Pool on ESPN vs Poker

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An article back in 2004 claimed that WPT was Travel Channel's not only highest rated program, but highest rated in its entire history.

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That's not saying much.

They need to get rid of all the spotlights- it's poker, not the lineup announcements at a hockey game.

[IgorSmiles]

I tried to watch pool on ESPN but was bored by the commentary. Where were the ex-wife jokes?

[Kevmath]

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I tried to watch pool on ESPN but was bored by the commentary. Where were the ex-wife jokes?

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It's hard to do those jokes when the commentary team is husband and wife.

[IgorSmiles]

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I tried to watch pool on ESPN but was bored by the commentary. Where were the ex-wife jokes?

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It's hard to do those jokes when the commentary team is husband and wife.

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let me know when they split up and i'll try again

[In Paradise]

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Poker on TV just keeps getting worse and worse and worse.

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I like poker on TV. If you can't watch a little poker on TV without getting that mad, maybe you have some issues that run a little deeper.

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why cant ESPN get announcers like the nbc's heads-up show... gabe kaplan is a comedian by trade and yet he still does real analysis... actually discussed the hands the way we discuss them... and matt vasgersian is a legitimate play by play guy (does baseball for the padres i think)... changed the whole feel of that show... when they tape the ESPN show arent people listening in a room and realizing how bad it sounds?

[TheKnife]

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I've been watching a lot of pool on ESPN lately (it seems to be mosly women's tournaments, and I have no idea why), and the coverage isn't bad. It definitely has some problems, like not ever mentioning how much the prize money is, or the incredibly stupid nicknames they give to every player, but overall the coverage is pretty damn good compared to the Norman Chad Lon McPherson poker coverage fiasco.

In the pool tournaments, they analyze the play, discuss the shots, think outloud about stragegy, and NOT ONCE have I heard an announcer tell an ex-wife joke--or any kind of insipid joke for that matter.

Why can't the poker coverage get anywhere near the respect the pool tournament coverage gets?

And finally, I quit watching the WPT events a year or so ago, because I just couldn't take the Sexton hype anymore, plus many of the other problems associated with that horrible broadcast. [Do they really think they could make me do a goddamn beer commercial at the end of the tournament?] It's just an unwatchable program.

But I did continue to watch the WSOP on ESPN. Last week was the final straw. They opened the program with a stupid ex-wife joke! Don't they have any idea how much their horrible coverage is hated? Now, I can't watch that program any longer, at least with the sound on. It is INSUFERABLE! It's actually PAINFUL to listen to those two [censored]ers spout off their ignorant [censored]it.

Poker on TV just keeps getting worse and worse and worse.

[/ QUOTE ] dont be a sour puss

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it seems to be mosly women's tournaments,

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This is because the 2 most popular pool players in the world are women. Also they usually make up at least 1/2 of the competitors on that days coverage of pool.

[Duke]

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it seems to be mosly women's tournaments,

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This is because the 2 most popular pool players in the world are women. Also they usually make up at least 1/2 of the competitors on that days coverage of pool.

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They make up all of the competitors because they're all women's tourneys. Women aren't anywhere near as good as the top men at pool. I think it has to do with hand size or something (it's not completely clear to me why they're so much worse). Jeanette Lee's husband is a better player than her, and he's not even very good (by global standards).

Did you mean half of the tournaments are women's events, in which case you're a ways off since they do a lot more of those than men's tourneys, or were you under the completely wrong assumption that these are open events?

~D

[Duke]

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In the pool tournaments, they analyze the play, discuss the shots, think outloud about stragegy, and NOT ONCE have I heard an announcer tell an ex-wife joke--or any kind of insipid joke for that matter.

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This was true even when the announcer (Mitch Laurence) was covering a match that his wife (Ewa Mataya Laurence) was playing in. They even cover matches together and very rarely even hint that they're married. You'd think they never met each other.

Quite professional.

~D