I\’m currently watching the Heads-Up Championship on NBC — round of 16. Mildly entertaining … it was fun to see Orel Hersheiser slightly outplay Freddy Deeb in a hand, and Full Tilt has some pretty cool new commercials. But still, the show as a whole isn\’t as exciting as the commercials for the PGA Players Championship. Maybe someday … This would be much better, of course, were it being aired pseudo- or semi-live, when we still cared about our brackets.
The side profiles are pretty good — Doyle Brunson on the old guys, Orel on the similarities between poker and baseball … And I gotta say, Ali Nejad is proving he\’s a top-notch color analyst — witty and well-informed.
Overall, the show is sucking me in. I give it a solid A-minus. 90 if you\’re using numbers. I know Oliver (Tse, not Nejad) will have many thoughts on the ratings this show is getting, and what that means for the future of televised poker. I say more coverage of the outside tables — with or without hole-card cams — would make it better. (They only had two tables cammed up when they recorded it.)
UPDATE: Still love the Geico caveman commercials. And, of course, love that NBC was able to sell/place non-online-poker room ads.
UPDATE: Hersheiser knows Eminem lyrics. Not the best rapper, but awesome to know a guy born in 1958 appreciates good music. And damn, he is schooling Deeb as if he\’s Marshall Mathers rippin\’ on Ken Kaniff.
By the way, there\’s a point where one cameraman zoomed in on this Pokerati comic. Odds on it making the cut?
UPDATE: Phil Ivey vs. JC Tran = 2 incredibly boring-for-TV players engaged in fascinating hand-to-hand combat. Good stuff. Want more. Just a little bit.
Ali Nejad on Greg Raymer, wearing an orange shirt and safari hat: \”Greg working on a sponsorship deal with Tommy Bahama\” … as they go right into the straight play-by-play. (Sorry, don\’t know Nejad\’s PBP partner\’s name, and he\’s not listed on the NBC website. Matt something.)