Texas Radio and the Bad Beat

Okay, okay, it's "Big Beat," not "Bad Beat," referring to the song from The Doors, which brings to a close this week's two-outer on '60s and '70s music references. But the reason for this post's cheesy title is the proliferation of Internet radio stations and podcasts featuring poker as their reas'n fer bein', and one of the very largest of these hails from Austin, TX, a relative poker hotbed.

A friend recently referred me to Hold'Em Radio, a web station billing itself as the "world's only 24 x 7 poker radio station." That's true enough, but be advised that each week's schedule includes (as of now) about 10-15 hours of original programming and lots (and lots and lots) of repeats. Still, even 10-15 hours per week of original poker interviews, commentary and news is an excellent "happenings" source for the serious player, especially if the player isn't in Vegas, L.A. or Atlantic City. (And for you guys always looking for a little eye candy, you can check out occasional show-host Lexxy by clicking here.)

Anyway, it's fun to have one of these stations on your computer's media player, filling up the background as you plug away in yet another MTT. Yes, one of these stations --- there are quite a few stations like this, although not all are well known.

Two major outlets for poker on the airwaves are the Bluff-sponsored, syndicated "Nick and Wally" show, which airs every Wednesday at 8:00 ET on Sports Byline USA, Sirius Satellite Radio (122), and the Armed Forces Radio Network. Another long-time player in the poker-program biz is the Las Vegas-based Poker Talk Show, and yes, archived programs are at that link for your leisure enjoyment.

And we haven't even started on the subject of the true podcasts, dozens of which offer specialized poker content. Rather than try to list each and every one, it's easier for you to visit Podcast Alley, then type the word "poker" into the prominent "Search for a Podcast" box on the left. A recent search for poker 'casts brought up 50 different sites, although about 10 of those are false hits, meaning the true number is closer to 40. That's a lot of poker content, and a word to the wise: quality on these ranges from damned decent to damned dreadful. Yet many are still worth the visit. Just make sure you have Windows Media Player or RealPlayer on your machine (or, preferably, both) and listen away.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled poker game.