesting to watch and helps the game in general but there is a line and so many players are crossing it. When you pay your buy-in you should expect to behave within reasonable boundaries and should expect other players to also act within reason, where are the TD's in these events when Hellmuths taking 20 minutes over every fold and Brenes is shoving that Shark in everybody’s face? I bet there having there hands tied by TV and Sponsors who add nothing for the vast majority of players.

[zalw619]

YOU ARE AN IDIOT, DRINK YOUR TEA AND SHUT UP, You are forgetting the main reason behind this........... ESPN loves phil because he makes for good TV which is why you see his final tables on TV instead of all the other ones, and to my knowledge talking is alowed at the poker table, why do you think matusow gets so much air time???

"If you have paid good money to enter an event why should you have to put up with these players behavior? You have paid to play not be entertained by these jokers. If TV is not putting money into the prize pool or otherwise contributing they are getting a free ride at the players expense aren’t they"

THis might be the dumbest quote ever, you enter in a tournament to win money, if you can't take a little talking to then don't play, Here's another one "i play football but don't want to get tackled"

[tautomer]

Fish don't start playing poker if they aren't entertained by what they see on TV. That's all I care about.

[KVNSTV]

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YOU ARE AN IDIOT, DRINK YOUR TEA AND SHUT UP, You are forgetting the main reason behind this........... ESPN loves phil because he makes for good TV which is why you see his final tables on TV instead of all the other ones, and to my knowledge talking is alowed at the poker table, why do you think matusow gets so much air time???

"If you have paid good money to enter an event why should you have to put up with these players behavior? You have paid to play not be entertained by these jokers. If TV is not putting money into the prize pool or otherwise contributing they are getting a free ride at the players expense aren’t they"

THis might be the dumbest quote ever, you enter in a tournament to win money, if you can't take a little talking to then don't play, Here's another one "i play football but don't want to get tackled"

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LOL "i play football but don't want to get tackled". Yes but I then don't want to be on the ground with a broken leg for five minutes whilst the opposing player waves his [censored] in my face with the refree doing nothing.

And if I pay 10K and a juice to enter the main event why the f8ck would I care that Hellmuth is good value for the viewing public. I have paid good money to play in an event, I expect the rules to be applied.

[KVNSTV]

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Fish don't start playing poker if they aren't entertained by what they see on TV. That's all I care about.

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Thats a good point, TV feeds newer weaker players into the game. Which is good for the vast majority.

[NickyC]

Hellmuth makes great TV, there's no other way around it. You watch and just wait for him to explode. He's such a cheeseball, that you love to cheer against him. You want him to get sucked out on, just so you can see the explosion. Hell my sister knows nothing about poker, but I was over at her house the other day flipping through the channels and the $3k event was on. She instantly says "omg, it's that dork! Leave it on!". We sat there and just laughed our arses off. Hellmuth is gold on TV, solid gold.
Brenes on the other hand is horrible. He's annoying, and you can tell it's just a show. It might be a show at this point with Phil, but he's a good actor. Brenes is just garabge. I cannot believe somebody has not grabbed that shark yet and done something to it.

As for playing with these guys at a final table or whatever, your skin needs to be pretty thin for this to really annoy you. You have to know going in you're going to see this type of behavior, so you're expecting it. I'd just laugh along with them.

[zalw619]

like i said "please shut up and drink your tea" So you pony up 10,000 to enter into a main event and you expect everyone to be nice and not talk at the table, Obviously at that point let me give you some advice "poker is not for u" you don't belong at the poker table, you should be playing scrabble or chess, because talking and being obnoxious at the poker table is a part of the game and if you cannot handle it then you should not play