I get a lot of “Poker Face” tips and news coming through my RSS and inbox, but this is clearly the best. I know last week that Cartman sang the GaGa mega-hit on South Park (great episode, btw), but this Christopher Walken clip is by far the best.
Walken is on a British show called Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and absolutely kills the delivery.
Enough talking, here’s the Christopher Walken Poker Face Video:
Reality TV Update!
The bubble has burst for Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho in the Amazing Race. The girls were eliminated in The Netherlands, cutting the field of competitors down to 5 teams.
Ho and Michelle were eliminated when they failed to make it through a series of Dutch challenges that involved a strength testing carnival game (72 unsuccessful attempts for the girls while most teams did it in 1) and a par-8 version of clog golfing.
At the end of the competition, the girls didn’t finish that leg of the race and were eliminated by host, Phil Keoghan.
Ho and Michelle started this leg of the race in 2nd place, but had these ominous words to say before it began:
“Second place is awesome, but we’ve learned from poker that it’s really easy to get comfortable and get involved in pots that you shouldn’t.”
Foreshadowing! I guess that clog-golf was a pot that the girls should have stayed away from.
With the girls eliminated, I’ll probably stop posting about The Amazing Race, but I will continue watching it… only for the Globetrotters. Those guys are awesome.
Of all the poker shows that have been created in the past couple of years, High Stakes Poker has definitely got to be considered one of the most successful. High Stakes has used the cash game format during its successful run along with the broadcasting skills of A.J. Benza and Gabe Kaplan to survive for five eventful seasons. The show has been so successful that the Game Show Network has decided to bring it back for a 6th season.
However, one key ingredient which won’t be returning for season 6 is A.J. Benza who was informed by Game Show Network representatives that his services will no be needed. Going even further, GSN has decided to get rid of Benza so that they can add a younger female host to go along with Kaplan. There has been no official word as to who this younger female host will be as of yet.
Regardless of whom the woman host turns out to be, Benza is definitely not happy about the decision and has let his opinion be known. Benza made a good point on his blog (where he was talking about a conversation he had with GSN suits) when he said, “if you got the best pizza in town for 5 seasons, why try and add licorice to it?” Benza’s argument is definitely a good point since him and Kaplan were an excellent announcing duo throughout the first 5 seasons of High Stakes Poker.
Now everything is up in the air for High Stakes Poker with a potentially much younger, model-like host being brought to the table. Sure GSN is banking on the move attracting a wider audience, but they could lose some of the existing audience too. If things don’t work out, then there is definitely the possibility of Benza coming back. A.J. put this into perspective when he said, “And look on the bright side: if she stinks….I might be back for HSP 7”
The poker world was happy to hear about female pros Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho appearing on the CBS reality TV show “The Amazing Race.” Unfortunately, the poker world may not be so proud of the pair after their debut on the 15th installment of the Amazing Race.
After leading off the race by saying they were non-profit workers from LA – benefiting the homeless, the girls were off to a pretty good start.
Unfortunately, all of the profits from this charity go towards funding both of the girls’ poker careers. Eventually, a female fan of the pair saw them at the airport and went on about how great they are at poker. The bluff got sniffed out and the girls were left looking like asses.
The girls jumped out to an initial lead, but nearly got knocked out when they finished last in the Japanese-game-show-wasabi-bomb eating section of the race. After some duck herding, they were back in resasonable shape.
Overall, I don’t think they come off as likeable. By lying about what they do for a living, and then pretty much getting busted immediately, they make poker players look especially sleazy. Factor in how annoying they are, and they’re on the fast track to being ‘that annoying team’ that viewers want to see lose.
Tune in each Sunday at 8pm (after a long day of watching football, it’s a good way to get some quality time in with the wife without leaving the couch) to see how the girls do throughout the rest of the action.
On Friday morning pros attending the World Series of Poker Europe will wake up and rip the wrapping off a brand-new event in the poker world, the Caesars Cup.
The Caesars Cup is essentially a carbon copy of the PGA’s Ryder Cup, which has successfully attracted a substantial fanbase to golf’s fifty billionth event of the year. Young, popular pros have been conscripted to 8-player teams captained by Annette Obrestad (Europeans) and Daniel Negreanu (Americas).
The awkwardly-named teams will play through a variety of different permutations of doubles No-Limit Hold’em, with a bit of heads up thrown into the mix to guarantee lively action. The format is—not unlike the Ryder Cup—somewhat hard to grasp at first, but the appeal is simple: it’s us vs them (you decide which team “us” is for you).
Here’s why I love the idea: poker, like golf, tennis, and other individual sports, is limited to the extent to which it can tell a compelling story by the success of the major names that are playing in that particular event. In other words, a classic case of the No Tiger Woods, No Interest Syndrome. Just ask any of the qualifiers for the final table at the Borgata Poker Open (you’ll need to look them up), also going on this week.
By assembling teams made up of well-known pros around inclusive international labels, the event cashes in on fans who have been trained on years of cheering for their favorite sports team, and who will love to see the players work together to win bragging rights, and play entertaining poker. And if the first Ryder Cup was any indication, they’ll be playing hard.
In case you’re interested, the players involved include heavy hitters Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harmer, Doyle Brunson (Americas), Peter Eastgate, Patrick Antonius, and Dario Minieri (Europeans).
ESPN will be broadcasting all the action as part of their World Series of Poker Europe coverage. Be sure to tune in to watch history unfold, and because you know you want to.
Late last week it was announced that HeadsUp Entertainment will be launching a new web-based television station that will air entirely poker-related content 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Whew, finally. If it weren’t for this exciting development in the poker industry the public would be left to scrounge through the seemingly infinite amount of poker content already on television.
Sarcasm aside, this new network does have a lot of potential, particularly in Canada, where the project will be launched (spokespeople suggest it will eventually launch internationally). The network will air all-things poker: from movies, to coverage of tournaments in Canada, to biographies of Canadian players (hint: ice cold nerves).
Here’s hoping HeadsUp hits the jackpot with this new entry into the world of poker media.
Comedy can come from some unexpected places. From news sites, to radio, to straight up advertisements, there are a lot of people trying to keep us laughing so they can keep us listening.
ESPN’s Inside Deal obviously wanted a piece of the comedy pie, but has thus far been coming away hungry. Before the show ramps into its usual combination of poker news, interviews, and profiles, the producers have deemed it wise to start each episode with a skit starring hosts Laura Lane and Bernard Lee along with the week’s guest.
The skits they attempt are roughly as funny as a piece of lined paper. A piece of lined paper with unfunny things written on it. That said, the bits have some entertaining elements, like the charming aren’t-you-glad-you-don’t-work-in-these-cubicles set, and the chipper way Lane and Lee throw themselves into punch lines like “saweet!” (BAZING!)
Great work, guys. At least your openers remind us why we’ve been watching Inside Deal: to pick up whatever poker tips we can…like patience.
I rag on Face The Ace a little bit on this site, but there’s a silver lining for NBC’s success with the show – they didn’t even come up with the idea.
Brandon McSmith is suing “Poker Productions’, the company responsible for the idea of the show. Noted gossipmonger and celebrity hunting site, TMZ reported this earlier today.
McSmith claims that he came up with the idea for regular poker players to face off against poker pros (hidden behind doors). Sound a little familiar? The plot thickens as McSmith thinks this idea theft is worth $85Million… That’s a lot of blinds.
As of now, it’s unclear how Face The Ace, NBC or Poker Productions will react to this allegation. If it’s anything close to a legit case from McSmith (which sounds like a totally fake name to me) I’d imagine FTA and it’s parent companies will throw some bucks at it to make the problem go away.
I’ll keep you posted on any further developments.
Poker After Dark has no doubt been one of the most successful poker television shows in history. The hour-long NBC show, which first made its debut on January of 2007, has already lasted 5 seasons and doesn’t look to slow down any time soon. Poker After Dark has started a new season which will feature 12 episodes.
The 12 brand new episodes which comprise season 6 will center on high stakes cash games between some of the best poker players in the world. Phil Ivey, Eli Elezra, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Howard Lederer, and llari “Zigmund” Sahamies will all participate in the new season of Poker After Dark.
Besides being accepted by invitation, players also needed to buy into the show with $100,000; the blinds will be set at $200/$400. What’s interesting is that the seemingly low blinds (for the caliber of players involved) will be moving up as the show advances with the blinds expected to triple towards the end. This means that the blinds will eventually reach $600/$1,200 which is more accustomed to what many of the show’s contestants are used to playing for.
All of the players in season 6 of Poker After Dark have been involved with other poker TV shows in the past with the exception of llari “Zigmund” Sahamies. Sahamies has made a name for himself through his online exploits and has come into even bigger fame recently when he made the final table of the WSOP Main Event.
For those wondering when they’ll get to see Sahamies, as well as the other players on Poker After Dark, episodes will air every night on NBC at 2:05 am. The special Director’s Cut will air every Saturday after Saturday Night Live while people can also catch episodes by going to nbcsports.com as well.
NBC’s Face the Ace will be making another run at the TV cycle with six episodes between now and January 2. This is good for those of you that haven’t been able to find enough poker on television…
Blurring the lines between reality program and standard poker show, FTA’s initial run was a bit marred by low ratings, boring play and subpar announcing.
The show’s producer, Mori Eskandani, has stated that the show isn’t going to be changing in a big way, but some tweaks will occur. Look for more involvement from the contestant’s family (oh man), and less of the guy from the Sopranos not really knowing much about poker.
I think it’s cool to see an attempt at rethinking the standard poker programming that is pretty omnipresent on the TV dial lately, but FTA misses the mark for me. I think it’s a combination of people not playing great poker and pros playing with house money. There are no real stakes, which is different from every other poker program – but in a bad way.
For those of you still interested, or just home on Saturday nights, here is the lineup:
(All of these are Saturdays)
September 12
October 31 (spooky!)
November 14
December 12
January 2
Enjoy!
At CarbonPoker, gaming security and integrity is extremely important. We maintain a high standard of advanced encryption to ensure all of our games and features meet the expectations and interest of our players. All player and game information is protected to the highest degre.
