Poker Mom

Phil Hellmuth is one of the most prolific Hold’em tournament players currently alive.  He has a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets to his name.  He has also appeared on popular televised poker shows including the World Poker Tour, High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark.  This past week he was a participant in the Poker After Dark cash game and had several Hellmuth moments where he’d complain about a slow roll, a donkey call and complaints about suck outs.In the past, watching Phil Hellmuth blow up really drove me crazy – to the point where I refused to watch games in which he played.  In time though, I’ve managed to tolerate and even get a little bit of amusement out of it.  Sure he has a bit of an ego but if you really watch, most of the times he apologizes or makes amends after blowing up.  Stories have also been told about how genuine and nice of a person he is off of the felt.

So today in browsing the poker blogs I ran across this excerpted entry from Pokahboy at the Road to the final table blog:

“I don’t think I’m alone in expressing a new level of dislike for Phil Hellmuth. His voice must take up 40-50% of the airtime, it’s particularly annoying. It’s as though he feels it’s his divine right to win in every game he plays. His record in cash games isn’t great, so suck up and quit with the whining.”

The post reminded me of my initial thoughts about Hellmuth.  Perhaps in time he’ll grow on those who are utterly annoyed with him or perhaps I’ve mellowed out in my old age (har har!).

High Stakes Poker is my favorite televised poker show and I was a bit saddened by the news earlier this summer that there was no definitive answer as to whether the show would return.  Imagine my delight when I saw that Poker News Daily is reporting that season five of High Stakes Poker will be returning to the Game Show Network (GSN)!

According to the Poker News Daily article, “No official date for the beginning of Season V has been given, nor has there been any indication of whether additional episodes will be filmed or whether Season V will consist of additional unaired portions of Season IV.”

Rumors about the lack of an immediate renewal for the High Stakes Poker series centered on the new leader of GSN’s desire to step away from so many poker shows.  I was a bit bummed and predictions were made that televised poker was on the decline.  I loved the fact that High Stakes Poker was a cash game as opposed to the traditional tournament format of televised poker.  I love the cash game and as such rather enjoyed this week’s Poker After Dark “The Cash Game”.

This week marked the return of Poker After Dark to the NBC lineup.  Although the majority of this season of Poker After Dark will feature the typical six-player tournament lineup, the inaugural week is being played in a cash game format.  With a $100 per person ante and blinds set at $200/$400, six players bought in for a minimum of $100,000.

Fans of NBC’s Heads-up Poker Championship were looking forward to the clash between Tom Dwan (who has a striking resemblance to Eddie Munster) and Phil Hellmuth and as of yet, the words between the two have been pretty benign.  In a loving move, the two even shared sushi.  Yes, that’s right; Hellmuth and Dwan shared a plate of sushi. 

In the Friday morning episode, Hellmuth felted David “Viffer” Peat when he flopped a set of fours to Viffer’s pair of Queens with an Ace-kicker.  At this point, Hellmuth had already been felted once so it was definitely a boost to his ego.  Not that Hellmuth needs a boost, but his spirit quickly turned jovial after the $230k+ pot.

Viffer bought back in for $160k (or thereabouts) and a few hands later woke up with pocket aces.  He put in a modest raise and the table folded around to Allen Cunningham who had pocket Kings.  Talk about a cold deck!  A few raises later, Viffer was all-in and Cunningham quickly called.  Viffer offered to run it twice so two full boards later, Viffer took down the more than $300k pot as Cunningham could not catch a King.

The play isn’t over but it is nice to watch a cash game again.  Sure, I love the tourney format but in the absence of my ultimate favorite – High Stakes Poker – I love to see the cash game.  This is a typical high-stakes cash game with straddles, double straddles, insurance and even the seven-deuce bounty.  Rumors are abound that season five of High Stakes Poker is in the works but nothing concrete has been announced.

High Stakes Poker, airing Monday nights on GSN, is my personal favorite poker show on television.  The format is one in which big name poker players get together and play true high stakes poker with their own bankroll.  The show usually has a $100,000 minimum buy-in to the no-limit Texas Hold’em game but this past season featured a table with a $500,000 minimum buy-in.  For those of us who don’t earn hundreds of thousands a year, watching a $100,000 minimum buy-in game is exhilarating.

While poking around the net today I noticed a story that was posted on CardPlayer.com on Thursday, May 15, 2008 that confirmed that GSN has not requested a new season of High Stakes Poker.  I admit I am quite disappointed with the lack of renewal.  I have my DVR set to record High Stakes Poker and it has been awhile since it has picked up a new season.

According to the CardPlayer.com article by Bob Pajich, “Although President and CEO of Poker PROductions Mori Eskandani confirmed that GSN has not yet contacted his production company for new shows, he wouldn’t rule out that GSN would never buy more High Stakes Poker episodes again.”

Evidently the World Poker Tour, in its first season on GSN, is up for renewal by May 24 and no action has taken part on that poker show either.  Speculation is being made that GSN is trying to get away from casino-based games.  In my not so expert opinion I feel that this could hurt GSN’s viewership.  Televised poker is huge right now and it is likely that it will continue to increase in popularity.

Source:  GSN Has Yet to Order more High Stakes Poker Episodes