Do you watch poker on TV?

After my morbid post earlier I decided to lighten things up a bit.

I watch poker on TV and I like to play, both live and on the internet. Tonight on GSN, formerly the Game Show Network I watched a different kind of poker. They launched their second season of High Stakes Poker. High Stakes is a different kind of poker TV show because all the players are professionals and they have to buy in with at least $100,000 of their own money. Also, it is a live game, not a tournament, which totally changes the mentality at the table. It also lends itself to kind of crazy stuff. When players are all in they will sometimes cut wacky side deals, like running the river card twice to give a player with virtually no chance of winning the hand double the chance to draw out and earn a split pot. Also, a lot of the niceties you find on the tournament poker shows is gone from this game. All the players know each other and some of their personal issues bleed right over onto the table. It is compelling and at times there is serious money on the table. Pots routinely contain $50,000 and many times there is as much cash in the pot as there are chips. As someone who plays for .10 cents at a time it is amazing to watch these guys bluff $10 or $20 grand into a pot and shrug if they lose.

9:00 PM Mondays on GSN. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. Try it once, you might like it. Besides, it is the summer, what else are you going to watch on Mondays at 9:00?

No 1 of Consequence