POKER INFO

Many players found former Main Event champion Scotty Nguyen’s behavior at the $50K Chip Reese Memorial HORSE tournament deplorable. His verbal attacks on his fellow pros were universally derided (included here in an earlier entry) as tirades fueled by alcohol, sleep deprivation and the mental toughness required to play five diverse poker games at the highest level.

If all of these circumstances can mitigate Scotty Nguyen’s behavior, what excuses can fellow champion Phil Hellmuth use to pardon his unconscionable treatment of Christian Dragomir during this year’s Main Event? After he repeatedly called Dragomir an “idiot”, tournament officials threatened to penalize Hellmuth for his outburst. Hellmuth appealed his penalty, and WSOP brass rescinded their punishment. Some observers may believe that a certain cable channel with four initials recommended to Jeffery Pollack and company that the “Poker Brat” be given a pass for his childish tantrum. Since Harrah’s changed the timing of the final table specifically to meet their TV partner’s demands, such speculations should not be considered as out of line.

If the now-infamous “Joe the Plumber” would have received a stiff penalty for such outlandish behavior, why did WSOP higher-ups let Hellmuth off the hook? If they can make a rule banning excessive celebrations (the much-needed “Hevad Khan” rule), why don’t they enforce such a rule regarding temper tantrums and insulting players?

If you’ll recall, the unnamed four-letter network produces their WSOP shows under the banner of “original entertainment.” Similarly, World Wrestling Entertainment bills their product as “sports entertainment” so as to differentiate their shows from a true competition. Since the WSOP becomes more like a TV entertainment show and less like a competitive tournament since the Moneymaker boom, should we start to consider the WSOP “poker entertainment”? Will we see Daniel Negreanu hit Mike Matusow with a steel folding chair? How about a steel cage match between Nguyen and Hellmuth? Instead of bracelets, the WSOP can award big gold championship belts. Give the dealers striped shirts and string ropes around the tables – now that’s entertainment!

Up until recently, the marriage between poker and TV had been a blessing for both parties. Now, it appears, that the relationship has reached the stage where the “same old, same old” isn’t as exciting as it used to be. The more adventurous partner wants to “spice things up” and “try something different” at the expense of the synergy that made the relationship work in the first place. TV cameras encourage the kind of asinine behavior we see from the Hellmuths, the Matusows and the Khans in the interests of making “good TV”. The question is, when did good TV replace good poker?

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