ESPN to Expand Poker Coverage This Summer
Posted by Ray Finkle on 13th May 2011

With what is anticipated to be a diminished and lackluster turnout at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) in light of recent industry events and the absence of major sites and their seat qualifiers, it’s a “the show must go on” mentality for ESPN and their poker coverage moving forward. In fact, so much so that for the first time ever, they’re giving viewers six straight days of Main Event coverage, unedited and on a 30-minute tape delay switching back and forth between two feature tables. That’s an unprecedented 34 additional hours of hole cards and all-ins. That’s a lotttttttttt of poker.

“For the first time viewers at home will have the best seats in the house for the [WSOP], poker’s premier event. Fans will see hole cards post-flop and get an inside look at all of the strategy, angst and competition of the world’s best players vying for a seat at the most prestigious final table in the sport,” said Matthew Volk, ESPN manager of programming and acquisitions.

Lon McEachern will now be accompanied by David Tuchman in the announcing booth, some no-name pro who producers decided would give them a similarly braindead product to all their late-night poker broadcast competition. Joining McEachern and Tuchman in the booth will be a revolving door of pros, providing hand analysis. An official list has yet to be announced.

Tuchman brings to an end almost a decade of coverage with Norman Chad as the sole co-announcer to McEachern, who’s dry, self-deprecating humor grew to be a welcome voice of reason to telecasts that were rapidly growing tepid and stale. Chad will, however, resume his role as co-host during the normal season airings, beginning July 26. Will his absence during this six-day event tear apart ratings like the thread of A.J. Benza and Gabe Kaplan being pulled from the fabrics of High Stakes Poker? You’ll have 34 hours to find out for yourself.

ESPN2 air times (32 hours in total) are:

  • Thursday, July 14: 3.5 hours: 8-11:30 pm PT (Footage gathered from 7:30-11 pm)
  • Friday, July 15: 3.5 hours: 8-11:30 pm PT (Footage gathered from 7:30-11 pm)
  • Saturday, July 16: 9 hours: 12:30-7 pm PT; 9-11:30 pm PT (Footage gathered 12-6:30 and 8:30-11 pm)
  • Sunday, July 17: 4.5 hours: 7-11:30 pm PT (Footage gathered from 6:30-11 pm)
  • Monday, July 18: 5.5 hours: 4-7 pm PT; 9-11:30 pm PT (Footage gathered from 3:30-6:30 pm & 8:30-11 pm)
  • Tuesday, July 19: 6 hours: 9 pm to conclusion [3 am PT max] (Footage gathered from 8:30 pm until reaching November Nine)

ESPN air times (2 hours in total) are:

  • Tuesday, July 19: 2 hours: 5-7 pm PT (Footage gathered from 4:30-6:30 pm)

Just why the desire for increased coverage now at one of internet poker’s lowest points is an odd investment of resources. While many pundits believe there to be an obvious correlation between the expected turnouts and recent government seizures, WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart disagrees.

“I believe this is the year when everyone will see just how big poker has become all around the world. This is the year where people will see what a juggernaut this World Series of Poker has become. It is a testament to the fact that the WSOP is more than a poker event, it’s an experience. It’s an annual pilgrimage; it’s a chance to run with the bulls.”

The WSOP in 2010 set record numbers, with the 57 events attracting 72,966 players from 117 countries to create a total prize-pool of $187.1 million. The WSOP brass feels this year will be no different, as the defining poker tournament circuit adds two new events: a $25k No-Limit Hold’Em heads-up event and a six-handed $5k Pot-Limit Omaha.

Regardless of their faith in their product in the midst of the FBI and DOJ intervention, is this too much poker to broadcast? My problem is the lack of variety to ESPN’s coverage, as they have progressively over the years deduced all of poker down to just No-Limit Hold’em games, making a pretty little product for the Average Joe drinking cheap beers on Friday nights to relate to, admire, and consume. It’s a shame really that they market it this way because the different variants that comprise the entire WSOP are just as amazing to learn and exciting to watch. The eclectic mix of action and skillsets and the strategy contained within the separate variants is an enjoyment buffet for anyone considering themselves a poker loyalist. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t enjoy having ESPN taking away the crab legs and steak carving station and forcing me to eat strictly from the salad bar.

 

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There is No God: Hellmuth in Talks For Commentating Position at ESPN
Posted by Ray Finkle on 1st March 2011

First, he exists.

Second, he has whored himself and his shameless name to no end. Just ask the people who laid witness to any his World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event entrances in the last decade.

Third, he has made a complete and utter mockery of the game that has brought him to such Olympian heights in his own mind, belittling anyone to appease the brimming ego flowing out of his inflated head.

Fourth, he made Dancing with the Stars unwatchable for my mom. She has yet to miss a single season.

And just when you think Phil Hellmuth couldn’t get any worse, the rumors start to spread that he may be making the ESPN poker broadcast booth a bit more stuffy and pretentious. Matt Savage, tournament director extrodinaire, had some time to catch up with Phil at the L.A. Poker Classic Main Event over the weekend. The result is almost as startling as the Zapruder film.

While it’s merely speculation at this point, I’ve watched too much Hellmuth to not recognize that smug little and it smile meaning he’s content with himself and is patting himself on the back internally for his decisions. While I’m not a human lie detector, it doesn’t take much to cut through the man’s crap, and his passive remarks towards the Dancing with the Stars opportunity–which came to brutally real fruition–only help further solidify that televised poker as we know it is about to get a burning sensation that doesn’t go away. Sure, the potential is there for some witty banter between Norman Chad and Hellmuth, but I’m not willing to waste my time sifting through his arrogant piss to try and find diamonds in it.

First A.J. Benza leaves High Stakes Poker, then Gabe Kaplan, and now the only redeemable outlet for cards left on TV is shamed with the Hellmuth brand? Great, guess it’s just another “Qualifier Takes on Annoying Pros Sponsored Super Fun Happy Poker Hour!!!” show for me! I mean, televised WSOP poker has gotten me through the constant lulls in programming found sandwiched between the seas of canned sitcoms and mind-numbing reality television. I’ve spent many a sleepless night with ESPN as their all-in lullabies helped me drift off to bed. I’ve spent years watching some of the game’s best make plays beyond my means and have taken the knowledge and theory with me to evolve my own game…somewhat. At this point, I think I’ve taken all the broadcasts had left to offer, and will respectfully withdraw my loyalty, like a sailor jumping ship before it hits the Hellmuth iceberg. Good bye, ESPN WSOP coverage. Thanks for the memories~

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41st Annual World Series of Poker Main Event Coverage to Begin Tonight on ESPN
Posted by Ray Finkle on 10th August 2010

The 41st Annual World Series of Poker Main Event coverage kicks off tonight at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST on ESPN. Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, poker’s Statler and Waldorf, call the play-by-play as cameras take us through the second largest field in Main Event history: a staggering 7,319 players vying for a first prize of $8,944,138.

The 2010 season is already off to a great start right out of the gates, seeing the year-over-year ratings increase 15% during the season-opening broadcast of the inaugural $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship. A stacked list of players comprised the final table, battling for the $1,559,046 first place prize and Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, headlined by brothers Michael and Robert Mizrachi. The duo marked the third time in WSOP history that two related players made the same final table. The other occureneces were when brother-sister combo Annie Duke and Howard Lederer would place 6th and 9th, respectively, in a 1995 $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event, and when brothers Ross and Barney Boatman placed 7th and 9th in a 2002 $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event.

Playing like the IRS had a gun to his head, Michael Mizrachi was a site to behold this year: out of five cashes, he final tabled four of them, eventually winning week one’s Poker Player’s Championship broadcast and reaching poker’s coveted November Nine. He may have taken home over a million dollars with his Chip Reese trophy, but stands to take home much, much more with a top finish at the final table of the Main Event. He currently sits in 7th place with 14,450,000 in chips.

The week two broadcast aired coverage of the Tournament of Champions (TOC) return to the WSOP. An invitational field of 27 brought out some of the greatest names in the game, vying for the $1,000,000 freeroll prize pool, and saw a table brimming with familiar faces: Howard Lederer, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Huck Seed, and T.J. Cloutier. Seeing Cloutier’s less than triumphant return to ESPN cameras looking like a distressed, dilapidated carcass gave me the same feeling I get when watching Layne Staley on Alice and Chains: MTV Unplugged. His gaunt, aged figure was worn like a man who squandered his millions away on his demons, and was a depressing reminder during the first hour of coverage how there is nothing worse in this world than wasted talent.

Insert two hours of poker millionaire banter, an obnoxious Howard Lederer relishing in camera time he hasn’t seen since 2003, stupid retrospective segments, some fantastic plays by Johnny Chan, and a luckbox Huck Seed seemingly hitting every out he needed, and you have yourself an ESPN broadcast. Seed would later emerge the victor after beating Lederer heads-up for the title, taking home $500,000 and the TOC trophy.

What will the Main Event coverage have in store for us tonight outside of all-in moments sponsored by beef jerky and antiperspirants? Tune in and find out.

_____________________________________

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ESPN’s Angels in the Outfield – Lon McEachern and Norman Chad
Posted by Ray Finkle on 9th February 2010

normanandlon

The Statler and Waldorf of ESPN poker broadcasts, Lon McEachern and Norman Chad have become staples to the televised poker community, and for me, in more ways than one. Having my weeknights constantly wounded by watching clueless nobodies rake in millions on the televised felt, they have been the staple holding my incisions of enjoyment together, turning what would be a bland, mind-numbing show into something salvageable, easy to swallow, and somewhat enjoyable.

I used to hate the broadcasts and still primarily do. Constantly cutting in and out of only large pots with notable players often leaves me scratching my head when they show the leaderboard 10 minutes later and there are substantial differences in stacks and averages. Stupid segments like “The Nuts” make me want to go nuts and stab the next stranger I meet. I’m already boycotting Degree, Planters Peanuts and Jack Links Beef Jerky for all the advertisement spots through all-in moments and mystery hole card cams I’ve had to endure. And then there was Norman Chad. I hated Norman Chad.

No matter how lame I thought him to be initially, he was like that bad tooth ache: no matter how much it hurt, you just kept pressing it with your tongue. As the years have passed, his commentary has grown edgier and smarter, as has my respect for Lon and Norman both. Outside of the sun and the moon aligning and occasionally witnessing a great poker hand from a great player, they are now the most redeemable reason left to tune in.

After watching an early morning airing of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event, it dawned on me why I keep coming back for more.

  • Norman’s berating of Phil Hellmuth
    Granted Hellmuth just tosses slow pitches up with his ego to get knocked out of the park from anyone with a pulse, it seems as though there aren’t enough seconds in the broadcast for Norman’s constant reminders of just how laughably egotistical he is. Even when he’s nowhere in sight, Norman gets in witty jabs to constantly remind viewers that yes, Hellmuth is still somewhere breathing and that yes, he’s still a prick. After walking in day one dressed as Julius Caesar and lead by an entourage of women as horns played, cameras constantly panned to Doyle Brunson shaking his head in disgust. Chad summarized the moment best: “You know, a lot of people hate Phil’s entrances, but they love when he makes his exits.”
  • The dynamic duo
    Every typical announcing dynamic has the “state the obvious” guy in their formula, acting as a catalyst for the “knowledgeable guy” to take over and constitute for 80% of the insight. Take the UFC for instance, where Mike Goldberg sits like a mole on the face of Joe Rogan’s expertise, or the World Poker Tour, where Vince Van Patten defecates clichés in between every sentence of Mike Sexton. Lon and Norman are like the Tweedledee and Tweedledum of announcing, where the expertise behind their harmony and eloquence never rides on either of their shoulders individually. Whether its play-by-play or colorful commentary, their remarks effortlessly complement one another until the volley of words stops at the end of the hour. Never since the Legion of Doom has a tag team been this effective.
  • Norman’s self-loathing
    Misery loves company, and considering only 5% of people who play poker are winners, the viewing demographic agrees. That’s why it’s enjoyable to watch Norman constantly compare winning hand percentages to his divorce rate and probabilities of things occurring as distant as his self-admitted inability to play poker. Love him or hate him, his remarks are infectious and relatable to the woes of your two-outers and runner runner beats. Having no shame and a deep sense of humility are two things you come to appreciate playing poker, or in Chad’s case, watching it.
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