British Poker Open on TV3 last night

jtsuited

Anyone see this? I'm one of those unfortunate souls who don't have digital, so i have to watch this tripe to get my fix. Am i alone in thinking that this was not only awful poker but also horrendously bad promotion for the game?
It was so tacky and trashy it was difficult to watch. I was watching poker on TV in the states for the past two weeks and even they managed to pull off their poker coverage with a touch of class and intelligence. Which is far more that can be said for the British Poker Open.
Does anyone else think this type of coverage is actually harmful to the game? I think by appealing to the 'lowest common denominator', they turn away a genuine market of new poker players. I mean, compared to the EPT (also sponsored by Pokerstars), this was an absolute joke. Or maybe i'm expecting too much from poker on TV. but those dramatic entrance and exiting sequences were just ridiculous!

karlh

are they still using round cards on screen?

dunno why i find it so hard to watch because of that......its like seeing a crucifix with jesus on mcdonalds arch......or something...

anyways, i don't think any coverage is particularly bad for the game, there's enough choice of what poker to watch that people will vote with their wallets. with the mildly obsessive nature of us poker heads most people would be happy watching 9 bums playing 5 card draw on an upturned cardboard box.

/karlh registers pokerbums.com

califano

i thought the BPO was brilliant in every way. the music at the start of the programmes and add breaks was top class. probably the most enjoyable poker i have ever watched. the fact that it was live when i was watching it probably helped more in the interest level stakes. they are butchering the series up on sky at the moment with episodes dedicated to bluffs etc throughout the tournament "bluff like greg raymer" "play like andy bloch"etc. i have a feeling we will still be watching it a year from now they are recycling it so much.
tonight i will be watching the poker millions final live multi tasking with drinking beer and eating pringles. i might have a bet on wendt but if chamberlain finishes in the first two i will consider giving up betting.

Duff Man Jr.

The rugby player flopped a house, checked twice and made a small bet after the river, opponent re-raised and rugby player went all in. the commentators kept saying how is was played great, but how else could you play it? I would have done the excact same thing and i imagine most people would have.

DeVore

I wouldnt! I´d might give him a free card after the flop but I´d definitely charge him for the river card. Depending on the cards he might as well hold up a sign saying "I flopped a monster!"

DeV.

Paladin

Depends who you are playing of course Dev. Gotta love aggressive intermediates (me thinkin of myself as an intermediate intermediate amateur ).

Ste05

rounders123 wrote:

i thought the BPO was brilliant in every way. the music at the start of the programmes and add breaks was top class. probably the most enjoyable poker i have ever watched. the fact that it was live when i was watching it probably helped more in the interest level stakes. they are butchering the series up on sky at the moment with episodes dedicated to bluffs etc throughout the tournament "bluff like greg raymer" "play like andy bloch"etc. i have a feeling we will still be watching it a year from now they are recycling it so much.

I agree with you there rounders, I used to stay in the odd night just to watch it live when it was on the Poker Channel, I even remember when the Final Table was on I was down in the Merrion that night and the whole place was watching, but the way it's been recycled now is just a joke.

But back to the topic at hand, I've watched it on TV3 the odd time too, however I think it has lost alot of what made it such a good show to begin with, simply because it's been edited down, Roy the Boy, Gary Jones, etc. were commentating on the live play as a whole and not specifically on the edited down version, and thus sometimes the commentating doesn't seem to fit, they seem to have lost some of the background information you would normally get. This could be where the OP's complaints stem from.

Although when you compare this show to that tripe Celebrity UTV Poker show, there is no comparison. That show really annoyed me, it seemed as though the players were intentially playing badly, in particular Matthew Stevens and Mark Williams, who have had some decent results in the past, were playing like complete fish. I just put it down to the Charity element of the show.

Afraid this turned into a bit of a ramble but in general IMO any exposure Poker gets on Irish TV has to be good for the game.

NickyOD

Except for the game with Raymer and Evelyn Ng the standard has been absolutely brutal in all the others I've watched. I got a headache trying to understand the logic behind some of the moronic plays. Had to go lie down afterwards.

I must say it was enjoyable watching the kid who'd been playing for a month who qualified online. Hadn't a clue but a very nice chap. When you compare his play to the lady who bluffed off her entire stack with 84o AIPF against an unbluffable pro, and the same unbluffable pro who crippled himself reraising river with nothing against an obvious monster then he actually wasn't that bad.

It amazes me how profitable playing like a lunatic can actually be sometimes.

Kenny_D

I was watching this. Didnt think it was that bad but I just like watching poker. Anyone know when the semis is on?