Poker After Dark review - Fantastic!

One unfortunate trait of human behavior is that we tend to complain much more than we commend. I am guilty of this fault, but I do try to even things out...after all, I am a positive person. The glass is half full.
Get to the point Cat!

Has anybody been watching Poker After Dark the last couple weeks? Phenomenal television! The show is thoroughly enjoying. The past two weeks they've been playing a cash game with big stacks of real money. Cash games are much more entertaining than tournaments. The reason being: tournaments inevitably come down to AK vs 77 or something like that. These coin flips are tiresome. Similar scenarios have been played out to death, and frankly, they've become boring. Cash games on the other hand are rarely boring. Every move, every bet, every word is strategy. Cash games are where true poker skill comes out, and if you love poker, it's exhilarating to watch.

The last two weeks on Poker After Dark have been special. The 6-man lineup is awesome! First of all, you've got Phil Helmuth. Love him or hate him, he is fun to watch. Watching him get angry and blow a gasket is absolutely hilarious. And Helmuth is no slouch. He plays a different brand poker, old school poker, and his game is top notch. Helmuth, despite being ridiculed often, is truly one of the best in the game. His ability to read players is second to none.

Then there is Tom Dwan. Tom Dwan is a legend in the making. At only 22 years old, he has taken the poker world by storm. I would actually pay money to watch him play poker. He is incredibly innovative and creative and aggressive and brilliant. Nobody in the game has moves like this kid! He is insane! Gabe Kaplan gave him the best compliment a poker player can be given, "Tom Dwan could be the next Stu Unger."

I'm surprised I like Dwan so much; I usually have a strong dislike for most "internet players." Why? Many reasons. They all think they are better than they are. They view poker like its a video game. They all believe they can read players from just their betting patterns. They have a complete disregard for human 'tells'; they're terrible at reading real people. Almost all of them suck at poker, but don't realize it. I see them coming in a live game and I lick my chops. There are millions of internet players losing millions of dollars online, but because a handful of these kids have made it big from internet poker, millions of fools believe they can too. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Online Poker Is For Suckers.

Back to Poker After Dark. Two other characters played in this cash game, Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak. They provide the banter. You know how I love to bet, and so do these guys! The bets they come up with are ingenious. I find myself laughing out loud at the shit they come up with. They invented the game Lauden Thinks. Fricken awesome game. Two guys bet on what a third guy at the table's opinion will be. Brilliant and hilarious. As far as poker players go, Esfandiari is one of the best. Laak is overrated. But having both of them at the table makes any game a lot of fun.

Two other dudes at the table as well. Kenny Tran is a professional cash game player. Nothing special about his game...he's a little too tight. He probably doesn't have the bankroll the other players do, so he has to play tight. Nothing wrong with that, I would too. Tran does have the uncanny ability to put certain players on specific hands. I can put players on a range of hands, and I am proud of my ability. But Kenny Tran can put a player on two specific cards, and that is impressive.

The last dude at the table makes the game. What is a good poker game without a fish? A wealthy fish. Bob Safai is a multimillionaire real estate mogul who plays recreational poker. re He's no dummy, his game isn't that bad, but against these players he is getting chewed up and spit out. It's fricken awesome to watch! Even 22 year-old Tom Dwan picks on Safai and takes his money and puts him on tilt. LOL! Damn good television. Strategy, comedy, and gambling. And learning new poker moves from the best in the world. Poker After Dark, you gotta love it.


~Cat