Poker Announcers

I've been watching a lot of poker shows recently and I think the quality of TV announcers has really gone down hill.

Lon and Norm at the WSOP (ESPN) can be annoying sometimes but they do know their poker.
I just wish Norm would stop with the 'Raging Cajun" and my ex-wife jokes

Ali Nejad(sp?) on Poker After Dark, generally calls a decent game.
And I do like Lee Ann Tweeden (even though she doesn't announce)

Chris Rose and Joe Stapleton on The Big Game are just starting to get something going but they do need work.
Any why after just 3 weeks are they broadcasting a 'best of' series?
They've only had 3 loose cannon contestants!

Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patton on WPT are starting to get on my nerves especially Vince.
Mike is quite knowledgeable about poker but seems to be testing out his comedy act too much.
They need to tone it down.

The worst is High Stakes Poker.
Whoever decided to give Gabe Kaplan a solo spot in the show should be fired.
Gabe knows poker, he understands the game but half the time I feel I'm at a bad comedy club in the 70's.
Please will someone get him a partner.

I guess I'm gonna have to start watching with the sound muted!

Anyway what does anyone else think?

I think you're right about the loose cannon thing. I was pissed when they wasted the whole week with a best of series.

Also have had enough of "the best of", but I think the regular show is really cool. I think the analysis is very good. The play by play is full of insight.

I have to disagree with you about poker after dark though. I think that the analysis is lacking. Its more of just a straight forward "what's happening" play by play and lacks insight...The constant prop betting also gets on my nerves. It's a poker show dammit....Your right tho...Lee Ann Tweeden is smokin hot!

I also like Highstakes but I think the season should be longer...Tired of watching re-runs...As for Gabe Kaplain, I think he is one of the best analyst out there, but he REALLY REALLY needs a side kick.

As for Norman Chad I absolutely know where your coming from, however, I do like Mike Sexton...Sometimes when I'm playing I hear Mike's voice in my head breaking down my play and telling me what the other guy's thinking. Thanks Mike.

I hate them all.

Well what I like about Ali is that he JUST calling the action.
Too many of these hosts are trying too hard to be entertainers and thats
my real problem with them

Ali Nejad truly is the best Poker Commentator to call a game. Next to him, Chip Reese called a WSOP Main event (I forgot which year) and did a spectacular spot on analysis.

The only thing I didn't like about the latest season of HSP (commentary-wise, at least) is that it took Gabe about half the season to hit his stride. His analysis was still very good but the jokes took a while to get right without AJ there to pick on.

The Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge had some of the best commentary I've ever heard in terms of knowledge and insight. Jesse May did every episode with either Isaac Haxton or Phil Galfond beside him.

I think about the worst commentary I've ever heard is from Paul Khoury. He's done the commentary for this year's Aussie Millions broadcast and I think maybe some bits and pieces of the APPT and other stuff in the past. He just makes me cringe - he says the most inane stuff about the actual poker action and for some reason the way he pronounces player names puts me on life tilt (case in point: John Jew-ahn-dah).

I'd like to add to my list of suggestions. Ever see the Heartland Poker Tour? The 2 commentators hosting the show are excellent without the BS usually added by others.

Haven't seen the Heartland Poker Tour nor the Durr Challenge, I'll look for them.

I do like Ali Nejad's work

The Poker Stars Big Game which has had only 3 contestants on it so far, showed a "best of" week and is now doing re-runs of one of the first loose cannons.

They all get on my nerves, I like the poker after dark the best. Kaplan will put someone with insomnia to sleep.

I've always (with the exception of a few episodes at the start of this season) found him to be pretty funny.

In terms of actual poker knowledge there are very few announcers that can rival him - probably Mike Sexton and that's about it.

I think Gabe Kaplan does a great job and I enjoy his comedy. He has a great line with Jamie Gold which cracks me up everytime I think of it. Jamie Gold says something about not being able to play, and Gabe tells him he should try tournaments.

I think the big game guys are doing good, and I think they only had 3 loose cannons so far because they want to see how it goes. If it fails after 2 weeks and you have 12 loose cannons, you're gonna be losing a lot of money, unnecessarily .

I think Ali Nejad is great, however I don't watch PAD unless it's cash game.

I like old WPT shows, I haven't seen it since maybe season 3 or 4, just not into that shove fest poker.

Norman Chad is a fountain of wisdom.

For example: one cannot win at poker while one is wearing a striped shirt.

I like Jesse May.

I do really like Stapes and think he's hysterical. I've been listening to him since he was the host of pokerwire radio in like 2006 and then on to poker road.

I think alot of the tv announcers are pretty decent but personally prefer it when they have people like Howard Lederer or Gavin Smith in there as they tend to make the commentary geared more towards 'real' poker players instead of just to the general public (I like the way Gavin will call it as he sees it... ie. in that Canadian Poker series where there's teams representing each province (that Canada Cup promo thing they had on Fulltilt)... he just lets them have it.. ie. "That was a terrible play there just calling off 1/4 to 1/3 of your stack preflop with 9-9.... the guy needs to get it in there all day long!!" < stuff like that very often... tells it like he sees it & explains the theory/reasoning behind it which makes for way better 'tv poker' imo.

I think with the tv poker shows, needing/wanting to try to attract a larger audience I believe is why they use the folks they do(obv.) As far as the worst goes though... I'd say some of the English(British) poker commentary is the worst imo (why do they pick that guy they have on there??.. he's the worst & when commentating on plays (when he actually does) he's so often wayyyy off the mark that it's just annoying. His incessant, annoying laugh gets to me as well & they way they call those games they seem to place the most emphasis on what cards are coming off... and there's the 10hearts!!!.. like that's the interesting part of the game or something? (< kinda like watching a lottery on tv with the numbered-balls fallling down a tube). Now they've got Annette Obrestad on there with him in a bunch of those shows which you'd figure would make it soooo much better (& is at times when she's able to get her comments in there instead of just correcting the other guy so often). I wish she wouldn't be laughing (fake laughing?) along with the guy as it just makes for a lame show imo.

The worst commentators I've ever heard are the ones who do the PKR Torurnaments - they give contrary advice every hand to what they said last hand!

norman chad as annoying as he can be sometimes makes me genuinely LOL out of nowhere.

I, too, like Ali Nejad. He keeps it simple, and to the point. His voice isn't too bad to listen to either!

The worst commentating I've heard was from Isaac Haxton during one of Tom Dwan's heads up matches. His voice sounds like he is going through puberty.

Love Gabe, his poker knowledge and wit are great, but I agree he needs a straight man for his schtick to come off the best. I wasn't crazy about A.J. alone but he and Gabe had chemistry. It was almost painful listening to that last season of HSP.

Ali is good. Mike Sexton is a great analyst and player but his karate chops get on my nerves when he's on camera. And I don't care for Van Patton at all. Actually don't care much for the WPT productions, period.

Lon and Norm have great chemistry too, and say what you will about Norm, I find him hilarious most of the time. Lon as announcer with Norm as color are what make the WSOP productions so fun to watch for me.

Where does one find the Durrr Challenge broadcasts?

Ali (or the producers) are brilliant on PAD, because they do NOT talk too much! Let's see 95% of the hands and hear 95% of the chat! Bravo!

Yes, the props are inane. Why, if one is the best SKILL players on the planet, do you have to bet more on inane, pure luck props than in the SKILL portion?

Yeah came to post the same. Insightful and very, very interesting

Ask and ye shall recieve durrrr Million Dollar Challenge Episode 1, Part 1

Any or all of the below could be the reasons:

- Because they're bored
- Because they're degenerates
- Because it might encourage someone to play worse and chase their losses if they get stuck in props
- Because it's chump change to them so meh, who cares?

I have to agree OP. The only decent poker commentator is Gabe Kaplan. Mate he does a pretty wkd job doing it by himself these days (put ur self in his shoes). I do have to agree tho he does nee a side-kick to bounce off.

But I do hate Norm "ivey my main man" Chad. He does my f**kin tits in with his witty shit and his annoying douchey comments. His side-kick is o...k but nowt special. To tell ya the truth I wish they boot Norm, I bet he knows f**k all about modern poker and they should get sum 1 in like.....Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen, Tong G or some complete douche off the strret to talk sh!te for the next hour. Hey that could be me!!!

I agree, once you understand poker... Norm comes off as a moron. Also, Lon laughs at EVERY joke. Most of the stuff Norm says doesnt even get me to crack a smile because its the same joke over and over 'im bad/they're worse/divorced/exwife/never cashed/ivey.'

Chris Hanson and Fred Bevill-they're the HPT commentators. I like them. They both play and know the game. I like Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patton on the WPT too-it's always good to have a hall of famer commentating. I liked AJ Benza-he kept Kaplan's humor in line. Terrible mistake bringing in a chick(no offense) who doesn't know much about the game and has to do prerecorded interviews. If you're not allowed to talk during the hands you shouldn't be on the show.

Kara Scott? I'd say she knows about the game, at least tournaments. Among other wins, 3 cashes at the WSOP. The only woman to cash in both the 2008 and 2009 ME, and the second woman to cash in consecutive ME's. Total winnings over half a million, and she's been a poker journalist and TV personality for years in Canada and the UK before the US.

I like Kara, but I'll agree that she's not really a good fit on HSP, and I don't care for the interview segments either. I prefer PAD's format where Leann Tweeden just gives brief interviews a few feet from the table as they leave, or in between hands.

I like WPT Sexton and VVP, especially VVP's analogies "he's playing tighter than a Joan Rivers facelift.."

Ali is good and Gabe is OK.

Still love Chad and Mclaren just because it is WSOP.

^This, I agree Kara Scott's resume is impressive, and definitely underused on HSP, literally she's just eye candy reading scripted questions... and imo she looks way better in the WSOP tourneys wearing casual clothes rather than the HSP dresses that bedazzle her.

Leo,
I agree on all counts. They appear to ge going overboard like golf, football, baseball, soccer, etc. They spend more time giving life histories than what is really happening. The phrases are usually out of order especially when they say a pair of KK's vs a pair of 22's and the KK's are the apparent winners. That's uncalled for in my opinion. KK has good cards, but I've been beaten with 222's when I had AA hole cards. There are lot's of hands that could pop up and win at that time. They are not mind readers and if they were, the money on the table would be more than what they most likely make telling us these stupid comments.
I would like to add that I've been watching for a few years and now they have a tournament that ends with no winner and you have to figure out if/when you will ever know. They need to get with the program, huh ?