Norman Chad - Any good at Poker?

[-Syk-]

I heard he's actually a very good Stud player. And the comments are added in way after the footage, much like WPT.

[The4Aces]

He commented in one episode how he was palying omaha(i think) at the Bellagio(i think) and Scott Fishman did a Hit and Run. So atleast he plays [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[The T.A.]

The guy's funny as hell -- and that's all that really matters, right? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[moa]

I've heard from a professional poker player that Norman Chad is an excellent poker player. Not sure of the extent of his accomplishments though.

[MicroBob]

the commentary that lederer gives on the FSN broadcasts is pretty good. He and Koenig have some fairly decent discussions of the hands.


norman made some kind of comment when Doyle was short-stacked in one fo the tourneys and went all-in (in the SB I think) without looking at his cards. Chad says something like "i don't know what poker-book teaches you to play without looking but that doesn't make any sense."

Obviously, if doyle was short-stacked enough and it was folded around to him he was in a position where he had to push.....and since he knew that Lederer (who was in the BB I think) knew this anyway he just decided not to look at his hand and have fun playing his 'any-two'.

The actual 'truth' in this situation would have been funnier than trying to find some line about what a stupid move doyle was making.
The move probably wasn't stupid and I honestly don't know if Chad had any realization of that whatsoever.

Based on much of his commentary I seriously doubt he is a decent player at all.


To the poster who wondered if it was edited in afterwards....yes, this is so obvious that it shouldn't be too tough to figure that out.....although I suspect there are many viewers who don't detect this on the WSOP or WPT broadcasts. They do their best to make it a seemless broadcast.

I'm guessing that most WPT final-tables take 5 hours (or maybe more to play) yet are compacted into a 2:00 broadcast. Subtract 30 minutes or so for commercials and Shana's little features and you get a good idea of how many hands you actually DIDN'T see.
Since they are obviously going to choose to show the more exciting hands and are less likely to show blind-steals a lot of the audience is left with the impression that the percentage of hands with real action in them is much higher than it really is.

[Spidurman]

well why would they want to do it live (which carries a host of complications and challenges) when you can tape it later. This doesn't even factor in hole cards, just logistics.

Poker on TV is designed as entertainment. The only telecast that I truly felt was targeted at the hard core fans (us) was the Turning Stone - the live tourney Ivey won.

As far as announcers go, I think Chad was fine in 2003, when it was newer and his jokes were original. Doing the sheer number of telecasts that he did for 2004 was probably too many for one color commentator, and he did get old after awhile. It happens with overexposure.

Best announcer - Lon McEachern (sp) from ESPN on play by play, and Howard Lederer on color. Of course it will be tough to get alot of Lederer since he's usually playing. He knows the players and and plays, which adds to what he capable of saying.

Regarding stakes - if Chad is playing with Fischman, he'll be at a reasonable stakes level, which means he's probably a reasonably skilled amateur who isn't high stakes since he (still is) a full-time columnist, not the highest paying job. He's likely not playing professionally (since he is a columnist and doing telecasts, that seems to be his focus), but he's not a novice.

[OrangeCat]

I've seen him playing stud at Hollywood Park quite a few times. I think it's 20/40.

[MicroBob]

I think Chris Rose's PBP on FSN is underrated. He does a pretty decent job of not getting over-excited by some sort of river card....and I think he also asks decent questions of Lederer and Koenig to keep the dialogue flowing. He doesn't pretend to be an expert, he just does a competent job imo.

My opinion may be somewhat tainted by the fact that we were friends in college though.

I like Lon as well generally speaking...but his style has been getting a bit more on my nerves lately. Probably more to do with over-exposure than anything else.


and every time Lon, Chris, Norman or Lederer/Koenig say ANYTHING that I find silly or boring or over-dramatic or annoying....all I have to do is turn on the WPT and I get a quick reminded of what bad announcing is REALLY all about.

Some of the discussions Mike and Vince have are just plain stupid.

[zaxx19]

Yeah if it was Lederer Chad and McHarran(sp?) it be a good telecast bc the drivel Chad drones on about for too long would be replaced by some serious poker reflection by the best poker telecaster in the world, Lederer.

[B Dids]

I liked Rose's work a lot.

All I know is that after watching a bit of WPT on the 31st. Norman Chad > VVP and Mike Sesxon.