PhantomMut

The Crackhouse consensus last week (pre-game, and only between Dawn, Mary, and F-Train) seemed to be that the commentary sucked, but that otherwise the show is A Good Thing.

Well, the commentary could be worse. And the great thing about it is the producers keep the off-camera chattering to a minimum.

Case in point: Last week was "Champions Week" where six players who'd won the WSOP main event competed. (Chris Moneymaker, Jamie Gold, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Doyle Brunson, and Carlos Mortensen.) During one hand, Moneymaker bluffed Ferguson off better cards while holding bubkus. Ferguson took a long time to fold, apparently suspecting the bluff, but unwilling to risk most of his chips. Moneymaker then makes a point of showing his cards to the hole camera a final time, making the bluff real apparent.

Even with his glasses and his generally reserved demeanor, it was obvious that Ferguson was Not Amused.

And the announcer didn't say a single word

Beauty.

Likewise, last hand of the tourney, Moneymaker is heads-up against Chan. Moneymaker is on the button, he's got an up-and-down after the raggedy flop. Chan has bottom pair and a comfortable chip lead. Moneymaker thinks a few moments, and I'm nearly yelling at the monitor "bet it hard or give it up!" Instead he checks, Chan puts Moneymaker all-in, Moneymaker makes an impatient call, the straight doesn't come, and that's a wrap.

Just like Moneymaker gave a tell on what he was holding against Furgeson (intentionally in that case) I think the way he checked the last hand to Chan after the flop was an unintentional tell for Chan, and Chan used it. And most poker shows wouldn't have let me see that.

Was I thinking the right advice there? I don't know, but I know it was my own idea because the announcer kept his big yap shut.

Problems with the show? If the players are quiet, the silences can be long and drawn out. Likewise, if the players are cautious, the audience is treated to a lot of folding. Oddly enough, just like real poker!

But the joy of getting to watch Jamie Gold trying to push Doyle Brunson around without having Norm Chad make irrelevant jokes about his marriages more than makes up for the slow stretches.

Oh, and the best thing for this non-TiVo-enabled troglodyte? The episodes are online. (But only for the most recently played sessions, dammit. After that, only the "Director's Cuts" are available.)

So, if you know enough about poker to be generally dissatisfied with most televised poker, check this show out.