|
|
POCKET ACES
 Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.
Nov 03, 2006
A Broadcasting Experiment
Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom. -- Francis Bacon
This weekend while listening to a football game on the radio, I remembered that some network tried to air a silent broadcast on TV years ago. Something tells me it was a Dolphins game. My memory is about as lasting as the idea itself because I do not even recall what people thought about this strange idea.
I probably liked it, though, because if I watch TV, which I rarely do any more, I will often turn the sound off. (I haven't seen a single episode of shows like Survivor and Desperate Housewives and only recently began watching CSI because I enjoy trying to figure out where in Las Vegas they filmed various shots.) I turn off the volume first because it is almost always too loud and second because the sound adds very little to the broadcast. I am not talking about everything on TV; I am mainly referring to sports shows, including dog shows. So it was that I began to wonder what would happen if the current broadcasting of poker might benefit from some changes.
I periodically turn the sound off when watching poker. The filming of these high-stakes tournaments has changed from the format that won me over in the first big year. In those days the tournament action saw almost no delay. Mike and Vince (Sexton and Van Patton) gave their views while the dealer dealt the cards. There were no pregnant pauses between the flop and the turn and no fingernail-biting drama of delay while we waited for the river card to appear. It was deal, flop, burn, turn, burn, turn, on to the next hand. Now while the cameras are trying to exaggerate the drama, I am turning off the voices that are trying to fill the time with words. Instead of listening to often-useless verbiage, I am watching the faces, the hands, the moves of the players. I am trying to decide what they are thinking, how they are analyzing, or what they are looking for in the way of a tell.
Here are a couple of chances I would like to see televised poker take.
- I would like the announcers to try to discuss the hands without knowing what the hole cards are. When a player raises, I would like Mike Sexton to talk about what kind of hand he would be raising with at this point and why. When another player goes all in, I would like Vince to explain what he thinks that person's motivation was without seeing his cards. While this might be a little bit difficult, the task can be made easier by having one announcer see one hand and the other announcer see the other hand. They, in essence, would be the individual players. With this scenario we would be getting a true look at the poker mind based on the amount of information the player at the table has.
- I would like to see a little less drama as we wait for the river card on critical hands. I favor this approach because when it comes to those all-in cliff-hangers, we already know there will be only one of a few outcomes. Somebody will win and somebody will lose. Somebody might be eliminated or might double up. The last card might be a lightening bolt miracle or a piece of garbage with a smiling face. It does not matter. With the slow rolling by the camera, watching poker is beginning to revert to the days when it was akin to watching paint dry!
- I would like the cameras to hide the player cards every once in a while to give the viewers an opportunity to guess what different players are thinking.
- I would like to see the elimination of what the WPT calls the Wonder Cam and what the WSOP calls the Rabbit Camera. Poker losses and incorrect folds are tough enough to live with. The player does not have to know what might have happened had he made a different decision. The hand ends when the last bet goes into the pot.
- I would like the cameras to focus on the game instead of the crowd and/or the player antics. It almost appears as if the film crew searches for flamboyance and outrageousness. I understand the excitement of the moment and I know what it is like to snap off a winner when that is the least expected (but most hoped-for) outcome. So a little celebration is okay.
- In the same light, I would like tournament directors to insist that players stay at the table, even if they are not in a hand. I have never seen a NASCAR driver leave the track because he was not in the lead; I have never seen a running back leave the field because the quarterback was not going to use him in a play. I would also like it if the use of earphones and cell phones banned, and that players give their audiences the full experience. I do not trust them! I am not accusing anyone of anything but, there have been major cheating scams that involved the use headphones and computer devices in places you would think were totally secure. It could happen in poker-easily.
If none of this happens, I will still watch televised poker. I will still turn off the sound when I get annoyed with the player chatter or the feeble attempt to fill in the time while we wait for the river card. I will still cheer for a good play; I will still be happy to see players become instant millionaires - even if it is not on my own terms or preferences.
|
  
|
