ESPN commentary hits a new low

[TimTimSalabim]

On tonight's show, after Scotty Nguyen took down a huge pot when he hit his 5 outer on the river, the alleged expert commentator said "Scotty is a good player, but he also runs lucky".

I take back every bad thing I ever said about Vince Van Patton.

[cferejohn]

I have just given up on the ESPN broadcasts, they are just unwatchable (I only saw the first 2). They don't give any information on bet/stack/blind/pot sizes. The only kind of neat thing is the running tally on which hand is how much of a favorite, but it doesn't make up for the fact that the show is *clearly* run by people who know nothing about poker, and don't have a clue as to what information viewers would want.

I thought the 2002 WSOP commentary was decent, if not horribly exciting, and I was hoping for a production similar to that.

If Poker does take off on TV, and it seems that that's where this is headed, I think that the WPT is going to be the big game in town in a few short years unless the WSOP gets much much better broadcasting. Similar to how the NIT was once the big college basketball tournament but was supplanted by the NCAA and now is the 'also ran'.

Of course, as long as the WSOP is a big $10,000 event, its going to draw people, but it would not surprise me to see it co-opted into the WPT sometime in the next 3-5 years.

[TimTimSalabim]

I just try to ignore the commentary, because the poker is interesting when you can tell what's going on. I can't believe Moneymaker called an all-in holding 88 on a K9x flop. Then he gets lucky when an 8 hits the turn. But then, I guess it does take some luck to win the big one.

[BillE]

did i hear them make a comment about no woman ever making it to the final table (or maybe that annie duke's 2000 wsop was the closest a woman ever placed).. forgetting barbara enwright?

[Roy Munson]

Watching Humberto's reaction to that 2 outer clubbing him over the head was a funny contrast to his incessant singing during his win at the Jack Binion World Poker Open.

[pokerlover]

I was watching the re-broadcast of the previous week at 8pm and it bothered me again when Jonny Chan moved all in on Howard Lederer when Howard held 8-8 and Chan held As-3s on a flop of 7-7-3 and they kept making it sound like Chan had the best of it. Did anyone else become annoyed when they heard this?

[Wake up CALL]

"forgetting barbara enwright? "

She never made the final table of the $10K event. Did she? If so what year was that?

[pudley4]

5th place, 1995

[Rushmore]

...AND she got taken out by an absurd beat.

[Lee Jones]

Yeah - it's been however many years, and I still remember it, though somewhat vaguely. Brent Carter busted her with 6-something (4?) offsuit - he called all his (or her) chips with it and flopped two pair IIRC.

Of course, this is the final table of a NLHE tournament, so there may be many complicating factors that none of us are aware of (or have forgotten).

Regards, Lee