9 replies to this topic

[jayistheman]

did anyone see the tournament at the taj last night on espn? im guessing it was in the early 90's..... phil hellmuth was the chip leader and hilarity ensued. here are some highlights.-one guy made it a habit of moving over the top of him every time.... and every time it happened, phil went to hug his mom.-a guy moved in on him with A7.... outdrawing phil's AQ-Phil had to pee, and asked for a break... a few players objected. so he whined until another player agreed to stall on his hand so phil could take a piss break. -vince van patten and mike sexton busted out on the bubble... lol. they "showed alotta heart"it was actually amazing to see how he used to play before the new age internet players were able to match his agression. he was raising alotta pots, and stealing alotta blinds.... its almost a shame what happened to his style.this is the second old tournament that ive seen on late espn.... they showed an old wsop last week. its pretty bad because the announcers dont understand the game, and there are no hole card cams. but it beats going to bed ealy.

[devidee]

I agree with you that the production was terrible back then (the one last nite was from 1996 I believe) but you are mistaken when you say the announcer didn't know the game. Gabe Kaplan (yes Mr. Kotter) is an excellent poker player and has played high stakes games for many years.

[jayistheman]

last night's wasnt bad.... the guy who did the old wsop last week was the worst... i was just commenting on the old tournaments in general.

[srharris22]

ACTUALLY GABE KAPLAN ALSO DID THE ANNOUNCING FOR THE OLD WSOP THAT YOU WERE WATCHING IF IT WAS THE 2002 WSOP. I DO BELIEVE THAT IS CORRECT, BEEN A WHILE SINCE I SAW IT. THE PROBLEM WITH HIM IS JUST THAT HE IS VERY DRY, BUT HE IS A GOOD POKER PLAYER, DEFINITELY NOT A COLORFUL ANNOUNCER.ESPN CLASSIC IS RUNNING THESE OLD TOURNEYS NOW, LITTLE DIFFERENT NEVER SEEING CARDS UNTIL THEY ARE TURNED OVER, BUT I LIKED IT. I ACTUALLY SPENT MORE TIME WATCHING THE PLAYERS NOT THE CARDS/PERCENTAGES/CHIP COUNTS/ OR BIOS LOL. THERE IS ANOTHER EPISODE ON TONIGHT OR TOMORROW NIGHT, I CAN'T RECALL.OH YEAH AND DID YOU LIKE PHIL'S SHIRT???

[superchuck]

caps lock is an inch the the left of the "a" key. thanks.

[RtherBNvegas]

Ya it was in 96.Ya it was pretty funny. Skyhawk said no so maybe he could have some kind of edge on him they said.They usually play an older tournament around 3-4 times a week on ESPN Classics. I dont know if thats the channel your talking about or if it was just on normal ESPN. Matter of fact they are playing the 97 WSOP tonight and the 98 tommorow if any of you are interested and have the channel.

[joker12676]

Last week they had the 95 wsop. Dick Van Patten was one of the commentators and he was horrible he always thought someone had to have the nuts. Tonight I think espnclassic has the 97 wsop at 1 am. Chance to see Stuey win it all for the last time.

[pleddy]

Dry or not, give me Gabe Kaplan over Norman Chad any day.I thought Gabe's coverage of the 1997 WSOP (the one that Stu Ungar won) was good. Gabe and Stu seemed to know each other and it was a little more personal IMHO. I actually like not seeing the hole cards sometimes when watching these programs. It gives you more opportunity to do the whole "how would you play it" based on the same information that the player has. I hate it when the announcers make acomments based on seeing the hole cards saying things like "oooh what a bad play against AQ...." As Howard Lederer pointed out numerous times on the Championship Poker at the Plaza (the one that Negreanu won) that the "players can't see the hole cards, they are making a play based on the information they have".Paul

[wingsfan]

I agree. It would be interesting to maybe do a television show where we can see the hole cards, but the announcers can't. Just for kicks. As is, they give and take away way too much credit for plays that they know the results of. Of course it's an easy play then. Like so many people saying the Final Jeopardy question was easy when that uber-genius lost. I always told them "any question you know the answer to is an easy one". Rambling again....

[jayistheman]

i think it is on espn classics.... its been on here at midnight eastern. the old wsop announcer wasnt gabe.... i forget who it was, but it was terrible...."do you think he has a pair?? yes, he has to have a pair.... most likely a pair vs AK... ooohhh maybe they both have pairs!"