Poker attitudes

People often talk about the antics of poker players on TV, some hate them, some love them. I think that these celebrations or whatever the player does are good for the game. All sports events are about storylines, they are about drama, they are about good Vs evil on some level. When you root for your sports team, they are the good guys, the opponent, whoever they are, are the bad guys, some you hate more then others.

Poker is different, we don't have a 'home team' playing for us, our rooting interest is based upon the person. And then if we like that person, we tend to root for them to win. The other side of this is players we don't like, we root to lose, which is why when our hero faces our enemy, it makes it all the better.

Phil Hellmuth, has for better or worse, embraced the role of the villain, and this has clearly been a very profitable thing for him. His whining and crying at the poker table make him a clear target for scorn and insults, and that is what makes him a household name. He is most likely not one of the true elites of the game anymore, but he knows how to play tournaments well and knows how to market himself excellently.

Mike Matusow was first brought into our lives as a villain himself. He was famously insulting and mocking soon-to-be World Champion Greg Raymer, before he ended up being crippled in a big hand with Raymer later in the tournament and then busted out. Matusow has since then had an image rehab done and is now the 'jolly insult artist' in part because his targets are either friends who tolerate it, or they are in fact, Hellmuth, who lives to be insulted and made to look the bad guy. Because of Matusow's endless trash talk and antics, he's a well known player.

In 2005 when Joe Hachem went on to win the World Series Main Event, Matusow was at the final table. Everyone knew Matusow was a big name and a big time player, so folks knew to expect him to be a force at the table, due to some horrible luck and some bad plays he managed to get knocked out first, it was a pretty stunning turn of events.

Now in 2006, Allen Cunningham, who is in poker circles seen as one of the best in the world, was at the final table, but the media as a whole really didn't seem to know who he was. One writer, ESPN's Bill Simmons, even went so far as to say that 'nobody anyone knows' was at the final table. Cunningham most likely is a far better player then Matusow, but because he's quiet, keeps to himself, and just plays the game, he's basically an unknown.

Personalities are what sell the game, when John Smith and Allen Jones go all in and turn over AK Vs 77, the only reason you care about the outcome is what you have learned about the two men and if you like one or the other. You need to have a hook, a reason to care, or you wouldn't watch. Last year's World Champion, Jamie Gold, was hated by so many many people for his endless table talk, people who didn't know the outcome most likely kept watching hoping he'd lose. Sometimes evil beats good, just the nature of the world.

But where this stuff is bad for poker is that it effects people, and makes them think this kind of action should be tolerated in poker rooms. I see it all the time when people are playing for a couple hundred bucks. Chairs are tipped over, insults are launched, people get up and walk from the table howling in disgust over what just happened. Others take minutes to make a fold everyone at the table knows they are going to make, they just have to 'think' about it like they do on TV.

So I guess what I'd really say about all this is, please save the stuff you see on TV, until you yourself are on TV, until then just play the game.