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Poker Superstars - FSN
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Overview
Personally, this is my favorite poker
show on TV. The concept of the show is to hold an invitation-only
tournament for some of the biggest names in poker. I believe they
started out with 24 players in the second season, and the tournament is in a
playoff format rather than a shootout for all the money. There
are single table elimination matches at the start of each season
with each episode. Each table is a group of 6 players, which
compete against each other 2 or 3 times.
Players are rewarded with points for
finishing in the top places. After a few rounds of elimination
matches, the players with the most points survive. Each week, Fox
Sports shows a new single-table match. The field gets down to 16,
and each point accumulated during the elimination matches gives the
player more starting chips in the next round. At the "Super
Sixteen", the tables only feature 4 players per table. The final two
rounds are heads-up matches. The winner of the entire tournament
takes $500,000 and winners of individual matches also take home a
little cash. Tournament invitees include names like
Doyle Brunson,
Todd Brunson, Mike Caro, David Sklansky, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen,
and Ted Forrest.
Comments
Not only is it cool to be able to watch
a tournament made up strictly of poker legends, but the playoff
structure makes the event really interesting. As opposed to
rewarding one excellent performance (like the WPT or the WSOP does),
Poker Superstars rewards consistent play over an extended period of
time.
Watching the convoluted strategy that players often have to
employ to advance to the next round is interesting. For example, at
the 16-player level, the top 2 point-earners advance from each
4-player table. They play two matches against the same players, so
if a player finished in last in the first round, he would have to
knock out the other players in an exact order to be able to advance.
The play during this series is fascinating to watch, and you won't
see very many mistakes from these top players. Since every match is
shorthanded, it serves up a lot of action. The announcers are also
knowledgeable and fairly humorous without being obnoxious. This is a
great show for poker fans, overall.
Score
Out of 10, I give Poker Superstars a 9.
You can check out a new episode weekly - Sunday nights on Fox
Sports. View our interactive
Poker TV Schedule for repeats throughout the week.
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