For all the poker purists, I would say "get over it!" The average person doesn't want to watch Stoneface, the Unabomber and Robot-Man play poker. It may be realistic, but it just isn't all that exciting. The purpose of this show is entertainment! More important - I like it. I am fond of watching the various celebrities behaving in a more natural, less-scripted venue. It's sort of like a sitcom reality show. And I think I've even learned a little about poker - though I don't play.
I started watching this for Dave Foley and stayed for the poker fun. I've recently seen reruns of Season 1 with Kevin Pollak (who is he?) and I can see that the later seasons are clearly more polished and more fun. Kevin didn't seem like a bad guy, just rather dull. His interaction with Phil Gordon was not very dynamic. And Phil, himself, seemed VERY wooden. With the new episodes, we get better commentary as the bidding happens on-screen, rather than simply pointing out what a given player did wrong after the fact. This improved continuity shows good editing skills. (You didn't really think this is played in real-time, did you?)
The only thing I might like to see different is, perhaps once during a tournament, they could give some brief recognition to Robert Thompson and the dealers. I was surprised to learn that some of the dealers are well-accomplished players and professionals in their own right, yet they are generally treated as robots.
I started watching this for Dave Foley and stayed for the poker fun. I've recently seen reruns of Season 1 with Kevin Pollak (who is he?) and I can see that the later seasons are clearly more polished and more fun. Kevin didn't seem like a bad guy, just rather dull. His interaction with Phil Gordon was not very dynamic. And Phil, himself, seemed VERY wooden. With the new episodes, we get better commentary as the bidding happens on-screen, rather than simply pointing out what a given player did wrong after the fact. This improved continuity shows good editing skills. (You didn't really think this is played in real-time, did you?)
The only thing I might like to see different is, perhaps once during a tournament, they could give some brief recognition to Robert Thompson and the dealers. I was surprised to learn that some of the dealers are well-accomplished players and professionals in their own right, yet they are generally treated as robots.