Not like on TV

Believe it or not, when you first watch poker on t.v. It can really mislead you into thinking that the dramatic play is normal in poker. Then you go making these hero plays in real life lol and bust in a tourney in the first level. So is poker really always played like a Phil Ivey hand on ESPN?

poker is not about making hero moves. It's about making correct decisions based on informations about your opponents. If you don't have any informations then you base on your skills and knowledge. As a good advice don't try to learn poker from tv. It's a good way to lose your money. Those guys are more expierenced, they have mostly some hand history between each other and they make their hero moves based on many informations which you don't see on tv.

I agree. Your success in poker comes from people who don’t play as well. They tend to at times just throw there money at you

tiltman said:

Believe it or not, when you first watch poker on t.v. It can really mislead you into thinking that the dramatic play is normal in poker. Then you go making these hero plays in real life lol and bust in a tourney in the first level. So is poker really always played like a Phil Ivey hand on ESPN?

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Those moves are rare but TV is only going to show the 'action' hands. The pros fold a lot but you're not going to see that on TV.

Everyone tuned in would get bored and change the channel if they showed every hand

I heard it said poker is a game of percentages not hero plays-t.v cant be deceiving at best,i enjoy watching those hero plays like that on t.v just to see and hear some of the thought process behind the pro,s train of thought

I think this is a common mistake people make not just in poker, but in any competitive game or sport. They see the pros on TV making incredible, flashy plays, and they think that those flashy plays must be the essence of being good at that game, so they try to emulate them. What they fail to realize is that the true essence of being good at anything is to master the fundamentals first, and to only focus on developing higher-level skills when you have a rock solid foundation.

When you see a professional do something spectacular, it's important to realize that the reason they are capable of doing it is because they have mastered everything else, and are thus free to focus most of their attention on high-level elements of the game. This is why you see people throwing away their money trying to make amazing hero calls; they see the pros do it and think it must be the key to being good, despite not understanding any of the underlying strategy.

never see Helmuth, Ivey with 27Off

tiltman said:

Believe it or not, when you first watch poker on t.v. It can really mislead you into thinking that the dramatic play is normal in poker. Then you go making these hero plays in real life lol and bust in a tourney in the first level. So is poker really always played like a Phil Ivey hand on ESPN?

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Realistically, most of any poker tourney would end up on the editing roon's floor. The pro's, to continue in the tourney, throw away a lot of garbage hands. If they didn't toss those hands, they wouldn't win, and climb the ladder at the tourney.

On Tv, it isn't rigged, it's edited; they choose to show dramatic hands, played by the name players, it's what viewers want to see. Be smart, play your game, you are comfortable with. You might not be on tv, with hero moves, but you know your abilities, weaknesses, play within them.

completely agree with the rest. TV has to have ratings and the footage gets edited to capture the most exciting moments to bring in the viewers.

We don't see the majority of hands on TV where people just fold their hands. Keep your poker play simple and tight and don't try fancy plays - that is how I play online. You see lots of bluffs on TV but I wouldn't recommend this online where people can call you with any hand.

Off course not , thoses players are pro players ( called sharks in poker ) . Their play is based on years of experience and improvements, luck plays a little role in this game. So don t go play real money if you re a beginner ( fish ) . You must learn read books, watch videos, learn and study, then start with low buyin tournaments, sit and go , Get some experience, learn the poker terms . And I wish you good luck

I do not believe what they show on TV ..)))
better learn from their mistakes ..))
:top:

bluffing is part of the game but the frequency of it it's not the one TV shows. Every pro must bluff otherwise is not a strong opponent. Just my humble opinion here!

Agree with what most others have said. Only the interesting hands are going to be shown, which can confuse a beginner into believing that they hit their set or their gut shot straight more often than they really do. I really like how wsop showed every hand for the main event final table so you can truly see all of the more common situations. It's import to see all of those hands that end pre-flop or on the flop.

If you play poker as seen on TV your in for a rude awakening. Patient grasshopper.

Even in shows that show the majority/all of the hands, you will see a lot more action and loose play since the cash games have hefty antes

Anytime you watch an event that is showing every hand you have to understand that big hands equal big rating. You should be taking the small things like what position they're in, bet sizing, stack sizing, payout, and play each street.

Eric Salvador said:

Anytime you watch an event that is showing every hand you have to understand that big hands equal big rating. You should be taking the small things like what position they're in, bet sizing, stack sizing, payout, and play each street.

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True. There are still a LOT of factors that come into play. However, it's important to see that every hand is not the dramatic "quads vs. full house" or somebody hitting their dream card on the river. It's very important to see the more common scenarios like pre-flop raise/3-bet/everybody folds.