Dick Van Patten...

[XPac]

I know there are a lot of VVP haters out there, but IMO Dick's commentary at the 94 World Series (it was on ESPN classic last night) is clearly the worst poker commentary I've ever heard. I suppose he may have been playing his poker ignorance up a bit so as to appeal to the average non-poker playing viewer, but it was BAD....

[Rushmore]

Yeah, when I first got the video of that year's series final, I couldn't believe how ignorant he sounded.

Granted, that was still back when they didn't need anyone that knowledgeable because most of the viewers wouldn't have a clue, but you'd think they might have tried a little harder.

He's no Kevin Nealon, though. Talk about confused and disoriented. Yeesh.

[Triumph36]

Yeah, I saw that. I like the way the other guy (was it Jim Albrechts?) kept saying "Well, Dick, I just don't know. He might have the straight, he might not."

And with all the commentary here about how Varkonyi, Raymer, and Moneymaker were lucky, Hugo Vincent looked like far worse a poker player than any of them. I couldn't believe how bad this guy was.

[Nagoo81]

Well, honestly, what standard was there at the time for him to abide by? We should consider ourselves somewhat fortunate that ESPN had the foresight to televise poker to begin with.

If anything, we can only blame Dick Van Patten for bringing us Vince "Wired Pair OMG" Van Patten.


[ QUOTE ]
And with all the commentary here about how Varkonyi, Raymer, and Moneymaker were lucky, Hugo Vincent looked like far worse a poker player than any of them. I couldn't believe how bad this guy was.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, you really can't blame his play...he was too busy writing sequels to Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

[jaym]

TV Poker is horrible without hole card cams. It's even worse with bad commentary. It was a treat seeing some footage from older WSOP events, however.

[Submarine123]

He was killing me with his favorite line "do you think he has him figured out yet?"

I do wish he would have spent more time commenting on why a guy in the final hands of the WSOP with a million dollars and his weight in silver on the line figured it to be the best time to grab a burger. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Russ McGinley]

Interestingly they (DVP and Albrect) were usually right when they put someone on a hand, or at least close. Of course they always just guessed either pair, AK, or Ax. I don't really think it mattered what DVP said because you just can't take a Spaceballs actor seriously. Also it was fun to see Phil Hellmuth read Stu Ungar and several other players when he was there doing commentary, which he did several times. I wish they'd show some older ones than 1993, like Johnny Chan's two wins or Phil's win since I've never seen them.