Does anyone actually watch poker on ESPN, etc.?

I'm just trying to figure out why ESPN (and Fox Sports too) show like 485 hours of poker a week. Whatever it is that's so great about watching a bunch of scuzzy-looking people in dark glasses sitting around a table playing cards, I am just not getting it.

Heck, I know plenty of people like to play poker. But does that really translate into making it exciting to watch other people playing it?


And if they must show card games instead of, say, an actual sport, what about "Go Fish"? Now there's a thinking person's game.:P

Most everything is turning into a casino variation now. :(

Living in Las Vegas, I was bored of poker long before it boomed. Every poker player I know bounces out of the poker room with stories about the latest bad beat, and then wants a quick tip on a sporting event that's about to start so he can force a bet.

Poker rooms here are overflowing, day and night. Some casinos have literally had to put in overflow areas to squeeze in a few more tables due to high demand. I've seen an increase in that the past few weeks, presumably people who are taking summer vacations here to play poker. They are overwhelmingly white guys in the key age demographic that advertisers cater to, so I'm guessing that translates to decent ratings for ESPN.

They tend to show it when the major networks are showing major sporting events. Probably part of their contract for coverage of the various leagues is to put non-competive television on. They also show cheerleading and world's strongest man competitions, in addition to poker.

Man, just when I thought corporate culture couldn't be any more ickily incestuous.

I think it's pretty compelling to watch when you can see the hole cards.

I like seeing how these elite players make decisions. How they change speeds and adjust their play. Or the little games they play to try and read each other.

I watch quite a bit when there's nothing else on.

That's the fun part for me. I've seen some of the older tournaments when they didn't show the hole cards and it was excrutiatingly boring. Now, i enjoy it.
GAC

seriously, watch how the elite players such as helmuth, negraneu, doyle and the like play in the world series of pker which is a tournament and then watch them on high stakes pker which is a cash game and see how their play differs. High stakes is crazy because they play with their own money, negraneu lost somewhere in the area of 1.5 million last or the year before it was something else

Like any other "sport", you have to understand it to really see why people like it.

in this case, I LOVE poker, I play it all the time. But watching it? :shrug:

I enjoy watching it.

When they start showing the main event this year, I'll watch.

I don't enjoy the WSOP coverage as much. ESPN has made that into pretty much an entertainment show. Too much personal profiles, and not enough poker action. The reality is that ESPN probably shows less than 1 % of the hands played. People watch poker on ESPN, and get the wrong impression about poker. They only show the hands where 2 quality hands face-off. A lot of poker is about patience and quite frankly folding a lot.

NBC's Poker After Dark gives a much better illustration of what a poker tournament is about. A lot of raising pre-flop and taking down pots easily. You can learn a lot about the game watching professionals and seeing their hole cards.

High Stakes Poker is also a lot of fun. It's incredible to see that kind of money thrown around. Every time I bet $15,000 on the river, I'd be thinking that amounts to a new car. I don't know if I could ever play at the highest stakes. I enjoy playing games like $1/2 and $5 SNG tournaments. I once tried playing 10/20, and it practically gave me a heart attack.

I mean seriously people you DO KNOW that there is an outside...don't you?

but, honestly, how much freaking poker do you need to watch? I'd rather just play it...

He won it all a couple years ago and I've seen him a couple times since----being busted out early in various tournaments.

To his credit, he did finish 2nd in a high-profile World Poker Tour tournament following his WSOP victory.

Moneymaker has his contract with Poker Stars and Canadian Club, which allows him to travel around capitalizing on his celebrity. He came to my local poker room last year for a $45 buy-in tournament.

I think Moneymaker is a pretty average player. Raymer and Hachem are the best of the recent novice Main Events champions. Gold and Moneymaker are decent, but I wouldn't put them in the upper eschelon of poker professionals.

His lasting impact is being the impetus of the poker boom in the U.S. Average players were encouraged by the fact that he turned a $30 satellite into a million dollar payday. The everyguy persona of Moneymaker is largely responsible for the growth of poker.

I haven't seen a single person bleed in the poker tournament.