Dan Harrington commentary on WPC

[MicroBob]

I'm not very familiar with the Ultimate Poker Challenge but I just stumbled on it and noticed that it's Dan Harrington doing the color-commentary.
Play-by-play guy isn't giving him much room to speak...but Harrington's presence alone sure helps this show's credibility.


(it's on WGN-Chicago as I speak...which is carried by many cable-systems)

[MicroBob]

before going to the commercial break they just showed Dan and the other guy and gave a quick plug for Dan's HOH books.

Dan is wearing his trademark Green Bo-sox flat-billed hat during the broadcast. Nice touch so that viewers are more likely to recognize him from his WSOP final-table appearance.

Crap, I missed it, is it gonna be rebroadcast sometime?

[MicroBob]

it really wasn't that worthwhile from what I was casually over-hearing while playing online.

He had a couple of okay comments in there...but the play-by-play guy really didn't give Dan much room to breathe.

Was better than the kind of analysis we get from Mike sexton or Norman Chad of course....but it wasn't quite the end-all, be-all.


Honestly, I don't know where and when it is broadcast. I imagine it is on during different days and times in various locations but I guess you're on your own to see if it's on in your area sometime.

It's not that great a show though....never watched more than 5 minutes of it....but when I heard Harrington's voice I was naturally going to stick around.

[Notorious G.O.B.]

Did anyone catch that the geeky long haired kid listed his occupation as 'Adventurer?' I don't know what to think of that, except he should probably sell his dick on ebay, because he won't be needing it.

Edit: If this was mean, I apologize, I'm just kidding around.

[Kevmath]

www.ultimatepokerchallenge.com (http://www.ultimatepokerchallenge.com) for times in your area. The show with Dan's commentary was on here last Sunday. I think this was the 3rd show of their new season, so in about 6 months you've got another chance of seeing it if you didn't get a chance the first time.

[Joey Legend]

According to the Website Al Krux played in the episode that Dan announced. That a bit interesting as the two seemed to have a good relationship at the 2004 WSOP, and I think Sun tan Al took 5th or 6th place when Dan won it back in 1995 if I remeber the 1995 broadcast right.

[Kevmath]

Dan must have done a 2nd week of commentary, because that wasn't the lineup last week.

He did do a second week. My impressions remain the same (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=3450905&page=1&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1) - Dan can do a lot of things really well, but announcing isn't one of them.

Dan didn't give any tips of note this time around, but he did play poker with Bill Gates when Bill was attending Harvard. He mentioned that Mr. Bill did decently, but not against him.

Sloppy moment of the week - PBP announcer Chad Brown asked Dan to define under the gun, twice.

Another stellar field at the Plaza - $3000 buy-in, $174k prize pool. Adds up to 58 players. The WSOP ME this is not.

Four recognizable pros at the final table here - Al Krux, Freddy Deeb, Todd Brunson, and Senthil Kumar.

And Brandi wore a strapless red number. Not bad.

[MicroBob]

Indeed...the line-up I saw was 6 total unknowns.


I think Dan could be a better announcer...but he needs a play-by-play guy who gives him the right direction (and doesn't step on him so much).

Dan has lots to add when the PBP announcer isn't trying to dumb-it-down all the time.

Take the team of Matt Vasgersian and Gabe Kaplan...Matt still explains what is going on....but doesn't make it SO dumb that Gabe can't jump in with decent analysis.

IMO...Lederer was able to do the same thing in his broadcasts.


If I ever got to work with Dan on a poker-broadcast I can guarantee that there would be plenty of good content.


UPC is taking the right step by asking Action-Dan in the first place (as opposed to Sexton/VVP and Norman Chad and and non-analysts like that) but they've just got to avoid such sillyness as defininig 'under-the-gun' and just roll with it.

It's not just a matter of trying to appeal to knowledgeable players...it's a matter of making it more interesting to EVERYONE.

[Kevmath]

This week's tournament ended the same day as the WSOP ME final table, which may explain why so many of the name pros were actually at the Plaza at that time.