poker-kings on A&E

[MicroBob]

it's coming up at 9 or 10 eastern-time (cant rememember).

i have no idea if it's about the various Legends of Poker...or if it's a completely different show.

maybe i'll see if i can find their website.

[MicroBob]

looks kind of interesting.....

10pm Eastern
Poker Kings
Go inside poker's exotic subculture as we follow the yearlong journey of the world's best and most eccentric players who vie for the ultimate prize--the World Series of Poker. Meet players who must exude confidence when everything rides on a single pot or an outrageous bluff, and struggle to weave their personal lives around their obsession with the game. It's a story of agony and ecstasy, of triumph and defeat, set against the colorful backdrop of Las Vegas.

[MicroBob]

except that when i click on the little link it's a pic of Varkoni pulling his big stack of cash.

Varkoni a king of poker?!?!???

[MicroBob]

half-way through ( hope it's only an hour) and this may be the worst show i've ever seen.

the bit showing Hellmuth 'hard at work' on his upcoming poker instructional book was pretty amusing though.

i'm suffering a common problem with other reality-type programming such as this....

'cant.....turn.......away!!'

[whiskeytown]

I actually found it rather interesting, if for no reason then it shows the downside/downswings of poker and poker players as opposed to the usual crap

Varkoni having a hard time finding a new job because of the implication that poker = problem gambler

pros who are 2nd and 3rd on the list with expenses so high they end up smuggling cigarettes and getting busted or giving up cause they're 50,000 in the hole -

it is my hope that that documentary MIGHT dissuade a few more of those "should I turn pro" posts - my only gripe is that it focused solely on tourney players, and not high stakes money players like Jennifer Harmen or Ted Forrest -

RB

[blockafor]

I agree with Whiskeytown. With the exception of Hellmuth, it made all these guys appear to be losers and implied that professional poker playing is a waste of a career. I wonder if there was intended sarcasm in the title.

[eMarkM]

Give the guy a break. They followed the lives of these players over a year from end of one WSOP to the next. He was the reigning champ, whatever his real talent, and they chose to follow how the guy's life went after winning the crown. He certainly made no claim as a "king", only playing a handful of tourneys, hanging with family and looking for a job. I thought it was interesting to follow how a "regular" guy's life went after winning the big one. It did seem his poker status actually hindered his job search.

Watching the Euro players was a real reality jolt. I mean these guys were ranked as top Euro players, yet they still struggled to make ends meet.

[michfan]

Was this a one time show or is it a series?

A&E's website does not give much info.

[eMarkM]

One show I think. At least my Tivo didn't show me a Season Pass option or anything and the show seemed self contained. It's sure to be re-run to death on A&E, that's for sure.

[MicroBob]

i still thought the show kind of stunk.

regarding varkoni and his employment situation....isnt it possible he was struggling to find employment because of other reasons (perhaps not being too strong in interviews, perhaps coming off as a bit of a dweeb...which he does) and was using his poker-background and the negative images he thought went with it as an excuse.

that aspect was still somewhat interesting however, i suppose.


i think things have probably changed in the post-Moneymaker era.
very few outside the poker-world have ever heard of Varkoni....but many non-poker players have heard of Moneymaker.

i think that with today's tv coverage it should be easier to capitalize on the advantages of winning a WSOP.
poker is less and less of a tabboo now.
still COULD be a problem...but i think it would be less of one now than it was when Varkoni was struggling.


the europeans all seemed like addicts/rejects/losers to me.
hellmuth's bit on the phone of "the show is revolving more and more around me...i knew that would happen" was revolting but not unexpected.

Varkoni was actually the most likeable guy on the show i thought.


perhaps my issues with the show have more to do with my general aversion to reality-type programming. right-away i was annoyed by the show.
i guess it is a somewhat realistic portrayal of certain aspects of tournament poker. but it sure seemed liked the show was attempting to make tourney-poker look about as unattractive as possible.

[RPatterson]

I don't get why they showed all these Europeans , couldn't they have followed people like Ivey, Cloutier, Lederer, etc.

[wateronrock]

It was funny because at no point did they examine if these guys could actually play? I guess it wasn't relevant?

What can you say about Phil? At some point I was hoping his personality was some sort of wrestling character. It's now obvious he's just a delusional wanker.

Did that one guy bring home a mail order bride? She should have known she was in trouble when she saw his pad...what a dump.

All in all the whole show was depressing. How can you do a show on poker kings and not ask the players what makes them good?

[Kevmath]

It's probably because it was done by an Australian production company.

It's also interesting to note that the original title was "Lucky Kings" The website's at www.luckykings.tv (http://www.luckykings.tv)

Kevin...

[MicroBob]

i think Poker Losers
or
Unlucky Kings
may have been better titles.

[RPatterson]

Those people weren't even Kings. They should have called it "Low-Level Barely Professional Tournament Poker Player Queens". That would have been more honest.

[RowdyZ]

this year out 316 runners, 3000 buyin PLHE.
won 139,540. Same event Gavin Griffin became the youngest WSOP Bracelet winner at 22.
He was also Poker Europa Player of the Year in 2001 Using a point sytem)

He was voted last years Player of Year and had more final table appearances then anybody else on the European Poker Tour. (And still couldn't afford to go to Russia and see his baby born or even play in the 2003 WSOP Championship event, he tried to win his way in a sat and failed).

[MicroBob]

"He was voted last years Player of Year and had more final table appearances then anybody else on the European Poker Tour. (And still couldn't afford to go to Russia and see his baby born or even play in the 2003 WSOP Championship event, he tried to win his way in a sat and failed). "


i would rather actually win money then win some stupid meaningless award.

it's not THAT hard to support yourself or build your bankroll back up playing ring-game poker....but he consistently chooses expensive tournaments and is probably addicted to the 'action' in spite of all the evidence telling him that it is -EV.

if you are spending that much of your bankroll (probably has spent 50% of his roll on occasion) on big buy-in multi-table tournaments with such frequency then you don't exactly need to be an expert in SD calculations to know that you are taking a ridiculously unecessary risk.

i was unable to watch the show all the way through....but i suspect that if he was able to plunk down his last $10k for a WSOP seat (100% of his bankroll) he would have done it in a heartbeat.

[MaxPower]

[ QUOTE ]

Varkoni having a hard time finding a new job because of the implication that poker = problem gambler


[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe he is having a hard time finding a job because he is such a nebbish.

[MicroBob]

if 'nebbish' is synonomous with 'dweeb' then i agree.

[mmahlin]

Umm, actually, Gavin Griffin is from Darrin, Illinois. Gary Bush came in second in the $3,000 PLHE event and is the bloke profiled in Poker Kings. Guess he can buy a seat this year.

[RowdyZ]

[ QUOTE ]
Umm, actually, Gavin Griffin is from Darrin, Illinois. Gary Bush came in second in the $3,000 PLHE event and is the bloke profiled in Poker Kings. Guess he can buy a seat this year.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ummm, actually that is what I said, see Subject line, it mentions Bush, I just mentioned Griffin in passing as the winner of the event and went back to talking about Bush. Sorry if it caused you confusion.

[MaxPower]

dweeb n. Slang
A person regarded as socially inept or foolish, often on account of being overly studious.

nebbish \NEB-ish\, noun:
A weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person.

Its a Yiddish thing.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]


dweeb n. Slang
A person regarded as socially inept or foolish, often on account of being overly studious.

nebbish \NEB-ish\, noun:
A weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person.

Its a Yiddish thing.

[/ QUOTE ]
So what you're saying is that Varkonyi is a dweeb and a nebbish.

[mmahlin]

My bad, Rowdy. I am, after all, easily confused.

M