So I’m watching the Million Dollar Championship from the Isle of Man yesterday on FOX Sports Net, and this has to be the least competent coverage of poker I’ve ever had the misfortune to witness. I’m used to the World Series of Poker on ESPN or the World Poker Tour on Travel Channel so maybe I’m spoiled, but if you go to all the time, trouble and expense of constructing a table with a see-through edge and mounting cameras under each position, and instructing the players to position their hole cards side-by-side on the see-through part, is it really that much to ask that we get to see all the hole cards? If that’s not possible, could we at least see them on important hands? The first player at the final table to bust out had an A-4 off-suit in the hole. An ace came on the flop, then garbage on the turn and the river, and he’s up from the table out of the tournament! The commentators buzz like little bees about it but we never find out what the other guy had to beat him! The commentators don’t tell and the camera never shows the cards. I’m still wondering what the hell the other guy had.
Then the commentators are just making stupid mistakes. At one point they announce with much excitement that a player is moving all in! What? The cards haven’t been dealt yet! Oh wait, that’s the ante he’s pushing in. Well who among us hasn’t mistaken putting three chips out there before any cards are dealt with pushing in fifteen stacks of chips on an all-in bet? Phil Hellmuth was there and he couldn’t remember any of the finalist’s names. The first guy out came into the booth and he kept messing up the names of the guys he was just playing with!
Not like I expect perfection but when a poker show makes you long for the wit and panache of Vince Van Patten, something is seriously wrong.