This is CNN

[jdl22]

final table article on cnn web page (http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/05/29/poker.world.series.ap/index.html)

[Vehn]

/

[MicroBob]

they had still photos of Raymer on CNN-headline (referring to the TV....not their web-site).


they said that on the last hand he won both players had full-houses but 'raymer had 8's over 2's and williams had 4's over 2's.'

cmon CNN....how hard is it to get the lingo right??

(for those who dont know...raymer had 2's full of 8's and williams had 2's full of 4's).

[Lazymeatball]

how can you have 2's over 8's? 8 is a much bigger number than 2 therefore it must be over 2. I don't care if you had a million two's on that board and only 2 eights's. Eight is always over Two.

[tommy2]

You always state the 3 of a kind first. So it is 2s over 8s.

[jdl22]

2 over 8 is the same as 1 over 4.

8 over 2 is 4.

[tiltboy]

[ QUOTE ]
You always state the 3 of a kind first. So it is 2s over 8s.

[/ QUOTE ]

How does that fishhook taste?

[umdpoker]

did anybody else notice that the 2nd place winner was 23??? thats ridiculous. he won 3.5 million dollars. i am 23 right now. if i woke up one day and had 3.5 mil, my head would explode from happiness.

[jdl22]

Um is that what happened to the guy above you?

I'm 24 should I feel like a loser because I don't have 3.5 million bucks yet?

[MicroBob]

i always though 'over' referred to 2-pair.
i did not know you could use the term 'over' when referencing a fullhouse. correct me if i am misinformed.

8's OvER 2's would be 2-pair
2's full of 8's would be three 2's.
8's full of 2's would be three 8's

[Losing all]

in a word, yes! I have several 3.5's. 10's, 20's, or millions, you decide..

[Lazymeatball]

[ QUOTE ]
How does that fishhook taste?

[/ QUOTE ]
thank you, I'm just reeling them in faster than a river checkraise on a third spade on the board.

ps. try to look at this from an non-poker playing journalists point of view.

[MicroBob]

i agree that a non-poker playing journalist would not know the proper terminology nor would 99% of their audience.

i got my degree in communications (specifically, broadcast journalism) and learned from several terrific news producers and writers. if i were writing this story i would take great pains to confirm that my language was correct.

i've worked on many stories where i went out of my way to confirm the most minute detail. there have also been several times where i made some sort of little mistake (such as in the CNN story). afterall, you are frequently writing stories where you know very little about the topic and are interviewing someone who is so passionate about it that they may be talking over everyone's head.

some journalists like me go to great pains to avoid such situations and are not terribly happy with ourselves when they occur.
there are other journalists who write a zillion stories a month who say 'what a bunch of freaking nit-pickers' but that is inevitable imo.


CNN isn't perfect nor should they be expected to be. but it was an obviously avoidable mistake that is easily checked before going to air. again, it's hardly the worst sin a news-agency can make. but a mistake is a mistake.
however, i do admit to being just a bit of a tight-wad anal-geek on such matters.