Celebrity Poker Showdown

I think this show is great fun to watch.

You get to see a side of these celebrities that you don't see anywhere else and the poker is very exciting and easy to understand - even if you're new to the game!

Personally, I think this is a show that everyone should definitely be watching - there's always something in it for poker players and non-players alike! Plus, they are giving away tons of money to various charities.

I hope it's around for many seasons to come.

I play semi-pro poker and I like this show. The celebrities, for the most part, are not good but that's to be expected. They bluff about 90% of the time because I'm sure it says something about that in the little manual Phil Gordon gives them before the show. Any regular poker player would win this tournament with relative ease.

I'd like to see some different formats, though, to make it a little more interesting. Maybe have Phil play in the game, but he only gets 5,000 TC. I'd also like them to try to have cast members from different shows on, like in Season 1 when they had the West Wing cast. Also they might want to find the celebrities that are actually good at poker to play against each other. My gut says the players that are good don't want to play against a bunch of poker morons for fear of losing on a river suckout and never hearing the end of it.

My vote for worst player is Dennis Rodman, edging out Adam Rodriguez (of CSI Miami) who went out on the very first hand with nothing but I can chalk that up to just not ever playing the game, and Coolio, who played in the first season and played like he needed to catch a plane. Rodman actually won his game, embarrassingly enough, and didn't ever seem like he had a clue nor gave a damn.

Don't watch it to learn anything (other than the absolute basics of the game), but it is mostly fun to watch.

I leave this on while I'm working because TV is so awful. I'm hoping to learn more about poker about which I know zip. Now, I'm fond of both Dave Foley and Canada, but I have to say Dave,... spend a buck! Purchase the assistance of an image consultant; not to become some greasy Hollywood parasite, but to work with your features to get you somewhere measurably better than where you started. Many people who have been in three successful series have picked up a thing or two about presenting themselves. Your clothes are awful and unflattering. Your hair is a modern tragedy. It looks like you have a plush-toy on your head. I only want whats best for you Dave.

For all the poker purists, I would say "get over it!" The average person doesn't want to watch Stoneface, the Unabomber and Robot-Man play poker. It may be realistic, but it just isn't all that exciting. The purpose of this show is entertainment! More important - I like it. I am fond of watching the various celebrities behaving in a more natural, less-scripted venue. It's sort of like a sitcom reality show. And I think I've even learned a little about poker - though I don't play.

I started watching this for Dave Foley and stayed for the poker fun. I've recently seen reruns of Season 1 with Kevin Pollak (who is he?) and I can see that the later seasons are clearly more polished and more fun. Kevin didn't seem like a bad guy, just rather dull. His interaction with Phil Gordon was not very dynamic. And Phil, himself, seemed VERY wooden. With the new episodes, we get better commentary as the bidding happens on-screen, rather than simply pointing out what a given player did wrong after the fact. This improved continuity shows good editing skills. (You didn't really think this is played in real-time, did you?)

The only thing I might like to see different is, perhaps once during a tournament, they could give some brief recognition to Robert Thompson and the dealers. I was surprised to learn that some of the dealers are well-accomplished players and professionals in their own right, yet they are generally treated as robots.

Anyone who watches this show thinking they're going to gain some great insight into playing poker is fooling themselves but from an entertainment standpoint the show is definitely worth the time. It's kind of unfair to slam the celebrities for not being expert poker players (even though several of them, including Mimi Rogers, James Woods and Ben Affleck have moneyed in big name events). Some of them play like boneheads (Bobby Flay, I'm looking at you!) but overall the level of play is at least as good as you'd expect from journeyman-level players. While you won't become an expert player from watching, if you pay attention to what Phil Gordon has to say you will pick up some good tips.