Televised Poker Commentary: the Trouble with Talk
Call me old fashioned, but I think that poker should be a relatively quiet game. I am in favor of light talk before the cards are dealt, but I do not want to be distracted by idle chatter when I am trying to concentrate on my cards. After all the real point of the game if the value of the cards. Talking when I am trying to focus will just make me play a less intellectual game.
With this is mind it is easy to see why I am not a big fan of poker commentary on televised poker shows. I understand that I am not actually playing so the chatter shouldn’t be a distraction, but it still is. I like to watch the cards that are being played by the online poker greats and figure out the cards in my head. I don’t need to be told when a player is obviously bluffing or when someone has a royal flush. I can see that for myself.
The trouble with talk in poker is that it distracts from the fundamentals of the game. This may be opening up a larger argument n the commercialization of poker online, but I think that the standard principles of poker need to remain unchanged. Otherwise it’s just not poker anymore.
