What's with all the poker on TV lately?

ESPN, Bravo, Travel Channel. What does poker have to do with traveling? Does anyone here find watching people playing cards exciting?

Is it on a number of different stations? I was beginning to think that along with the Hitler Channel, we now had the Poker Channel. It seems to me to be a weird thing to watch, too. :shrug:

Is that your cute nickname for the History Channel?

Hey, you knew what channel I was talking about. LOL

comes from the same place, pitched to the same people (for the same reasons)

Poker is becoming quite mainstream.

It crosses all demographics (male, female, young and old)

It's simply not the same game it was 10 or even 5 years ago.

And frankly, It's retarded. I want my regular sports back!

here in Seattle , on Fridays they were having a cheesy local poker tourney from a casino up north on the CBS affiliate....horrific! :evilfrown:

Check out Newsmeat for Doyle Brunson and Howard Lederer, two of the finest playing the game.

I personally love watching poker (assuming they show more hands than just the "exciting" no limit all-in hands... they're 500x less exciting than watching a pro make a masterful read and play in my opinion) but I totally understand why some people would find it boring. It's like football (both American and World) or baseball, or heck, even hockey.

The professor! Good to hear he's on the good side politically.

Doyle Brunson is just a treat to watch play.

for almost 20 years in casinos and card clubs in California. It's a fascinating game... I love to watch the pro's do it.

wish me luck!!!

I'm playing on Pokerstars.

As I know you can do, because I'm curious how they go about implementing their anti-cheat measures.

Specifically: Team Play by phone, internet voice, talking to the guy next to you at his computer.

How?

Only this time it's to put them to sleep. :shrug:

Or maybe simply because those shows have to be extremely cheap to produce, cheaper than any other kind of show.

Used to be only a few wealthy people could afford to play in these big poker tournaments, cause the buy-ins were $10,000 or more. Joe Sixpack can't afford that.

Then a couple years ago, that Moneymaker guy won an online tournament to get into the tournament and ended up winning the whole thing. It generated a lot of interest in online poker, cause the only way Moneymaker had ever played prior to the tourney was online.

Now, televised games show the players hole cards. It would be boring to me if they didn't show the hole cards, but seeing what they have and how they play it makes it much more interesting.

Two years ago I woulda said you were nuts if you said I'd watch poker on TV, but to me, it beats the hell outta most TV these days.

But hey, to each their own. Keeps 'em off the streets. ;)

I'm just wondering when exactly the Travel Channel was apparently purchased by the Las Vegas tourism board. Because a few years ago it turned into the freakin' Vegas Channel. I like Vegas but I have an aunt that lives out there and I get my fill when I visit her.

Give me more shows about haunted places to visit, dammit. And no, not haunted places in Vegas either. :P

That fascinates me. Been playing for more than 30yrs.

Well now that I can understand. :)

Poker confuses me. I've had several people sit down and try to explain the rules to me but I just don't get it.

Helps the memory.

This isn't the great Doyle Brunson himself, is it? ;)

Did you see Phil get slapped around last night? Annie played him like a fiddle.

Yup, another once-solid channel goes down the tubes, joining the History Channel and A&E in the scrap heap of "channels that used to offer intelligent programming."

on TV. Beats me why that's so but everytime it's on, I have to watch it and I just stare at the TEEvee in awe.