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TOP OVERALL PICKS
High Stakes Poker - On the Game Show Network (GSN). Hosts A.J. Benza and Gabe Kaplan are an amiable duo that provide good banter and coverage of the game without overshadowing the myriad of conversations that typically take place on the show. Top notch professional and amateur players are featured on this show where players sit down with their own money in big cash game action. Pots regularly hit the hundreds of thousands...in REAL CASH! Despite the stakes, crazy side bets and good conversation are staples of the show and a lot of the background “noise” of the game is NOT edited out.
PokerStars.Net The Big Game (FOX) Without a doubt, the best poker game show. This is a high stakes cash game with a twist - a “loose cannon” that is given $100,000 to play with top seasoned professionals and rich players that want to play on national TV. The contestant gets to keep ONLY the winnings over $100K so there are interesting dynamics brought to the table. Some decent color commentary from Chris Rose and Joe Stapleton keep casual fans interested and a good selection of pros that bring something good to the table doesn’t hurt. You can watch all the episodes on their website.
TOP TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
This is a close one between NBC’s Poker After Dark show and Fox Sports & GSN’s World Poker Tour. Although NBC’s Poker After Dark has plenty of banter from the players during the first couple of days of the week, things tend to quiet down in the latter half and the announcer, Ali Nejad, simply can’t carry the show through the lulls. On the flip side, PAD has featured some top-notch beauties as the onsite hostess. Overall, the Top Tournament Coverage goes to Fox Sports & GSN’s World Poker Tour. The excellent Mike Sexton and nutty sidekick aka Vince Van Patten give good insight on key hands and make it exciting even to the casual fan. The first couple of seasons can still be seen on the Travel Channel with the newest seasons on Fox Sports Network.
WORST TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
Yikes, this goes to ESPN’s World Series of Poker coverage -primarily because of the horrible pairing of Norman Chad and Lon McEachern. Norman Chad is like that annoying guy at parties that won’t stop talking to you and has the same lame jokes every time. As for Lon and his fake laugh on every Norman Chad joke...somebody please replace these two!
WORTH A LOOK
NBC National Head’s Up Challenge
FSN Any Full Tilt Poker sponsored show.
FOR HARDCORE POKER FANS
FSN/COMCAST; Heartland Poker Tour
COMCAST: Windy City Poker Championship
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