Poker on TV
The ingenuity of poker on TV in its early incarnation was not only that we got to see something a lot of people had never seen or understood. We were seeing poker online play by some of the masters of the game, interesting action that actually involved skill and poise and thought and not just queues of “I’m all in.” It seems like each year, since the advent of Chris Moneymaker, however, things have ramped up and then ramped back down as far as how interesting poker on TV can be.
So what can make poker online on TV good again? Right now by far the most interesting incarnation of poker on tv, in my view, is High Stakes Poker. By utilzing a cash buy in and a revolving cast of players, this show guarantees from hand to hand to be not only entertaining, but a true learning experience. Among its several seasons, we’re never reduced to an all-in fest, which is what the programmers of other poker shows seem to think everyone wants. In fact it’s the opposite: everyone wants to see a good game. The Heads Up Poker Tournament on NBC also does a nice job of changing up the traditional poker TV format. Modeling itself after a variation of average structure is a great win in the gamut of ideas. More in this mind, of stretching forms and showing great play over ‘action,’ can hopefully continue to renew the fun of the game as a spectator’s sport.
