Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Poker on TV

I'm curious to see what the ratings will be for the WSOP this year on ESPN.
I don't honestly know how much I'll contribute to them either.
Unlike most who were bitten and had their blood sucked by the poker tick - and really, isn't a tick a much better analogy, even if you enjoy the game as much as I had - I didn't get hooked by watching poker on TV. I played in a friend's home game, really not knowing what I was doing (I loved chasing inside straights), and eventually looked so forward to those Thursday nights that I sated my poker urge by watching it on TV and, yes, playing online. I even blogged about it. A little.
Anyway, the tick is no longer there (but the head still is, those tiny bastards), but I still enjoy poker on TV. I love High Stakes Poker and even the cash games on Poker After Dark.
The thing is, I've still got 13 episodes of PAD on my DVR. From June. I'm doing my best to watch them, but the kids (which I've already whined too much about), the outdoors (damn summertime) and Kate's surgery have all conspired to leave me about as much free time as James Bond (and I don't even get to go to fancy parties to blow off some steam).
So TV is almost like a chore, another thing to do, because those episodes are just sitting there in my DVR.
I don't want the WSOP news on ESPN to be seen as a chore, as I look forward to that every summer, but this may be the first season I watch sporadically. The other problem, of course, is tournament poker can be pretty boring to watch. Here's a pair of 6s, and here's AK, let's shove 30 BBs in and flip to see what happens, oh look an Ace on the river, how amazing.
Plus we already know who won most of the events. And most of the Main Event coverage is usually cutesy segments following around the guy from Everybody Loves Raymond and the other guy from Everybody Loves Raymond.
I dunno. Has the WSOP coverage lost its thrill for you? I guess we'll see for me.

1 comment:

Memphis MOJO said...

For me: Poker on TV is like a girlfriend with whom the thrill is gone, but you can't quite break up.