News from the world of televised poker blipped prominently on our radar screens this past week. While it had long been known that Phil Gordon was unlikely to continue on as the co-host of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, what remained to be seen was who would form the new team, with Kids in the Hall alum Dave Foley. This week, we got the answer --- the new host expert is the Poker Brat himself, Phil Hellmuth.
Hmmm. It's a shrewd move, from this perspective. Say what you will about Hellmuth's warm-'n'-fuzzy demeanor and vibrant animal magnetism (tongue wholly within cheek there, of course) --- after all, the new Phil in town is never at a loss for words on the topic. But we'll come back to him in a sec.
As we all know, Celebrity Poker Showdown has never been about the actual poker being played. However, original co-host Gordon's "official" statement about his own departure, no doubt written weeks or months ago, belabors the obvious. As Gordon put it:
“I no longer have any contracted obligations to the producers of Celebrity Poker Showdown, so I am ready to move on… After 42 episodes of Celebrity Poker, I just want to see people play in turn, bet more than $200 into a $5K pot, and know when they have the nuts. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than saying ‘Phil Hellmuth loses another big pot, and it looks like he’s ready to implode!’ on national television.” (This last, in case you're wondering, refers to Gordon's oft-expressed desires to be the expert commentator on a "serious" poker show... a la Howard Lederer, Mike Sexton or Gabe Kaplan.)
At the minimum, we'll give Gordon points for prescience. Truth is, his parting release disses the overall concept behind Celebrity Poker Showdown but isn't as forthright with the underlying truths: the show has long outlasted the expectations of both Gordon and the rest of us, and it's no surprise he's bored with the gig. Because of that, Gordon's release is just a bit of an eye-opener --- there's no way he could have been under the delusion that this program would be anything else than the Entertainment Tonight fodder it is.
And that's why Bravo's signing of Hellmuth, if not a stroke of genius, is nonetheless a savvy move. Hellmuth's not likely to be talking much about the poker being played, anyway, except, for the expected quotient of "This is how [insert celeb here] should've played it if they wanted to be like me" entries. And in the context of the show, it might well fit. Besides, visual Odd Couples always play well, and the original Gordon/Foley pair ranked right up there with Laurel and Hardy, Penn and Jillette, maybe even Little Dot and Little Lotta.
Time will tell. Maybe Celebrity Poker Showdown has, instead, just hit its "Jump the Shark" moment. In the poker context, that'd be all the more fun.
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