There's no question LatB has gone through a lot of change in the past 9 months or so. limon departing, Bart and Tuch returning, Nichoel retiring, more Matt Boyd, and Feldman doing his thing to promote the stream and the games.

Not all of these are bad. LatB was stuck in its own rhythm for years, subscribing to the philosophy of limon in most ways. The stakes were usually smaller, with plenty of 2/3, 3/5 and 5/5 action being cast. When there was a 5/10 featured it was a big deal, especially when someone like Harry was spicing it up. The games were similar to those that the majority of the viewers would play in. The educational aspect of the stream came from the fact that the viewer could see players like the ones they played against at stakes they played for. The entertainment came from the commentators, with drinking, silliness and banter.

This has changed. Now, the stakes are much higher than the average player can play, with ONE NIGHT of 5/5 being run per week, if that. This has become the entertainment, to see thousands of dollar bet into the pot every orbit. I admit, it has its allure, it's pretty sexy. The new commentators, MJ and Matt Boyd, are super into analysis and theory as opposed to entertainment. Sure, they can carry on a conversation well, but unlike before they are not the entertainment. They are the education. And they do a great job.

Anyone who reads these forums and plays live poker wants to make money at the game, and wants to get better. We all know that poker both live and online isn't getting any easier. These commentators, with their constant and incessant breakdown of ranges, distributions and frequencies are actively contributing to live poker becoming a more difficult game. I saw someone at my table watching the stream the other day and it made me cringe. I later saw him check back TT on a J62hh flop when a year ago he might have bet it.

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and what finally prompted me to make this post was their conversation about how they offered coaching, they just merged their coaching services into one offering. This is one of the cardinal sins of live poker imho, and they effectively offered coaching to thousands of players. It's a topic that's been talked to death in other threads (DGAFs well comes to mind), but I don't even think you can really argue the point successfully. They are actively making their own games (and everyone elses) harder.

In my opinion, Live at the Bike needs to go back to the games themselves being educational and the casters being the entertainment as opposed to the other way around. Not every hand needs to be analyzed to death by Matt "never keeps his opinion to himself" Boyd.

End rant, thanks for reading.

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it. We are constantly trying to figure out the best way to commentate. It's not easy, but we want to please as many viewers as possible.

I'd subscribe to Snoop Dog commentating some $1/$2 NL all day long. You should consider keep entertainment on the front end of the business, and analysis and coaching on the other side of the business. People that don't want analysis are getting it. And people that do want analysis aren't paying enough for it. It's a problem.

I agree with OP.

There have been comments on the broadcast about not calling certain hands early or the importance of kickers that shouldn't have been said.

Card selection mistakes need to happen so pro players can make their money. Most people gamble for fun or due to addiction and if you wise up the fish the disparity of skill closes.

It becomes more of a gamble and harder to make money.

Agree with the OP.

I turned the stream on a few minutes ago, and they were discussing their guess about how much each person bowls. I didn't hear any in-depth analysis. Maybe you have to have a lot more patience than I do, to wait for the analysis.

One thing you could say about the old LATB is that even if you didn't appreciate some of Limon's jokes you could tell he was a legitimately interesting poker player, person, and entertainer.

Like a bunch of fish will hear about card removal on a LATB stream and suddenly not lose money at poker? They will proceed to lose even more for about a million hands until they learn to apply it correctly. I rarely watch LATB but too much good poker analysis is definitely not a problem. Now, if an online crusher or an established GOAT was commenting and giving exact instruction on every play, then that would be too much, but would never happen. Just knowing about removal, and indifference frequency means that a player is ready to get some coaching and ready to experience some uncomfortable variance for a million hands, imo.