Let's Lay Our Cards On the Table
Poker players, REAL poker players (meaning people that love to play the GAME of poker and not just bandwagon riding freaks) think Texas Hold 'Em and damn near all other Hold 'Em variations suck major ass and are no fun to play.
The only reason that Texas Hold 'Em ever gained any prominence at all is because it is the one poker game out there that can maximize the number of seats and players around the table. Make the table big enough and you can have one hell of a big ass game going if all the players are limited to two freakin' cards. More players means more money, especially with so many suckers lining up to play the damn game these days.
Hold 'Em is less poker than all poker games. Sure all the same factors exist. There's betting & bluffing and all that crap. However, it can't hold a candle to true poker games like 5-Card Stud. Hell for fun's sake, 7-Card Stud or a good game of Draw poker will always be more interesting and more fun to play than any game of Hold 'Em.
It is more than time for poker to go away from my TV screen. I liked Celebrity Poker Showdown, but that's only because actual actors and comedians are more interesting than most poker players. It takes a lifetime of misery peppered with grand success before you are even 1/10th as interesting as a Doyle Brunson in the poker world. However, now that Phil Hellmuth has replaced Phil Gordon on Bravo (I guess Bravo has some sort of clause in their contracts that require all expert poker commentators to be named Phil.) it just isn't the same.
So now, I'm fine with all televised poker going far, far away. The game sucks, no matter which Van Patten you have working the room. I was watching poker on TV back when the best celeb they could get was Gabe Kaplan for fuck's sake. So really...Make poker go away.
7 Comments:
I wish I knew how to play poker, it looks like fun! Very Vegas Baby ;-)
5:50 AM
Me likes the Celebrity Poker too, cause it gets funny and not so boring. My son-in-law wishes it would go away too. :)
10:55 AM
Texas Hold 'Em is the easiest game to teach the poker novice, and it trains them to recognize what beats what, odds, and how to bluff. I like stud poker, 'cos that's what I was taught when I was a tiny kid (5 and 7 card) but I like watching Hold 'Em on TV. Where else can a nonskinnypretty like me see something on ESPN that I could actually compete at?
12:39 PM
How about women's golf, bowling & billiards?
Hold 'Em blows. More luck than poker. You don't learn how to bluff by watching a game where you actually see everyone's hole cards. You learn to bluff by sitting at the table and losing your own money.
It's no easier to teach someone with that game. It's more confusing. What beats what is the same no matter what game you play and the winning hands are all based upon 5-card hands. Starting with two and trying to bring people along for the ride convolutes things.
I think most women that suddenly like the game think they're watching Blackjack and wonder what the other cards are. Most male novices get into it because they see Jennifer Tilly playing it or the huge stacks of cash at the final tables and figure anyone can do it.
12:57 PM
Is it just me, or is stud poker much easier to understand than Texas Hold'Em? I mean, all you need to know is what beats what...
(Personally, I've always been a blackjack man myself - a little math, a little strategy, a whole lotta fun...)
4:20 PM
I didn't say it was easier to PLAY, I said it was easier to LEARN. I've taught people Texas Hold 'Em before I taught them real poker because once they know how to sit at a table, what beats what (which is, as you say, always the same), how to bluff, and what their odds are, stud poker comes easier to them.
Women's golf sucks because all golf sucks. Watching golf on TV is like watching the National Paint Drying Tournament.
4:18 AM
I played poker once-upon-a-time but then the men made me quit because everytime I sat down to play with them their luck would change and I would win. *sigh*
8:25 AM
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