Sexton\'s WPT Commentary
 

Obviously, the world poker tour is not meant to be pure poker - it shows exciting hands with pocket pairs and all-in action, and mostly skips out on the true, solid action one would see at a final table. I was watching the WPT Invitational earlier and heard Sexton making comment to Alex Brene's AT, stating "you'd think he'd consider it a lucky hand and want to play it." Obviously Sexton is not a stupid person in the poker world - he knows odds, he knows statistics, and he knows there is no such thing as a lucky hand. Do you think Sexton makes comments like this for the excitement factor? I'm not complaining as the people who watch this learn to overvalue trash like this and take on fishy attitudes based on Mike's commentary, but why would Mike go out of his way to make these uneducated comments which he would easily know are wrong? Do you think he gets forced to by the higher-ups who sign his paycheck?

VVP makes comments like this all the time, but of course, he's VVP [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

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Keep in mind, Mike is appealing to the masses. Most people who play poker believe in "lucky hands", have no knowledge of the odds, and want to see non-stop allin situations.

Re: Sexton\'s WPT Commentary
 

Did you see how Alex Brenes played? I'm pretty sure he might consider it a lucky hand. (Assuming I'm thinking of the right Brenes, there's like 20 of them.)

And yes, we didn't see all the hands, blah blah blah, its a joke.

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I find Mike's commentary really horrible/borderline offensive (to my sense of logic at least) because of this. I have a really hard time deaing with willful ignorance.

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I find Mike's commentary really horrible/borderline offensive (to my sense of logic at least) because of this. I have a really hard time deaing with willful ignorance.

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Seriously, I don't know who chooses his lines, but him and the other guy have said really offensive lines before, thinking they were funny. I can recall at least 2 final table shows where they bad mouth Doyle Brunson for example... he wasn't even on the final table for that show!

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I find Mike's commentary really horrible/borderline offensive (to my sense of logic at least) because of this. I have a really hard time deaing with willful ignorance.

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They both have cliches they've stretched to within an inch of their lives;

"And Vince, we are watching power poker."

"Ya gotta admire this kid's poker (courage/instinct/prowess.)"

"Vince, I think we've seen the first chink in his armor."

"Aww, he's dug the hole, thrown the twigs and leaves over it, waiting for his sucker to fall in."

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I loved it in the episode where they had the season 2 champions. There was a hand in which David Benyamine flopped the nut flush draw. It was checked to Benyamine and, after thinking for a while, Benyamine checked behind, taking the free card. Either Sexton or Van Patten then said "Oh, Benyamine is gonna slowplay it."

How can you slowplay a draw????!!!!1111

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It seems I'm in the minority, but I think Mike Sexton is great. He's the voice of poker. He knows his shite, he's funny, he's entertaining, and I love his enthusiasm for the game. Guess you guys must really love played-out ex-wife jokes. Weak. Also, I've never heard him or anyone else 'badmouth' Doyle Brunson, and to say the guy makes offensive comments - um, yeah, that's what he does. He sits there in the booth dropping the N-word and F-bombs all show long.

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They probably have the most results-oriented commentary of poker ever. Norman Chad may be stupid but he usually will mention after a suck out that the guy got lucky.

Sexton is always like "You gotta respect the guy for putting his chips in and finding a good spot to double up" when the TT rivers a set against the QQ.

And the one thing they drive into the ground that I HHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Eeeeee.

"He needs a king or a jack on the river, can he do it! "

As if the guy needing the king or jack has anything to "do" with anything.

Once the chips go in and the cards are turned over you aren't playing poker anymore, the playing is done, they are just dealing out the cards at that point.

You hear "can he do it" like 55 times during a WPT broadcast.

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You're technically right - "he"/"she" isn't doing anything if it's an all-in situation waiting for the cards - but it makes for smoother commentary to say that so-and-so got his hand, as opposed to making the dealer or the cards the focus of the story.

Is this thread "on the morphine drip" yet? [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Sexton\'s WPT Commentary
 

You mean "On the respirator"?

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Re: the "lucky hand" stuff, I think it's a semi-joke. Of course Sexton knows no such thing exists, but it's a reasonable thing to say to fill time.

The WPT commentary isn't the best on TV, but honestly, this thread seems really nit-picky.

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You mean "On the respirator"?

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Well, I've heard that one, too from VVP.

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It seems I'm in the minority, but I think Mike Sexton is great. He's the voice of poker. He knows his shite, he's funny, he's entertaining, and I love his enthusiasm for the game. Guess you guys must really love played-out ex-wife jokes. Weak. Also, I've never heard him or anyone else 'badmouth' Doyle Brunson, and to say the guy makes offensive comments - um, yeah, that's what he does. He sits there in the booth dropping the N-word and F-bombs all show long.

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I agree with this guy, I like the commentary Mike Sexton provides.

VVP not so much. His jokes are no longer funny, Norman Chad always brings in new stuff, even if it somehow deals with one of his 9 ex wives, but still, he finds a way to make it funny. VVP just has cliches which are already lame and he never gets any new ones.

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Very simply- Norman Chad is better because Norman Chad is honest with the audience.

Also Norman and Lon don't hype up the mock drama as much, which is nice.

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Very simply- Norman Chad is better because Norman Chad is honest with the audience.

Also Norman and Lon don't hype up the mock drama as much, which is nice.

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And Chad's just trying to be a smart-ass. I like it.

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It seems I'm in the minority, but I think Mike Sexton is great. He's the voice of poker. He knows his shite, he's funny, he's entertaining, and I love his enthusiasm for the game. Guess you guys must really love played-out ex-wife jokes. Weak. Also, I've never heard him or anyone else 'badmouth' Doyle Brunson, and to say the guy makes offensive comments - um, yeah, that's what he does. He sits there in the booth dropping the N-word and F-bombs all show long.

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As I recall, sexton says something about Doyle, then the other says "Doyle who?" That was one of the shows tonight, and maybe a month or two ago I heard them saying something similar to that extent about Doyle too. It just gets a bit tiring when they keep trying to be funny... Maybe if it was Sexton and Scotty Nguyen, now that I bet would be entertaining.

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No of course not...

THERE'S THE BURN CARD.

Mike Sexton knows how to present poker as exciting and important to the mainstream audience. Norman Chad doesn't. Lon sort of does, I guess this comes from trying to present cheerleader championships as a big deal.

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Mike and VVP are cool. They're cool because they are themselves and because they each actually have a unique style - from what they say to what they wear. Lon and Norman are losers. They are homogenized. They wear things like black jeans with mock turtlenecks and sportcoats - WTF? Plus VVP gets laid a lot and Sexton is a good player. This really isn't close.

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Mike Sexton can kiss my ass.

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Mike and VVP are cool. They're cool because they are themselves and because they each actually have a unique style - from what they say to what they wear. Lon and Norman are losers. They are homogenized. They wear things like black jeans with mock turtlenecks and sportcoats - WTF? Plus VVP gets laid a lot and Sexton is a good player. This really isn't close.

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Not that it matters to me how broadcasters dress, but it's funny how Chad busts on just about every player's wardrobe, considering the lame getup that he wears.

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and to say the guy makes offensive comments - um, yeah, that's what he does. He sits there in the booth dropping the N-word and F-bombs all show long.

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Perhaps he should start doing that.

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VVP just has cliches which are already lame and he never gets any new ones.

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So, let's send him a list of new cliches to use.

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Isn't Norman Chad a poker player? I thought I read somewhere that he plays Omaha and is halfway decent.

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Bingo, bango, bongo! I enjoy the WPT broadcasts a whole lot, but it is a little creepy to know that Mike and Vince can't see the hole cards while the action is happening. Speaking of "results-oriented," this presumably means that their commentary is informed (and possibly distorted) by complete knowledge of everything that's going to happen.

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I hate the way Mike Sexton just assumes whatever he does is always right (as in, raising every A high hu) and then criticizes players for not doing it.
And he's incredibly results oriented.

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And he's incredibly results oriented.

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[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: Sexton\'s WPT Commentary
 

Guy pushes with something like an open ended straight draw.
Mike: "and that's a semi bluff at best!"

Yes, because some of the time even if he gets called and hits his draw, he might get hit by a meteor and lose the pot. Only in a BEST CASE SCENARIO does it qualify as a semi bluff.

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I only hate Mike when he questions a good poker play. Either he's playing dumb for the audience or he just isn't very good. I hate VVP with a passion because he knows absolutely nothing. If he calls 44 a monster or a "real hand" ever again I will have him killed.

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There hand names are outrageous. I hope that some day when someone has 69 they'll say its name.

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"And is he? Yes he is! He's going all in with 5 high!"

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I personally find Sexton's and VVP's commentary to be the most entertaining on TV. Lon and Norman just aren't that funny at all and Lon doesn't seem to know much about poker at all. Although much of their commentary is "results oriented" I believe it's done for the sake of excitement and because of the fact that 90% of people watching the show have that mindset and wouldn't understand advanced poker strategy. Mike Sexton also knows the game very well and although VVP is no pro, he's much better than Lon IMO and his corny lines are funny in a strange way. Besides you just can't match the enthusiam of Sexton saying "He's doing it Vince, he's moving all-in!" or something of the sort.

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Love 'em, Like 'em, Hate 'em. Tee-Vee don't care. As long as there's an audience giving numbers that sell air time, nothing else matters.

When the numbers go South, so do Mike, Vince, Norm, Lon, Chad, whoever. Or maybe the whole friggin' show. Fact of life in the wonderful, wacky world of advertising.

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they're overly repetitive partly because they don't have any kind of broadcasting background.

Sexton's commentary is, at times, conspicuously patronizing.


One doesn't have to be quite so patronizing to cater to a mass audience.
Talk in a more intelligent manner about the game and the audience will catch up to you if you do it correctly.


Most of the country doesn't know much about advanced football strategy either. But that doesn't mean the announcers have to always explain what the term "3rd and 7" means or that "now it's 4th down and 32 yards to go so they will likely tke option to punt...even though they don't have to here Vince...it's better strategy to kick the ball as far as they can down-field because they are probably going to lose possession of the ball anyway."

Instead, the announcer will just say, "4th down...and here comes the punting unit. Joe Shmoe back to receive."


I really believe that Mike could be a decent announcer if he received some instruction and tips and constructive criticism from a professional play-by-play broadcaster on how to have some enthusiasm without being condescending.

It doesn't have to be a lengthy type discussion that Sklansky, Harrington or Lederer would find especially intriguing.
Just a little less condesension and a little more variety in phrases (which really shouldn't be that hard for a play-by-play broadcaster).

This type of change that I am envisioning wouldn't just appeal to 2+2'ers like us who actually understand the game a bit....but it would also make the broadcasts more appealing to the whole audience (even those who don't know enough to even understand that the quality of dialogue has improved).

Re: Sexton\'s WPT Commentary
 

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Re: the "lucky hand" stuff, I think it's a semi-joke. Of course Sexton knows no such thing exists, but it's a reasonable thing to say to fill time.

The WPT commentary isn't the best on TV, but honestly, this thread seems really nit-picky.

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Yes, and Doyle Brunson knows there is no such thing a lucky hand, or streaks too eh?

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I hate the way Mike gestures with his hands. It's stupid, but once you focus on it, you can't help noticing it [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Other than that, I think they're OK. And Shana's just... mmmm.

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Too bad Shana's not coming back next season [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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It seems I'm in the minority, but I think Mike Sexton is great. He's the voice of poker. He knows his shite, he's funny, he's entertaining, and I love his enthusiasm for the game. Guess you guys must really love played-out ex-wife jokes. Weak. Also, I've never heard him or anyone else 'badmouth' Doyle Brunson, and to say the guy makes offensive comments - um, yeah, that's what he does. He sits there in the booth dropping the N-word and F-bombs all show long.

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Sexton does just fine. He's a decent player, too, and I think his commentary is better than the ESPN crew, no question.

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Dammit, I wish I could remember the exact exchange, but it was something like:

Matusow: "Well you're a bad poker player"

Sheik: "Yeah well you're a jerk and I don't like you"

Chad: "That's some first class banter"

He had at least a dozen other little subtle digs like that in the WSOP that apparently went over the heads of a lot of you. He cracks me up.

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Most of the country doesn't know much about advanced football strategy either. But that doesn't mean the announcers have to always explain what the term "3rd and 7" means or that "now it's 4th down and 32 yards to go so they will likely tke option to punt...even though they don't have to here Vince...it's better strategy to kick the ball as far as they can down-field because they are probably going to lose possession of the ball anyway."


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Here's the difference: football has been at the top of the sporting world for 20 years. The fans don't need to be explained why a team is punting on 4th and 32.

But when one of the commentators on WPT says, "gut shot straight draw," it's entirely possible that the fans have no idea what that is. It's usually unobtrusive, just a little graphic explaining the lingo.

In fact, I think football would be wise to adopt something like that. The announcers definitely "dumb down" the commentary for us. Why not allow the announcers to use a phrase like "A gap" or refer to receivers the way coaches refer to them (X, Y, and Z) or refer to linebackers the way coaches do (Mike, Willy, Sam).

PS. Punting on 4th and 32 isn't exactly "advanced football strategy."

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4th and 32? Obvious poooooosh!