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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (104526)	7/5/2006 10:11:52 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

The Professional Poker Tour (PPT). The World Poker Tour's latest entry in the poker television derby is something of a disappointment. Here's why: 1. Only ranked pros can play. O.K., that is the basic concept. The WPT is trying to sell recognizable faces to the public. Having a 6 player final table at a WPT event, with 6 players you've never heard of competing for millions, was not unheard of this year. 4 or 5 players you've never heard of, with one or two more famous players, was more the rule than the exception. I like that. If Joe Blow knocked out Phil Helmuth and John Doe knocked out Carlos Mortensen, then we should see Joe and John, not Phil and Carlos. If the 163 ranked pros the PPT recognizes can't make the finals of a WPT event, then why the hell are they ranked? If they want ranked players, the WPT should take 15 minutes of each broadcast, one eighth of the total, and show the big names as they're being knocked out. Sometimes they allude to it, but rarely do they show the dramatic all in that did in the star. 2. Given the ranked pros bias, I was surprised at how many folks I didn't recognize at the featured table on the first PPT show. Perhaps a Vegas pro like Patron knew them all, but I sure didn't. O.K., they did have Amarillo Slim, and I'll watch him any time. Greg Raymer was there. Noe Hernandez is a top pro. The quack quack guy is second tier, IMHO, but I've seen him before. The other five were accomplished players, but without name recognition, at least to this constant viewer. Which sort of defeats the purpose. 3. Lots of ambient background noise. The scene is more like the chaos of The World Series of Poker instead of the slick entertainment vehicle of the WPT. 4. The payoff whens and wheres are confusing. 5. The quarters format is silly. 6. Who supplies the prize money? I think it is the WPT tv sponsors and not the players, hence the huge player participation. Nothing brings the players out like the term "$2.5 million freeroll." 7. They showed Cindy Violette walking out of Foxwoods after being the first player ever eliminated from the PPT. They didn't show the hand where she lost or focus on her eliminator. They may have mentioned his name, but I didn't hear it. I've been to Foxwoods, thanks to Zeus and his wife, and it's a pretty nice place. Cindy seemed to be walking past winos sleeping in a doorway out to a dark parking lot. Of course, she had no money, so she couldn't be robbed. But I wonder where they shot those scenes? There must be a seedy side to the casino that I missed. 8. PPT has the same initials as "The Plunge Protection Team." Makes you want to say "hmmmmmmm!" 9. The announcers weren't half bad. Mark Seif was much better than I expected. They are using the old "one's a pro and the other is a sucker who loses all the time" schtick perfected by the team on Fox Sports. But perhaps they'll find their own personalities further down the line. Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten can get a bit corny at times, but they fit the WPT like a custom glove. These guys have that potential. 10. How old are these shows? I know there was a lawsuit preventing them being shown this time last year, even though they were already in the can. Sure, I'll watch it. But I will rank it after The WPT and The WSOP. I like it better than PokerSuperstars, where the blinds make for some stupid play way too early in the game. And it is head and shoulders above the amateurish Monte Carlo Millions, Mansion Poker's PokerDome or Ultimate Bet's "Hey, let's watch great internet players make fools of themselves in a brick and mortar tournament." And, I suspect many critics will tell the WPT the same stuff I'm talking about and it will be much better next year.