For several years, the only two poker television shows that anyone knew about were the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on ESPN and the World Poker Tour (WPT) on the Travel Channel (now on Fox Sports). When poker erupted in the United States, many new shows were born, such as the Ultimate Poker Challenge, Celebrity Poker Showdown, and Poker Superstars Invitational. There was even a show on MTV where Phil Laak would go to a celebrity’s house and deal a sit and go for the celebrity and his/her celebrity friends. The airwaves became over-saturated with poker, ratings declined, and shows died.
Today, it looks like we are in the middle of a televised poker rebirth. Aside from first-run episodes of the WSOP, High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark have taken over as the go-to programming for poker fans. Now, a new type of program, the poker game show, has invaded the public consciousness. Full Tilt Poker’s Face the Ace debuted on NBC in August, the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge hit the air on Fox last fall, and it was recently announced that newly-inducted Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton will host a new game show called Shuffle Up and Deal in 2010.
The evolution is interesting. Originally, we had major tournament poker. Big tournaments attract attention and have drama built right in. As poker programming expanded, smaller tournaments started to be shown. Then, as standard tournament poker began to jump the shark, smaller matches featuring celebrities, poker pros, or both entered our living rooms as fans became more interested in watching personalities they knew rather than Joe Boring from Normal, Illinois.
Non-poker celebrities quickly lost their luster, as poker fans wanted to see quality poker. We had all been there and done that with big tournaments, so television producers gave us the more intimate settings of the cash game (High Stakes Poker) and the small sit and go (Poker After Dark). High Stakes Poker, in particular, has been a huge hit because we get to see top pros and a few deep-pocketed amateurs put a lot of their own money on the line and we really get a feel for what they go through in the toughest cash games.
Now, we have poker game shows with a live audience, a host, an announcer, lights, and music, the whole shebang. The ones currently on the air, however, are inherently flawed. Well, you could say they are terrible, but really, they were behind the eight ball from the beginning.
Why? Because they want to force real poker, regardless of the added gimmick, into a game show format. It just doesn’t work. The problem is in the pace of the game. Poker is a slow game. Yes, there is excitement with big hands, but overall, it’s really boring to watch. On the other hand, game shows are rapid fire, a pace that poker just can’t match. Poker can’t win – if you show lots of hands to please the avid poker fan, it’s too slow for the masses. If all you do is show all-ins, the avid poker fans don’t like it because it’s not real poker.
Another byproduct of the slow pace is that it makes not caring about the contestants an issue. Look, it’s cool if some guy beats Howard Lederer, but it’s not like I haven’t seen that before in tournaments. Make me want to root for the guy. Face the Ace is terrible at this. Million Dollar Challenge is okay – it helped that the first contestant was a priest who said he was going to donate his winnings to his church. On a regular game show, the action is fast enough where the game itself is what is interesting, regardless of who the players are.
Now, to spice up the show, colorful personalities can be added, but that’s easier said than done in poker. The contestants have been hit and miss and let’s face it, many of the top poker pros that the contestants face off against aren’t brimming with personality either. Take the first match-up of Face the Ace. It was a guy who could barely utter two words against Phil Ivey. Great! Ivey is a guy we want to see! Oh, but we forgot that Ivey, as tremendous of a player as he is, is less than chatty at the table. What ensued were uncomfortable silence and even more uncomfortable forced dialogue.
I am actually quite intrigued by Sexton’s new show and am looking forward to watching when it debuts. Shuffle Up and Deal sounds like it could fit better into the “game show” category and hold the interest of casual viewers, although it may lose some hardcore poker fans. There aren’t a ton of details on the game yet, but what we do know is that each show will pit amateur players against each other, each selecting cards from an electronic board in an effort to make the best five card hand. The player who wins the most money will advance to a bonus round for a chance to win a progressive jackpot that starts at $250,000 and goes up $10,000 every time someone doesn’t win. So, while it won’t really be poker – more like a hybrid of poker and Deal or No Deal – it sounds like it has a chance to excite viewers with its fast pace. If there is enough strategy involved, die-hard poker players may enjoy it too.
Who knows, it may turn out that game show poker isn’t meant to be. While I have not been thrilled with the offerings so far, I do applaud the shows’ creators, producers, talent, and staff for trying to offer the viewing public something other than the standard fare. One day, someone may get it right and when they do, I’ll be watching.
I have felt that coverage of poker tournaments could be improved if stats were added to add context. For example, how many hours have the players been sitting there when they make a decision? Number of hands played from various positions? I am sure there a number of stats that could be tracked would make sense. Just like baseball, it would help add more to the viewing experience.