History Channel, Breaking Vegas and Positively 5th Street

[SoftcoreRevolt]

Is anyone else watching this? It has been quite awful so far, with people going up to TJ Cloutier before the WSOP talking about how much they loved him on the WPT (TIME TRAVEL) which was quite amusing for the History Channel to get wrong.

[Kashie]

Just turned it on after 15 mins in .

I think it's ok. They can't show to much but it's another show about poker.
So far McManus qualified for the wsop but he's broke, I can relate when I was younger I was in Vegas under differnt circumstance but similiar.
Believe me , when your in your early 20's it's much easier to be in Vegas and pratically broke.

[dcmidnight]

I like how they show shots from the World Series, with Jack Binions World Poker Open banners all over the walls. Terrible show so far.

[ClassicBob]

Yeah, this has been quite awful.

[MaxPower]

You beat me to it. I was just going to post this.

Nice work "History" Channel.

[mostsmooth]

wow tj is a prick huh? (the actor i mean)

[ClassicBob]

I like the actor who is supposed to be Ferguson, wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

"TWO HUN-DRED THOU-SAND!" Worst acting ever.

[JTrout]

Wow, was that bad! It was almost comical.

[Kashie]

That's it???

Oh well . Low Budget rules.
lol /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[SoftcoreRevolt]

I can't understand why they'd get TJ and Jesus for interviews, but then pay actors to play them in the flash backs. IT WAS FIVE YEARS AGO!

[GuruCane]

Logged on specifically to post about this.
1. They engaged in time travel.
2. Whenever they talked about his standing in the tourney, the subsequent bets he made didn't add up ("His stack was under 100,000" then he is involved in an 850K pot).
3. "TWO---HUNDRED---THOUSAND!"
4. Ridiculous asides by the actor playing Jim.

I want to vomit.

[I Stink]

How bout when he beat and won against Hasan with one hand even thou Hasan knocked everyone else out of the satellite

[plaid]

I loved it that the wardrobe department clothed Jesus in plaid, of all things. Much more intimidating than black.

[mungpo]

I am really suprised JOPKE didn't scroll across my television screen.

[Photoc]

Anyone notice that this is in the year 2000 but yet a guy says "Hey TJ, you rock on the WPT!!" Um, I didn't know the WPT was now in it's 5th! season.

[bolgenmod]

This is an amazing piece of cheese -- and I love the disclaimer about how it's recreated, but with great attention to correct historical details. I've watched about 6 minutes of it, and I've spotted about 4 mistakes no one else has mentioned yet. (For example, the poker books he has includes Carson's 2001 book!)

And the cheesy opening "Cloutier is all in -- it's all come down to this!" Awesomely bad -- thanks guys for "recommending" this program.

[OrangeCat]

Sheesh, some of you guys are such poker snobs. I’m surprised nobody complained that Jesus was wearing the wrong hat.

The intended audience is not the multi-tabling, 1000 hands a day, 2+2er. It’s the casual poker player.

OK, the show was not well made but it was moderately entertaining. It will probably bring in some new players. Shows like this are good for poker.

[lighterjobs]

in positively fifth street mcmanus says he made a deal with hasan and another player in the satellite where he paid them each i think $1500 because they made a save, but on the tv show it says mcmanus bought his wife a new ring with his leftover money.

[SoftcoreRevolt]

It's fantastic that they pimped TJ's weak tight book too, but that doesn't excuse THE HISTORY CHANNEL for being historically inaccurate.

[lighterjobs]

[ QUOTE ]
Believe me , when your in your early 20's it's much easier to be in Vegas and pratically broke.

[/ QUOTE ]

last year I flew out to vegas when I was 18 and played for 30 straight hours and won ~$1500 playing 4/8 (two high hand jackpots). after i cashed out i sat down to play blackjack at $50 a hand and lost it all and missed my flight. when I went to the airport they told me the only way I could get a different flight was to pay $100 to move my flight time, and i was broke. it sucked.

[Sponger15SB]

I'm so glad that I get to be the first person in this thread to tell you that you're an idiot.

[TimTimSalabim]

Now I know how the History Channel comes up with all those amazing facts -- they make them up!

[AaronO]

This show could have been better if they would have had Elix Powers acting the role of Jim McManus.

[toots]

[ QUOTE ]
in positively fifth street mcmanus says he made a deal with hasan and another player in the satellite where he paid them each i think $1500 because they made a save, but on the tv show it says mcmanus bought his wife a new ring with his leftover money.

[/ QUOTE ]

Positively Fifth Street also said that he spent what little remained of his BR on some expensive jewelry for his wife before the ME started.

What the show left out was that McManus went to Vegas with some of his own savings in addition to the advance he got from Harpers.

[JPinAZ]

[ QUOTE ]
What the show left out was that McManus went to Vegas with some of his own savings in addition to the advance he got from Harpers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just watched the first 15 minutes or so and they did say that his advance was only $4,000 & the buy in is $10,000.

[InkyWretch]

Breaking Vegas is one of the most craptacular shows I've ever seen. The "reenactments" are horrendous. Having the actors "break down the fourth wall" and talk directly into the camera is hilariously bad.

What bothered me most about the show was how it didn't delve into the Binion murder trial. That, if I remember correctly, was the main angle of the magazine article.

[VegasVixen]

OK I hate to keep this post alive but here goes...
I missed the original airing of the show, so stayed up to catch it at like 1 a.m...
I agree it was terrible. Here's what sticks out most in my mind...
1st- When he arrives with his 4k, after the $1000 buy-in for the sattelite and the $2500 for the ring, he's down to his last $500 so what does he do? Go to the Gentleman's club for the "full Vegas experience". Hahaha! The best part is when he tells the lady he's broke, and she says "You gotta pay if you wanna play".

Ok next, the one part I did enjoy was the interview with TJ at the end, where he was discussing his bluff on the last hand. He indicated he knew McManus had AK and was trying to push him off his hand. He bluffed, it didn't work, period. How refreshing. TJ is a class act compared to Annie Duke and her comments after last year's WSOP when she was caught/eliminated in a very similar situation, and her comments were to the effect of "any good player would not have called me with A high". My hat's off to TJ... /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have not read either the Harper's article or Positively 5th Street, although I heard the book is very good and its on my list to read. All I can say is the History Channel did a terrible job with this project...

[MaxPower]

[ QUOTE ]
Sheesh, some of you guys are such poker snobs. I’m surprised nobody complained that Jesus was wearing the wrong hat.

The intended audience is not the multi-tabling, 1000 hands a day, 2+2er. It’s the casual poker player.

OK, the show was not well made but it was moderately entertaining. It will probably bring in some new players. Shows like this are good for poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

They can at least get the facts right. This event happened years before the World Poker Tour existed and yet in the show some guy goes up to TJ and tells him that he's seen him on the World Poker Tour.

[SoftcoreRevolt]

But it was re-enacted AFTER the WPT became popular, so it makes perfect sense!

This is not the same History Channel which reeled me in with Military Blunders.

[stankphish]

I read Jims book and watched that horrible show and what really bothers me is that I've been relying on the history channel for all of my historical facts/info since I graduated highschool. Now there is no telling how much of it was false or made up. If they cant even get that show right when there is a book that is less than 5 years old to go by how can I ever trust them for historical facts of events that happened thousands of years ago. I feel like my whole life up to this point has been a lie.

P.S. I bet Jim's wife is pissed pissed pissed at the way they portrayed him at the strip club which is absolutely not the way it happened in the book.

[keats]

Arent the Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, and History Channels all operated by the same company? If they are it just shameless cross-promotion nothin new. However Im not positive they are run by the same company. Also the casual fan who just turned it on and hears someguy say "World Poker Tour" would probably be more interested then if he said hey TJ I watched you in "The Aruba Poker Classic". Probably just done to help relate to the casual fan. A think a bit of overreacting is going on.

[Stephen H]

The Discovery and Travel Channels are both owned by DCI; however, the History Channel is part of the A&E network (A joint venture of Hearst, ABC, and NBC). So it's not just a shameless crosspromotion.

[ClaytonN]

My favorite part is where McManus calls off 2/3 of his stack on the bubble of the tournament with 9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif8 /images/graemlins/heart.gif preflop because it's his "lucky hand"

Retard

[mostsmooth]

how about all the slow rolling that was going on?
jim slow rolls his qq, then the guy slow rolls his Kxd

[VegasVixen]

[ QUOTE ]
I read Jims book and watched that horrible show and what really bothers me is that I've been relying on the history channel for all of my historical facts/info since I graduated highschool. Now there is no telling how much of it was false or made up. If they cant even get that show right when there is a book that is less than 5 years old to go by how can I ever trust them for historical facts of events that happened thousands of years ago. I feel like my whole life up to this point has been a lie.

P.S. I bet Jim's wife is pissed pissed pissed at the way they portrayed him at the strip club which is absolutely not the way it happened in the book.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK so you rely on TV for "hisotical facts/info" but have read a book about Poker...hmmmmm... whats the world coming to?!?! /images/graemlins/confused.gif