The New Poker Show

[michaellinn]

I checked the GSN boards last night sometime after the show had aired, and there was another unfavorable message about the show that I had noticed got deleted since then as well. The post sounded like someone who knew about raising and taking care of horses and how GSN's show didn't have a clue about this. Apparently, there's someone who's running the boards who doesn't like to read about the unfavorable reviews of the show.

[melman1]

[quote name=\'xibit777\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 01:40 PM\']I don't care that I'm through with the [GSN] boards[/quote]

Anyone who can post coherent thoughts will find themselves out of place there.  Just walk away and don't look back.

[CaseyAbell]

I just checked the GSN board and my original post, with all its unfavorable comments intact, is still up. Some replies dump on the show, some praise it. The post from "somebody who knew about raising and taking care of horses" seems to be back, if it ever got deleted in the first place. One of the posts is a long complaint from somebody who tried out for the show and missed. That post is later rebutted in the thread with a differently phrased list of the contestants. All in all, it looks like a lively, interesting discussion.

Don't know what was in the deleted post, but you don't have to look far to find negative comments about the show. The funniest reply: "I really think that was fake horse poop." The thread seems pretty coherent to me. A few misspellings, but I've been guilty of those.

As for the Starz press releases, I wish the network was still putting out numbers, too. All their releases are here. As you can see, they haven't followed up the original report on November 11 with any subsequent releases, despite their promise of monthly numbers.

Don't know if they ran into trouble with Nielsen, or if Starz' own numbers weren't so good in subsequent months, or if they just forgot. Too bad, the numbers provided a quick and dirty glimpse of a wide cross-section of the cable world.

[michaellinn]

Yeah, now I do see that post that I was talking about as being deleted back on there. I could have sworn it wasn't there this afternoon when I looked. LOL, in my opinion, the discussions about the show seem to be more exciting than the show itself.

[CaseyAbell]

Have to agree...looking through the thread is more fun and less time-consuming than the horseracing show itself.

SPOILERS ahead, folks...

To get back to the original poker discussion, GSN's first hold 'em series wrapped up last night with the expected result, as James Van Alstyne won easily. He had his last opponent, Lee Markholt, outchipped by a ridiculous ten-to-one margin. All Van Alstyne had to do was play smart, cautious poker and wait for the inevitable stroke of luck to wipe out the short-stacked Markholt. Eventually the luck arrived on an inside-straight draw, and Van Alstyne copped 125K.

The live aftermath was more than a little confused but kind of fun. Kevin Nealon apparently had trouble keeping track of when the camera was on. He still got off a few funny lines, though, and Robert Williamson memorably compared himself to Vanna White.

The deal produced a pair of nines and a split of 30K between Van Alstyne and an equine message therapist (get her on Dream Derby!) named Malin-Maria Teal. The live audience was large and enthusiastic. Hey, GSN, you could really jazz your poker and blackjack shows by bringing in a few warm bodies to watch the proceedings.

Drifting off-topic again, the celeb blackjack finale last night was terrific, even without the live audience. (Actually, it seemed like a live audience had wandered in because the crew was laughing so much.) Lance Bass bombed out early after a ridiculous run of bad cards, though he got a message from one of the eye candies as a consolation prize. The other three players racked up huge scores.

Anything could have happened on the last hand, but Jason Alexander was the only player with "male genitalia," as he commented on an earlier show. He bet big while the others chickened out, and he came home the winner when Stann busted on an excruciating five-card draw. Alexander also chipped in the best laugh lines (Animals for President, among other comments), though Stann, Probst and Vasgersian all managed some respectable zingers. Kelli Williams looked good, which was enough.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 08:45 AM\'] Kelli Williams looked good, which was enough.

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Kelli Williams ALWAYS looks good.....IMHO, she's one of the most beautiful celebrities out there. First caught my eye in the TV-movie "Flowers for Algernon" a few years back, and this past Christmas was the star of another made for TV-movie on Hallmark....

ObGameShows: The original movie on which the book "Flowers for Algernon" was based ("Charly", 1968) featured Dick Van Patten, who later guested on "Just Men".

[Jimmy Owen]

The live portion of the Poker show was marred by poor lighting of Nealon and the other guys.  Maybe they should have done some applause tracks during the taped portion, because it was quite jarring to have such a pumped-up crowd during the short live portion.


I liked the music on "Blackjack."  It sounded reminscent of one of the cues from "The Big Showdown."

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 08:45 AM\']Anything could have happened on the last hand, but Jason Alexander was the only player with "male genitalia," as he commented on an earlier show. He bet big while the others chickened out, and he came home the winner when Stann busted on an excruciating five-card draw. ...

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I wonder if Oakwood School, Alexander's charity, would be pushing for a Jeopardy!-style rule about minimum guarantees for future tournaments.  They got $200K for Jason's win ($300K total), which isn't shabby, but I believe he broke his own chips record with a final score of $442K.  (What I wouldn't give to have that kind of night at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City! :-) )  But while Jason had the guts to bet big in the final hand, he had a little luck on his side as all three of his wins ended with final-hand dealer busts.  Between this win and exorcising the Seinfeld curse, I'd say he's having a pretty good season.

No word on whether there'll be a season 3 yet, but I'll be looking forward to it.  Meanwhile, nine days until World Series 2...