Dahn The Den
I have been watching downloads of "The Poker Den" this week. The Poker Den might just be my new favourite poker TV show. It's a lot like High Stakes Poker except that the buy-in is 1/10 as much (or 1/50 as much of the 500K HSP table). The play is about the same, the commentary is much worse (Gabe Kaplan rules), but there's so much additional comedy that it's just great. What's meant to be funny, I think, is the voiceover which you must check out at least once, I'm in stitches listening to it. It is the most brilliantly exaggerated sort of gangster cockney I have ever heard, I mean clapped my shells on. "THIS GEEZER GOT MUGGED OFF LARST TIME" roars the voice "CAN E PUT THE SMILE BACK ON IS CLOCK THIS TIME RAHND". If I play GUKPT at the Vic next month I'm going to talk like that all the time. IN YOUR DIAL.
There's loads more unintentional comedy like the set, Mad Marty and his teacher's desk, players saying "fuck" without being bleeped and generally MUGGING EACH OVVER OFF especially the table egg who is so bad even Jamie Gold is being condescending to him. Mad Marty is hopeless by the way, when he thinks of some completely irrelevant point he can make he throws his weight around, but when the entire table is telling the fish not to call with AT when Roland has KK because they want the fish to do his money to them instead, he's nowhere to be seen.
Definitely my favourite is when the egg rivers Devilfish in a completely gross cooler and practically slowrolls him because he can barely read his hand. Then, and I really hate it when people do this to me, he comes over and gives it lots of really sorry, if you'd done this or that blah blah. Devilfish overdoes it sometimes, especially with dealers, but I didn't mind just this once when he said, fully on camera and in front of everyone, "It's alright, I understand - you're a fucking idiot". God the times I have wanted to say that. These people mug me off.
Anyway the real reason I was inspired to post was the way one of the players introduced himself. I'm sure part of it was bravado, but even so, he put on his scariest face and said "Poker's not meant to be fun. It's a job, it's a business, you go in there, win the money and get out. If you want to play poker for fun stick to play chips with your mates when you come home from the pub". I really hope if it ever comes to that point for me I'll find something else to do. I still enjoy playing a great deal, being presented with puzzles to solve, working out the other players, playing final tables for decent money, and so on. It is still a game and if you keep it in perspective you can support yourself (and then some more) just playing a game that you enjoy, which sounds great to me. Maybe it's the harder kind of cash game ethic but when it's all about business or "crushing people's skulls" as another player said, that's all a bit too much for me. Fortunately, as I have mentioned before, poker is a game where you can psych yourself up to the eyeballs without it necessarily helping, in fact it can even impair your decision making IMO. Chill out guys. Enjoy what you do or do something else
There's loads more unintentional comedy like the set, Mad Marty and his teacher's desk, players saying "fuck" without being bleeped and generally MUGGING EACH OVVER OFF especially the table egg who is so bad even Jamie Gold is being condescending to him. Mad Marty is hopeless by the way, when he thinks of some completely irrelevant point he can make he throws his weight around, but when the entire table is telling the fish not to call with AT when Roland has KK because they want the fish to do his money to them instead, he's nowhere to be seen.
Definitely my favourite is when the egg rivers Devilfish in a completely gross cooler and practically slowrolls him because he can barely read his hand. Then, and I really hate it when people do this to me, he comes over and gives it lots of really sorry, if you'd done this or that blah blah. Devilfish overdoes it sometimes, especially with dealers, but I didn't mind just this once when he said, fully on camera and in front of everyone, "It's alright, I understand - you're a fucking idiot". God the times I have wanted to say that. These people mug me off.
Anyway the real reason I was inspired to post was the way one of the players introduced himself. I'm sure part of it was bravado, but even so, he put on his scariest face and said "Poker's not meant to be fun. It's a job, it's a business, you go in there, win the money and get out. If you want to play poker for fun stick to play chips with your mates when you come home from the pub". I really hope if it ever comes to that point for me I'll find something else to do. I still enjoy playing a great deal, being presented with puzzles to solve, working out the other players, playing final tables for decent money, and so on. It is still a game and if you keep it in perspective you can support yourself (and then some more) just playing a game that you enjoy, which sounds great to me. Maybe it's the harder kind of cash game ethic but when it's all about business or "crushing people's skulls" as another player said, that's all a bit too much for me. Fortunately, as I have mentioned before, poker is a game where you can psych yourself up to the eyeballs without it necessarily helping, in fact it can even impair your decision making IMO. Chill out guys. Enjoy what you do or do something else
4 Comments:
That show is *all* entertainment.
Where did they find Kasey Thompson from? I don't think I've seen incompetence as remarkable as that at a table since, well, ever. Curtis is hopelesss too, and Devilfish only slightly better. Sbrugby has the constant look of a man who knows he's going to be handed large fistfuls of cash just for staying awake.
And Jesse May at Devilfish's exit "Ulliot shows a lot of class there". I'm not sure that someone with so much class would even know as many four and ten letter words, let alone use them all in such quick succession. All relative, I suppose, but, yes, entertaining.
Hi Andy,
I found your blog when I jumped on different poker blogs - found your by pure luck. I really like your design and your writings and would love to work with you in some way. Please get back to me when you see this, send me an email to:
dennis.crosby@pokerlistings.com
Thanks!
/Dennis
Gossip from the Party event organizer (not sure if this has been on 2+2)...degen egg Thompson in to keep his magazines sweet, couldn't pay up the 70k he was stuck for, straight (back) into rehab.
Caught one of these after reading your comments. Love the announcer at the start of the show as you did, but HATE that idiot Greekfish attempting to commentate.
Half the time he gets the action wrong, his mangling of the language is akin to that moron Paul Merson on Sky and he generally just blathers over the more interesting table talk.
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