Good Laydowns?!?

[manku]

I've been playing poker (mostly home, hilo, high stakes, limit), occasional NLHE tourneys (probably made money overall, but barely).

I've been watching alot of NLHE on TV and I cannot recall a GOOD LAYDOWN.

I see people throwing away winning hands to strong bets, usually when their hand is very mediocre.

But never have I seen a real strong laydown - any reraised pair preflop (at least above 77) seems playable for all your money. Once the flop comes, I've rarely seen someone laydown top pair/weak kicker. Perfect example is when Paul (internet millionaire) lost to Mel Judah (I think) by calling an all in bet when he had the ignorant end of a straight.

Aren't good laydowns part of poker? Or is that just in limit/ring games? Do tournaments have different standards?

When I watch on TV, or even play online, this NLHE reminds me more of two card "guts" than poker.

BTW, I may have missed a laydown on TV, but everyone who watches agrees with my observation.

Manku

[golgo13sf]

you're watching heavily edited footage.

good laydowns are boring, big bluffs forcing the best hand to fold are exciting. people going all in are exciting. draw your own conclusions as to what you don't get to see.

[LetsRock]

Tournament poker can change your strategy. When you get short stacked, you often have to take your chances on hands that you might let go in a ring game. As blinds climb, you have to take what chance the cards give you.

I can't speak directly to the WPT (I don't get that channel), but I'd agree with the other response that says that televised poker is about excitement, not necessarily good decisions.

[afk]

As has been said, great folds are generally pretty damn boring to anyone who doesn't really understand the game and is watching it for fun - nothing wrong with that, of course. And boring Tv makes for low ratings, and low ratings makes for no poker on tv [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Give me more big bets and outrageous bluffs! I like seeing good folds, but this other stuff is pretty fun to watch.

[Cry Me A River]

TV poker is still in a very immature stage. You're watching highlight footage. If you only watched baseball or football on the 11:00 news, you'd think ever pitch results in a home run and every pass in either an interception or touchdown.

[paland]

[ QUOTE ]
you'd think ever pitch results in a home run

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't this true if Jose Lima is pitching?

[tubbyspencer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
you'd think ever pitch results in a home run

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't this true if Jose Lima is pitching?

[/ QUOTE ]


It was definitely true in the case of Bob Knepper.

(Bitter Astros Fan)