I Must've Missed Something on ESPN

I just watched the World Poker Open on ESPN and I must have missed something. Did anyone else see it?


A guy seemed to go all-in with 99. He was against QQ. The board on 4th street was XTTT. The river was a 9.


1). The announcers kept saying that if the 9 came on 4th street instead of the river, the pocket nines would've won the hand. HUH? What difference would it have made if a 9 came on the turn and the ten or queen came on the river? The announcers were acting as if QQ couldn't have won as long as the 9 came first.


2). Then after the hand (I think it was the same one), it turns out that the guy who was all-in had some chips left after all. They allowed him to continue in the tournament? WHAT'S UP WITH THAT??? How can he have chips left? They announced him all-in. If I was the guy with QQ, I would've pitched a bitch like you wouldn't believe! How can you announce someone all-in and then say.. Oops, sorry he's got a few chips left?


Like I said. I must've missed something, or just don't understand the rules. I'd appreciate someone telling me what. Thanks.

Kevin,


I just caught the end of it - we took a dinner break from poker and during our break we watched poker - how sick are we?


Anyway, we thought the best line came from one of the commentators after a flop of AQx all clubs and he says

"That is a great flop for any kind of a hand at all"!!


Wow - bet someone holding 2 red Kings or Jacks could not agree more!!!


Hysterical comment.


Just some thoughts...


Michael D (Soccer/Sucker Mike D.)

I love poker, needless to say, but I found the ESPN coverage of poker virtually unwatchable. I tried for about 15 minutes, but it was like watching paint dry.

Andy-


I agree the coverage stunk. If they're trying to create interest and prove poker to be a competetion worthy of public interest and sponsors, they're gonna have to do a better job than that.


For one thing, get the friggin' cigarette smoking off the camera!! Many pro golfers smoke, but you'll never catch this on TV!


Another thing is, they should get a competent color commentator. Don't get me wrong, I loved Jerry Van Dyke on Coach, but IMO- he bombed with this. How about Gabe Kaplin from Welcome back Kotter? I hear he's a phenominal poker player. I had a hard time watching it too. Which is pretty sad considering how much I love the game. They got a long way to go.

or get that Van Patten guy back.


JUST KIDDING!!

Yeah, van Dyke didn't know what "on tilt" means.


I used to see Kaplan years ago playing in L.A. Major league jerk. But anything would be better than what they had. At one point, one of the players went all in and the commentary was "he definitely has a hand here." With 3 players left there was a comment that so-and-so would probably finish "in the top two." Yeah, I would say so, probably.

On the QQ vs 99 hand they kept talking about what would have happened if the 9 came on the turn. I am pretty sure they were assuming that the river would not have been a T. The reason he was allowed to keep playing is that his stack covered the QQ before the hand started. The QQ raises all in and the 99 calls all in. They then have to count the stacks down. The 99 had 8K more then the QQ so he gets tto keep playing.


Randy

That was a good line, but my favorite was when (I foget the exact hand) a player moved all-in and I believe John Juanda was pondering a call, and Jerry Van Dyke pipes up with the line "He better have a good hand to call". Thanks for that insight.


Or how about when he was drooling over his colleagues' magical super powers which allowed him to give a chip count by simply looking at, you guessed it, the stack of chips.


With all of the talk about poker tournaments wanting to bring big sponsorship on board, this was a serious step in the wrong direction. I congratulate the producers of the program on their success in finding the single most incompetant and uninformed host on this planet. It was also a brilliant move to allow Jerry more airtime than Phill Hellmuth. It makes me long for the days on Dick Van Patten.


Perhaps for the WSOP the Discovery Channel could hire Ronald Reagan to offer his insights on the game.


-Mike