Poker on TV
I absolutely love poker on TV. Some of my fellow poker pros use to make fun of my level of fandom, but no matter who’s playing, I always find high-stakes, high-intensity poker enthralling. Listed below are some of my favorite shows and tournaments on DVD.
But first I have to give a huge shout out the best poker movie ever.. Rounders.
Rounders (Collector’s Edition)
Superb acting. Great story. Makes you want to play poker the instant it is over. Love this flick.
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour was the first television program that showed hole cards. This was a revolution for poker on TV, and along with ESPN’s World Series of Poker coverage, is what I believe to be the main reason there was a poker boom. Some people think the World Poker Tour is a little goofy, a little corny, but the older seasons are absolute classics where you get to see many of the poker stars of today being born, such as Antonio Estafandiari, Daniel Negreanu, etc.
I remember playing on Pacific Poker back in 2003 or 2004 and by signing up through an affiliate website, I got this DVD as my reward (instead of rakeback, it didn’t really exist back then). This season was the start of my WPT dreams. Unfortunately, I only managed one mincash in the 2 WPT events I played in in my life, but this video definitely brings back memories. There’s some great tournaments in here, such as Gus Hansen going on an absolute terror throughout the entire season with what was then extremely loose and aggressive play.
This season has the classics such as Estafandiari’s win at the LA Poker Classic and the breakout of Erick Lindgren. And it has Shana Hiatt.. remember her? Wow.
