The Poker Player

careca

BBC 1 tonight 10.35. Follows Mike McGee at the WSOP. Could be a repeat though.

pokertroll

careca wrote:

BBC 1 tonight 10.35. Follows Mike McGee at the WSOP. Could be a repeat though.

Its not a repeat - it covers the 2004 WSOP afaik. You might be confusing it with that excellent documentary - 'Million Dollar Deal' which follows Andy Black (regular player on Dublin scene) Mike Magee, Don O Dea, Devilifish and Mad Marty in the WSOP (the year the vietnamese guy won it). Its often repeated on Discovery H&L and I would credit it with getting me interested in Poker in the first place.

careca

pokertroll wrote:

. You might be confusing it with that excellent documentary - 'Million Dollar Deal' which follows Andy Black (regular player on Dublin scene) Mike Magee, Don O Dea, Devilifish and Mad Marty in the WSOP (the year the vietnamese guy won it).

Ya, that was the one I was thinking of. Hope this is as good.

accensi0n

It was pretty damn depressing. Its as if it was geared towards getting people to give up poker. He was pretty pissed off when the woman asked him what sort of day he had after just losing $10000.

MrPudding

Slightly off topic but anyway. Did anyone see Celebpoker on Men and motors last night? Wow, first prixe for bad commentary, the guy hadn't a clue.

MrP

Krusty_Clown

Watched 5 minutes of it.. Turned over to BBC1's The Poker Player, after I watched some classic Men and Motors commentary, which was along the lines of:

Poker Player: I'm small-stacked, but I like to come from behind
Intelligent M&M Blond: Ooohhh, I like you...

I only watched it for five minutes cos I figured the brainless blond twats would probably get their kit off eventually..

JuliusFranco

they didn't get their kit off, i was furious

terrible programme, terrible play too

TwoShedsJackson

accensi0n wrote:

It was pretty damn depressing. Its as if it was geared towards getting people to give up poker. He was pretty pissed off when the woman asked him what sort of day he had after just losing $10000.

Not surprised really Although he did win 6000 at that single table game before hand so it could have been worse.

The 10k he used to enter the main event wasn't just scared money, it's money that's been whipped for three years and hidden in a dark corner. Before he started he look utterly depressed at the prospect of losing it - I'm sure he's a great player and all but he never had a chance.

Hyzepher

While I was watching it I was thinking that he doesn't really need to win a big tournament - what he needs is to spruce up his image - get more exposure - and then look for a sponsorship deal

I wonder is he available for inclusion on the SA business league team

Hyzepher

Obscure

Looked like he was doing grand till he had the arguement with the dealer when he asked for change of a 1000 and the dealer took it that he wanted to bet the 1000. After that he looked like he lost focus. Thought that was bad form to let something like that throw him off so much. (But that could have just been the way the programme was edited.)

threebeards

Hyzepher wrote:

...and then look for a sponsorship deal

Just after the credits it said that he's just signed a sponsorship deal with a major bookmakers. Didn't give any more detail than that though.

Obscure wrote:

Looked like he was doing grand till he had the arguement with the dealer when he asked for change of a 1000 and the dealer took it that he wanted to bet the 1000. After that he looked like he lost focus. Thought that was bad form to let something like that throw him off so much. (But that could have just been the way the programme was edited.)

That dealer seemed to have a serious attitude prob didn't he, but yeah, he seemed to lose all focus after that.

doc71

I think what the program put across was , if you play with what you can afford to lose, you will be more relaxed and stay focused. If you need to win to pay for whatever, your mind will be on the consequences therefore lead to bad play or be put off your concentration very easily...

pokertroll

A good honest documentary imho. It dispels a lot of the myths that people have about life as a poker pro - it is a very tough grind and is not all the glamour that is portrayed on the WPT etc. I have seen him play before (great player) and always just assumed he was loaded. Shows how important a bankroll is, though. It didn't look like he could afford the the 10k for the WSOP. You've gotta be very lucky to win the WSOP now (2500-1)- he got close in the other documentary 'Million Dollar Deal' (but flucked up) and maybe he has been chasing that beat ever since. Glad to hear he has sponsorship now as it will remove most of the pressure which is obviously affecting his game.

Krusty_Clown

I have to agree with you doc71. He really didn't seem to be enjoying the game, and the suggestions from his good wife that this was their only source of income, and that they really needed a win certainly couldn't have helped.

I remember he made one particularly depressing voice-over comment while playing in the WSOP final, something like: When you've not seen any good cards for ages, you almost develop a fear of looking at the next cards you're dealt.

I know I've played in that frame of mind before (very negative), and it really only leads in one direction - losing all of your chips to the blinds..

JuliusFranco

pokertroll wrote:

Glad to hear he has sponsorship now as it will remove most of the pressure which is obviously affecting his game.

i think he won a few grand in london last week see results in

http://poker.sportinglife.com/

RuggieBear

Not sure if it an update or a repeat but The Poker Player is on BBC1 on Tuesday 10.35pm. Just thought i'd give anyone interested a heads up...

RuggieBear

have to agree with most of the other comments....his life did seem a bit of a grind....and he looked under pressure the whole time. And that dealer was a total dick

Culchie

threebeards wrote:

Just after the credits it said that he's just signed a sponsorship deal with a major bookmakers. Didn't give any more detail than that though.

That would be Corals I think, he has a column on their Eurobet Poker website anyway.

Pokerevents

Yea Culchie, Mike has signed full time sponsorship deal with coral eurobet.
I know He was well pissed off with the way the documentry was put across. He felt the it was totally imbalanced. I actually enjoyed it and was totally entralled by the interviews, especially with himself.
Anyway the good news is Mike has recovered from a recent heart attack , and I believe He will be back playing soon.
He is a total gentleman and also a good ambassadorfor the game.

Running Bing

It's just my opinion but I cant see why pros put themselves under so much pressure playing tournaments. surely he would have been better playing 10/20,20/40 or 30/60 limit poker and aiming for one big bet per hour. he was obviously a good player who would probably be capable of this. I know its not as exiting (in fact it could be downright boring) but at least hed be making a decent living with a lot less pressure.

I dont know but I imagine playing tournies for a living could be pretty soul destroying. I mean you put up a hell of a lot of money and as he said in the documentary " you could beat 490 people and leave broke". Just my opinion

whiteshadow

hated the winging fcuk..!
don't get me wrong, i was hoping he'd do it all
through the program but that scene when he's on
his honkers, polishing his shoes before the game
talking about how much of a rock solid person he is
and then cutting to the bit when he's throwing a
hissyfit about the dealer misunderstanding him...
ah i just hated him, i'd love to play him and put him
on tilt.

careca

I liked the show and I thought he came across as a nice enough fellow. Amazing though how easily he went on tilt after that incident with the dealer. I mean the first time I played holdem I knew you don't throw chips into the pot if you are looking for change. Very bad/novicey mistake.

He also went on tilt very quickly in 1998 (think it was that year) after losing one big pot, but he was still very much in the hunt and only one or two away from the money. He called an all in bet from a larger stack with AK or something like that and yer man had bullets. He even admitted afterwards that he didn't want to call but said "the dealer put pressure on him to call". WTF is that about.

Still as Pokerevents said, the editing obviously didn't do anything for him and by all accounts he's a decent bloke. Glad to see he got some sponsorship, might make him relax a bit and play better.