How TV Poker has changed Online Poker

I don't know much, but I have taken this in.

TV poker (Especially the WSOP) shows only the hands which are interesting (Suck-Outs and monsters vs. Monsters)

I personally think this has created players new to the game to call that extra card in hope of the 2-out hit and so-forth.

Just want to see some opinions of how televised poker how made changed poker, especially from people who have been playing pre moneymaker WSOP (Thats when I started)

Thanks guys.

BoTY

Watching poker on TV is like watching ESPN sport center highlights of a football game and thinking that is how the game is played. You miss all the folds and set-ups for the highlight hands. The only show that comes close to real poker is NBC's Poker After Dark. 5 hours a week with only 6 people starting at the table.

TV poker has been great for how many new people play but dilutes the quality of play with all learning players. This forum would be alot smaller if TV did not get so many interested in poker and people who want to get better.

Exactly! That is why I like Poker After Dark so much. Because they show a lot more hands as opposed to the few hands you see 8,000 people playing at the WSOP.

the PPT on Travel Channel is also instructive in it's way; they show the whole tournament from the opening deal.

True, the PPT is prolly the second best, but even they skip hands. Its just not possible to show every hand in such a big tourney.

The Pro-Am Equalizer on ESPN is pretty good. It is another 1 Table tourney.

Not only does the final table skip hands, countless hands, but you fail to see next to nothing of where the majority of what a tournament is won and lost. And that's pre-final table play. Getting through the masses, going an hour without seeing a flop, stealing small pots, etc. Doesn't make good T.V. but does make winning poker.

I don't see this as a negative. The hype behind the WSOP is amazing. There are thousands of new cash players daily. It has made becoming a pro that much easier. Granted it has made low stakes and freeplay poker frustrating. On the other hand all poker players need to learn the ropes. It also is making a difference in the quality of poker players worldwide. These same loose players that we are talking about make it that much important to learn the proper betting strategies. Poker is changing, the percentage of flops that we see are increasing.

I know I for one enjoy seeing the odds, betting strategies, etc. of some of the world's greatest poker players.

One show that i think it fun to watch but will bring out some bad poker is High Stakes Poker. The hands that these guys raise with and play with get pretty crazy. Any newcomer to the game that tunes in and sees Sam Farha or Daniel Negreanu rasiing with 9/5 or 10/8 is going to sit there and think well if these guys can do it and win then so can I. So they go and sit down and starting cracking aces and other premium starting hands with 9/5 suited. ASk one why they played it and called a raise and you get the typical well it was suited. Just wanna smack someone sometimes.