Best Poker Shows To Watch
If you love to play poker, then you probably love to watch poker, and thanks to the still high popularity of poker, there is no shortage of poker TV shows to watch from, and the best part is that they all try to offer something that the other doesn’t, giving us the viewer quite a selection for our viewing pleasure. From shows that cover the biggest tournaments on the planet, the most exclusive cash games, to even some casual single-table events, there’s definitely one that’ll scratch your poker inch. Here are my recommendations.
High Stakes Poker – The best part about High Stakes Poker is that it’s a cash game played by the best players in the world who gamble more on a single hand than five average households make in a year. We’ve all seen players lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in tournament chips before, but there’s a special thrill that comes from watching someone make a bluff for a quarter of a million dollars in real money. Seeing how the pros react and adapt to the sky-high stakes is what truly makes the show interesting, not to mention that the skill level on display is also world-class.
Poker After Dark – While most poker shows air once a week at best, Poker After Dark is on almost every day of the week and is different from every other poker show in just about every way imaginable. Every Poker After Dark match is played using a single-table tournament format, and practically every hand is shown over the course of the week. You wouldn’t think that seeing someone raise preflop and watching everyone fold would be interesting to watch, and often times it isn’t, but it’s refreshing to see a show that doesn’t edit the game so heavily that you only get to see the huge hands that pretty much decide the overall outcome of the match. Being able to watch Phil Ivey work a table for hours as oppose to minutes provides a much deeper insight to his playing style and adds a extra special something that the other shows just can’t match.
The World Poker Tour – The WPT was really the first poker show to prove to the rest of the world just how interesting a weekly poker TV program could be. From the excellent commentary to the elevated production values, the World Poker Tour is constantly setting the bar for how poker shows should be packaged and presented. They’ve made household names out of a number of poker pros (and amateurs), not to mention the whole game show type setting in itself has really played a huge part in legitimizing poker in the eyes of the general viewing public.
By: Chris Iaquinta
