What You Should Learn from TV
Poker
written by BeatTheFish.com
 ...Fishy
says, "Remember, they're playing for millions of dollars."
As I write this article, I'm watching
some of the rerun coverage of last year's WPT championship. Whenever
watch large televised poker tournaments, I always cringe when I see
some of the plays they make. Not so much because of their actual
play - they're (mostly) professionals who've studied the game and
their opponents at the table. Even the amateurs have played a great
tourney to make the final table. I cringe because I know how many
wannabe poker players who've watched a half-dozen televised events
will finally walk from the couch to their computer, and make a
deposit with the online poker room who's aired the most commercials
during the tournament. Televised poker has contributed an enormous
amount of new fish to the online scene. While you'll often be paid
off at your online table or tournament from these largely clueless
players, they can cause you great frustration when they hit that
miracle river card.
As a beginning or intermediate poker
player, you can't learn the fundamentals from watching televised
poker tournaments. First of all, you have to understand the
difference between your $5 multi-table online tournament and an
event like the WPT championship. Unless you win an online satellite,
the typical buy-in for a WPT event is going to be between
$5,000-$10,000. With that sort of upfront investment, most players
aren't willing to put their whole stack on the line preflop with 9-3
offsuit. For $5, plenty of bored and/or bad players will put it
all-in preflop with a worse starting hand than that.
Next, you have to realize that you're
only watching the final table when you watch a tournament on TV.
They're down to the last 6 or 9 players. The Travel Channel, or any
other television network, doesn't have the time or resources to show
every hand played out over the entire tournament. As is the case
with any television show, they're after ratings. They show the most
exciting hands that put lots of money on the line. They, correctly,
assume that showing the most pivotal moments of a tournament will
draw the most viewers to tune in. You don't see the
blind-stealing or hands where everyone folds to the big blind. You
don't see the hands played during commercials. You
don't see the dealer shuffling cards or counting stacks of
chips. It's edited for TV. You didn't think they can play out the
final table in 2 hours, did you?
The poker players on TV are playing at
the final table of a multi-day event. You might pick up a few
tips for your next online final table, but you certainly shouldn't
use what you see at the beginning of your next online. Sit 'n Go
tourney. The plays you see on television are sophisticated and
calculated based on their playing experience with their particular
opponents. The other players at your online tournament table won't
care or pay too much attention to your advanced poker play. They're
probably playing another table in the background or checking their
e-mail. You should usually just play a straightforward game online.
TV tourney players are also sitting at a real poker table, and also
have the advantage of picking up on possible physical tells given
off by their opponents.
The point is that you're going to get
crushed if you try to emulate much of what you see on televised
poker tournaments. Most online players are too loose to dominate and
will call you down with any two cards. If you're looking for
practical poker strategy that will help you beat online poker, pick
up your favorite poker author's latest book on hold 'em, or read
some poker strategy articles on our website. If you want to watch
something on TV to learn poker, pick up a Mike Caro strategy DVD.
These sources will teach you to play in real-life games. If you're
due up in the morning at the next WPT final table, please feel free
to study reruns of TV events. In the meantime, just watch them for
entertainment.
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