I have been dimly aware that America has gone gaga over the game of poker in the last several years, but that fact didn't really sink in until just now when the TeeWee started playing a show called Poker After Dark. Not actually ever watching TeeWee, this came as something of a shock to me.
They televise poker?
And people watch?
Holy crap, this is so dull and impenetrable that it makes golf look like NASCAR.
Hate to break it to you, Tam, but welcome to 5 years ago. Poker is established on TV very much. I don't like it on ESPN, cause i believe the slot would be better for something like baseball.
ReplyDeleteWorld Series of Poker got big ratings and now there's that, Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker on GSN at the same time (2am), and World Poker Tour.
I like the High Stakes one cause it's the players' own money, and it's like a $100,000 buy-in or some such. I've seen hands go for $1,000,000+. I watch it cause i play sometimes, and you learn the odds and how to read other people. If you can read the big pros while watching this, you can read Herb from the next block.
It's the witty banter around the table that left me slack-jawed.
ReplyDeleteImagine The Firing Line with the panel being a bunch of guys from your high school football team, and William Buckley's dead.
Hey! Easy on the NASCAR bashing! Or I'll throw a Coors Light at ya!
ReplyDeleteIf poker makes golf look like NASCAR, what does golf make NASCAR look like?
ReplyDeleteIf there was an occasional fiery crash in golf, it would pass NASCAR by.
At least in golf, they have 18 different setting. Nascar, they turn left. Then left. Then left.
"Holy crap, this is so dull and impenetrable that it makes golf look like NASCAR."
ReplyDeleteHaving watched a NASCAR race in person, I can tell you that this is a questionable comparison. Dayum, but that's a boring sport to watch.
I could get into watching rally/grand prix, but that constant left turn crap is insufferable. I found myself having much more fun watching the people.
The women are more fun to watch, especially when Jennifer Tilly is playing. The poker men tend to rile my inner dominatrix.
ReplyDeleteTam, they televise fishing.
ReplyDeleteWhat's worse, people earn a living writing dialog for fishing shows!
I actually like watching the Main Event of the WSOP, but all the other poker shows are boring as hell.
ReplyDeleteI agree with kevin though, fishing is the worst.
Don't they also show pool and bowling? At least my golf bag is digital multicam and can hold an AR - and in golf you hit and play at engagement distances.
ReplyDeleteThe only physical exertion in televised poker is gastrointestinal distress and bladder spasm. That's on the lens side of the screen- I keep right on flipping through the channels on my side and it doesn't affect me.
ReplyDeleteI've come to realize that a golf course is a terrible waste of a rifle range. One of the guys I work with is a golf addict who keeps trying to get me to pick up the clubs again. I defuse the situation by reminding him that I can't hit a ball 300 yards, but I can hit a ball at 300 yards.
Regards,
Rabbit.
We can only thank god nobody's seen fit to put cameras at the firing line of a bench rest shoot.
ReplyDeleteA number of years back, ESPN broadcast Magic The Gathering. Srsly.
ReplyDelete-SayUncle
Thomas, are you saying us Benchrest shoots are dull, or are saying we're ugly? :)
ReplyDeleteThe scary part is that the poker you're watching is edited for television! They don't show all the hands that go bet, fold, fold, fold. So it's actually intended to be more exciting on TV than in real life!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I love it -- it attracts all the n00bs to the game who then think that betting all in with a weak hand is some kind of power move.