Watching poker on Fox Sports Net tends to be, charitably stated, a bit of an acquired taste. The Poker Superstars Invitational Series --- at least as far as the first year's set-up goes --- was a poorly structured affair manufactured more to fill air time than to provide scintillating poker competition. It's tough to watch players position themselves through a series of preliminary rounds, rather than necessarily trying to win. Call it the poker equivalent of the NHL regular season and playoffs, and it all left viewers without that "Clash of the Titans" feel that marks the best of the televised WSOP or WPT events. Toss in the ad nauseum reruns of each and every episode, and we get to see the same not-very-exciting action time and again.
That said, there's a couple of moments in the FSN poker coverage that you just don't want to miss.
As this is written, FSN is airing its neverending reruns of the "semifinals" episode of the first season. At this point the tournament has transitioned to head-to-head-matchup format, best two out of three. Both semifinals take up just one show, and when you watch the second semifinal, pairing Antonio Esfandiari and Todd Brunson, you're in for a bit of a treat. Let's just say that it's not a long match. Nor is it exciting. But worth watching? Absolutely.
The theme behind the above is best generalized under the category header "aggressive play," and another gem of a TV poker moment (on the same topic) comes along in the Full Tilt-sponsored "Learn From the Pros." This one's in the episode "Defending the Blinds," and we drop in here as co-host Howard Lederer narrates coverage from an unnamed tournament.
We get to see noted aggressive player Carlos Mortensen, on the button, finding himself with a suited J-7, then trying a steal-raise. In the big blind is Mike "The Mad Genius" Caro, author of "Caro's Book of Tells." Caro must have picked one up here, because he comes back over the top of Mortensen's steal attempt... without looking at his hole cards.
Mortensen's expression, as he realizes that Caro has played back at him so audaciously, is one of those precious moments that any good poker player will enjoy. And yes, we'll even give you a...
SPOILER ALERT!!!
... before you read any further. Not that we even know what event this hand comes from, but still...
Very well, then. Mortensen, with a half-quizzical look o' death towards Caro, mucks his steal attempt. Hilarious. Mortenson had the guts to try to steal against two random blinds, but when the price was hiked, he couldn't follow through and make the play against one random blind instead.
And of course, the kicker: Caro rakes in the chips, checks his pockets, and discovers a thoroughly worthless offsuit 8-2. And that's priceless, too.
It would have been nice if we could have seen the context of the play, to better evaluate the chip stacks and comparative positions and such things. Chances are good that Caro's play took advantage of a game-theory concept called utility function, but that's a topic for another post. It's also likely that while this fit the show's concept of "Defending the Blinds," it wasn't really that in this case --- it was instead an instance where Caro made a rock-solid on a Mortensen tell.
So go check these airings out. Each contains one of those odd moments in televised poker that stands apart from its trappings, and that's sometimes the best viewing of all.
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