TV Poker and other thoughts-

Watching Poker on TV is vastly different from watching any other sport.†† When you see Lebron James beat a double team, take off from the free throw line and throw down an earth rattlingly slam-dunk you know you have seen a great play, simply by the fact your breath was taken away.† Furthermore, youíd know if Lebron ever played second-tier players such as his backups he would make short work of them.† And if Lebron ever played a 40-year-old amateur well that would be a sight to watch.

In poker great plays are much more subtle.† Deciding to raise (as a bluff) with 2nd pair on the river instead of calling or folding, just calling the river with bottom full house instead of raising when you sense strength, or mucking pocket 8s under the gun because you know the player behind you is going to raise.† All these ëgreatí plays that professional poker players might make would often miss slip under the radar of the viewing audience, the announcers and even some professional poker players themselves.† The fact that poker is still so exciting to watch regardless, due to the drama, the tension and the amount of money changing hands speaks volumes about the game.†† But as a professional I find it somewhat ironic that the target audience does not understand so much of the game.† Most football fans could have a somewhat accurate debate about who the best NFL quarterback is, but I donít think most poker fans could have the same debate about who the best poker player in the world is.† Again there are many reasons for this, such as the complexity of the game, the luck factor, and the inability of the TV medium to capture everything that is happening at the table.

Many high-stakes cash game players are frustrated, amused and jealous over the amount of media attention and respects ëprofessional tournament playersí receive. High stakes cash game professionals consistently make more money, with less variance than their tournament peers while playing against much tougher competition. Why then do most great tournament players not play high stakes cash games? Well the answer is many do, until the end up losing all of their money to the cash games pros; the smarter ones know better than to try.

Many people make the argument that there are great tournament players and then there are great cash game players.† I donít believe their argument.† A great poker player should be able to excel in both arenas, and the so called ëgreatí tournament players have simply ran way above expectation† (i.e got lucky) or have a ëstyleí the naturally exploits the weak-tight play of many big buy-in tournament players.† Just because a player can succeed in the tournament arena vs. weak players does not make them a great player.

To further my argument lets say Kobe Bryant played in the And 1 basketball league and averaged 45 points a game.† His teammate a 5í5 point guard named Donkey Joe who shot 70% from the three-point line and beyond averaged 60 points a game.† Is Donkey Joe a better basketball player than Kobe?† Of course not he had a skill that could exploit the poor defense of the And 1 league.† But if you put Donkey Joe into the NBA he would struggle to score any points against the better players while Kobe would still rack up 30 points a game.† Kobe is clearly the superior player.

I know that much of what I write might seem arrogant and self-absorbed and I understand that, and I understand the perspective of people who think that. Iím writing from the viewpoint of a twenty-two self made high-stakes poker professional and I am just writing for those and who want a vantage point into that world and to clarify my own thoughts.