Late Night Poker on Fox Sports Net

[ApolloQuiet]

Anyone catch this show? It's on really weird hours, and since I don't have TiVo, I can never catch it. What is it? Is it worth checking out?

[Mikey]

It is a No-Limit Poker Tournament held in UK.

Being from the states, they talk funny and some of them dress funny but they play poker very well.

If you enjoy Poker, I suggest checking it out. I'll watch any poker on TV.

[spamuell]

I'd definitely recommend it, there are some really excellent players from the UK and Europe, you've probably heard of a few (Devilfish, The Hendon Mob, Marcel Luske etc), as well as some American players (Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and some others).

It's not as fast paced or action packed as WPT, but they do play some excellent NLHE (and some not-so-excellent NLHE). Well worth watching.

[Easy E]

I'll watch any poker on TV.

Your room in Hell will be chained to a chair and forced to watch a continous loop program of
- any and all Bravo Celebrity Poker shows
- Phil H whining on camera and showing his sex-god body.

[Mikey]

LOL. Ok Easy E, you have got me there!! Not all Poker... and to be honest I cannot watch Celebrity Poker.

I admit when they showed Phil H. without his shirt, I was appalled.

[scotnt73]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll watch any poker on TV.

Your room in Hell will be chained to a chair and forced to watch a continous loop program of
- any and all Bravo Celebrity Poker shows
- Phil H whining on camera and showing his sex-god body.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/grin.gif classic

[cferejohn]

It's on every weekday at midnight (at least here on the left coast). The problem is it is only a 1/2 hour show, so really you're mostly seeing the bust-outs. It also has the problem of most of the non-WPT poker shows that the information you get about stack size, pot size, and bet size is sketchy and inconsistent. I'll usually watch it if I'm up and don't have anything better to do, but it's not something I go out of my way to record (like the WPT).

Also, they do show the players hands, but usually only post flop (unless someone is on a preflop decision for all his chips). The announcers often miss things, which may be because they don't have all the information in front of them (for example, last night they were going on about someone having a flush draw, and didn't mention the fact that the *other* player had a *better* flush draw until it actually hit). Also, when they put the cards on screen the text is all white. This makes it very hard to notice flushes since you don't even have the red/black dichotomy to clue you in.

That Jack Arama guy (with the funny hats/glasses) is almost worth a half hour of my time on his own. I'm not sure if I believe his name is really "Jack Arama".

What I *do* like about the show (as opposed to the WPT) is that the set is just a table in a simple, black studio (similar to the set of Charlie Rose). There's no music or flashing lights, just people playing poker.

I also find it amusing that people are allowed to smoke at the table. I play in CA and I've rarely seen anyone smoke at a poker table.

[Scottnyce]

"I don't have tivo"


Get it. It will change your life.

[spamuell]

The problem is it is only a 1/2 hour show, so really you're mostly seeing the bust-outs.

Strange, it's an hour in the UK. They must cut it down for you guys.

The announcers often miss things, which may be because they don't have all the information in front of them (for example, last night they were going on about someone having a flush draw, and didn't mention the fact that the *other* player had a *better* flush draw until it actually hit).

This isn't them actually missing things, one of the announcers is always an excellent player who knows what he is talking about (although the other one is Jesse May [yes the one from Showdown at the Sands]). Anyway, what they try to do is build up the tension by not revealing the hands and to make viewers see it from the point of view of the player who is playing the hand, as many people who are new to poker will not understand that a flush draw appears good to a player if they see that another player has a higher one.

That Jack Arama guy (with the funny hats/glasses) is almost worth a half hour of my time on his own. I'm not sure if I believe his name is really "Jack Arama".

It is, although it's spelt Jac Arama. He's in several episodes.

[cferejohn]

[ QUOTE ]
...it's an hour in the UK...

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah. At the beginning of each episode, they do a 'recap', in which a couple players are often eliminated; I'm guessing this is the first 1/2 hour. That's a shame.

[cferejohn]

[ QUOTE ]
"I don't have tivo"


Get it. It will change your life.

[/ QUOTE ]

Admittedly, your life will be changed in that you will watch more TV, but at least it will be TV you want to watch. No digital cable == no TiVo in my neighborhood.

I would say, get TiVo (or some on demand TV solution) or kill your television...

[ScottyP431]

From the episodes ive seen LNP seems to be one of the greatest collections of bad beat video in the history of the world. It is literally awesome how many beats get dished out.

Second, the announcers make the WSOP guys look like [censored] pros. THere is one complete douche who does this like yell/whisper and says things like "two cowboys in his hand, combined with one on the board, and he rode them to victory" and "oh my jesus, quadrouple snowmen, its a snow storm". And the introductions they give the players at the beginning are also soooo funny, i mean the writers for this show must literally be retarded monkeys, "james is a hotelliar, that doesnt mean hell be accomidating", "john is a tennis pro, but his love game? poker of course", "andrea is a photographer, shell be in the picture". and what is the deal with the maniacal laugh that occurs after they introduce the players? its pretty creepy

One of the announcers whos not on every episode(benny/barnie boatman(sp) i think) is totally awesome and should be the only person allowed to announce poker anywhere in the world other than mike sexton

[Sheriff Fatman]

Barney Boatman is one of the Hendon Mob and only commentated on the later series. He was competing in most of them. The exciteable Jessie May (much hated commentator) was there all the time, unfortunately.

I'm intrigued as to why/how they've cut it down to 1/2 hour. Do they also do this for the finals, which were 90 minute shows instead of the usual hour?

The show does seem very tame compared to WPT but this series was, for a lot of Brits, their first exposure to Poker and are the reason for much of the game's recent popularity. Unfortunately they stopped making them a few years ago.

As for WPT, we're still getting series 1 re-runs over here. We might see series 2 one day in the distant future!

[Simon Diamond]

How about Jessie May on series 1 of LNP? Compare his commentary in that series to the commentary from the Poker Million that Jimmy White won.

Complete transformation from dull monotony to hysterical ranting.

Amusing, but a little irritating after a while.

Simon

[LargeCents]

You aren't missing much. I caught LNP last week for the first time and was disappointed. Especially, since I had just caught my first episode of WPT and was blown away by the 2 hour show. LNP is a half hour show here, which isn't enough time to really get a feel for the players, especially when you are just seeing snippets of actual play interspersed with commercials and dry commentary. I'd say you'd have to be pretty hard up for some TV poker to tune in.

Although, LNP is still better than Celebrity poker. I also caught celebrity poker for the first time last week and was just gagging. One guy kept asking the dealer, "what should I do?", seriously. Was like watching penny-ante rummy at the old-folks home.

My personal plan is to just watch WPT and skip the other ones, unless I just happen to flip to it.

[Nottom]

I have tivo, but unfortuantely don't have Fox Sports /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[TimTimSalabim]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm intrigued as to why/how they've cut it down to 1/2 hour. Do they also do this for the finals, which were 90 minute shows instead of the usual hour?



[/ QUOTE ]

I've been watching the last few weeks. They've basically just taken an hour show and broken it into two half-hour shows on consecutive nights (3 for the finals).

I find that Jessie May is actually tolerable for this format. He sort of fits the whole cheesy aspect of the show.

[Simon Diamond]

Was like watching penny-ante rummy at the old-folks home.

Except this is far more bearable right?

Funny comment. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Simon

[lefty rosen]

That idiot American is the reason why I won't watch that show at all. Talk about over the top. He makes Howard Cosell seem sedate.

[jasonHoldEm]

I love the LNP set...I absolutely hate the WPT's rave party set and would like to see them adopt something similar to LNP. Other than that I really don't like the show, basically because it's too short and the commentary is lacking (except for the guy the others have mentioned).

There's probably a bit of a culture gap in there somewhere too.

jHE

[B Dids]

The NLP set looks really uncomfortable to me. Everybody is so cramped together.

I don't know if anybody say the one last night- but the guy Joe who tried to bluff a bot with 63o, got forced all-in, and rivered a gut shot straight... that was ugly.

My biggest beef with the show is that the editing is such that you don't get any feel for the play. A little too quick, and way too much Jesse May.

[TomCollins]

My biggest beef is that it becomes an all-in contest. I'm trying to count how many hands weren't all in by the turn, and can't think of any. Which is my least favorite part of tournaments I play in... when its a push-fest and its mainly a matter of getting lucky or not getting unlucky.

[ScottyP431]

Can someone, probably someone british, explain the "hendon mob" to me?

[B Dids]

That's a good point. You don't see good poker being played- you're watching people flip coins for money. Not very interesting

[spamuell]

Can someone, probably someone british, explain the "hendon mob" to me?

Hendon is an area of North London. As I understand it, Ram Vaswani, Ross and Barney Boatman and Joe Beevers all lived in (or near) Hendon which is why that was the name of their foursome.

Pretty annoying for me, given that my poker friends and I also live in that sort of area, and we have to think of a different name for our mob. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[bosulli]

I hear ya. LNP sux. Don't waste your time. Celebrity poker sux even worse. My home game has more production value (and more skilled card playing). Showdown at the Sands (something like that) was good. Matter of fact, I had just finished reading an article in CardPlayer by Negreanu about loosing at the final table at the Sands, and behold there was the squirrly looking f'er playing on the TV.

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
Showdown at the Sands (something like that) was good. Matter of fact, I had just finished reading an article in CardPlayer by Negreanu about loosing at the final table at the Sands, and behold there was the squirrly looking f'er playing on the TV.

[/ QUOTE ]

I finally caught the Sands episode where Helmuth was "slowrolled" by TJ's flush. Classic Phil moment for sure.

[spamuell]

I finally caught the Sands episode where Helmuth was "slowrolled" by TJ's flush. Classic Phil moment for sure.

Absolutely. I just burst out laughing when Phil was still moaning to the cameras later "I know what TJ looks like when he's bluffing. I knew he was bluffing. I've been waiting two years for this opportunity..."

The thing is, if it happened to anyone else, it wouldn't be funny at all.

[ScottyP431]

Celebrity poker was awful, but one moment where i literally spit soda all overmyself and laughed for 20 minutes was when n-sullivan was like "PHIL!! PHIL!! I NEED HELP" and phil gordon goes "god i love to hear her screaming my name"

it almost made the whole series worthwhile

[ApolloQuiet]

I kinda liked the Celebrity show's. While I didn't learn anything relevant, it still had a certain entertainment value. Plus, since it got some mainstream attention, that is certainly good for the overall game of poker.

I didn't quite get why Phil Gordon was the co-host. Allthough he had some good one-liners, he basically just sounded like he was reading lines that the producers gave him about odds, and who's a favorite and whatnot.

When all the 'losers' were in the green room during the final table episode, and Affleck and Schwimmer came in and said they wanted to start a game right there, and in the background you here Gordon saying, "I want in!". Good stuff.

[el_grande]

This is the funniest post I've ever read on here. Good stuff man!!! /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif