Norman Chad and Lon whoever are a couple of d-bags and the reason I don't watch that piece of **** program.

ESPN doesn't get it. They treat the biggest tournament in poker like a ****ing joke.

The sad part is that EVERYTHING is a joke on that broadcast. I've got news for you everything isn't a joke. Norman Chad isn't anywhere close to being funny--let alone witty. Lon whoever is a ****ing moron.

Don't watch it. It's totally un****ing watchable. Makes me cringe.

Does anyone remember the line Norman used about Tuan Lam last night? Whatever it was, it cracked me up. It was something like, "Tuan Lam, last year's main event runner-up is finally playing a hand." I lol'd.

I'm honored that my first post is backing Norman. .

If I were Norman Chad and I were reading this thread, I would be loving life right now.

Why?

Either the viewers like Norm, or they hate him, with viewers lining up on both sides in numbers, passionately, arguing for their position.

The worst thing that could have happened for Norm is for people to say, "Norman Chad? Who's he?"

Norm and/or his entertainment agent have to love this.

"Controversy creates cash." - former World Championship Wrestling president Eric Bischoff

norm also has one of the best syndicated sports columns around. he is hilarious

This is a put on- right?
I mean the players treat it like a joke, wearing clown suits, jumping around like apes, etc.

I have to weigh in here in favor of Norman Chad. Love his humor. Sometimes he misses the mark. So what?

Watching poker is awfully boring, especially to those who don't get the strategy/intricacies of the game. Television shows need ratings. WSOP broadcasts need Norman and his faithful straight man Lon.

I am a fan of Norman Chad, funny cause I saw a few posts that mentioned their likes for Gabe Kaplan and his humor really starts to irk me. Aas far as poker knowledge I appreciate Gabe's talk explaining as a player how he feels a player should play a hand and how the players actions might have differed from his. Of course tournament and cash games are a bit different. I think it would be funner to have a panel of actual players get show the hand and asked how they would play each street this would broaden the views of the game and how more then one approach can be taken.

I can't believe I'm responding to a troll.

It's very, very serious to the players. It's interesting. It's strategic. Winning a WSOP tournament can be a life changing event.

Those broadcasts could be educational as well as entertaining, if they would simply pull their heads out of their collective asses.

Their "broadcast" is a joke. Do you really believe that kind of ****ing bull**** would pass in a major golf tournament, a national league football, basketball, or baseball game?

Those two ****ing *********** treat it like a goddamn joke, because the higherups at ESPN think they're doing something right. It's the only game in town, so two Doberman Pinchers barking in Portuguese could carry off that broadcast.

It's unwatchable--at least with the sound on--makes me want to vomit watching those two ****ing idiots. Mile Sexton and his dbag butt buddy are just as bad.

Most people have no idea how good that show could be if were done right.

But, alas, nobody seems to give a ****--but the idiot ****ing trolls.

OP, I suggest you look up infantilism and then picture what Norman Chad would look like if he practiced it. Im pretty sure its not what you think it is.

Edit: (NSFW) http://understanding.infantilism.org/

Now picture it...

Oh and Norman Chad is great. Whamboozled imo. Did he coin the term nuclear wrap... That one is pretty great too.

over/under on 'minutes until the next norman chad post by some moron' - 4

I like him but I can't stand his commentary on the actual hand because it is always 100% holecam and results based. And the bias towards the 'pros', eg. 'why do they always fire at the flop when they miss!!' if it's an amateur but if a pro cbets it's 'scotty's piling on the aggression!!'.

Someone with at least a better than level 0 understanding of the game would be good for the biggest tournament of the year.

I disagree 100%. The commentators are everything in poker. The main reason that the WSOP and High Stakes Poker is so great is the commentators. Norman Chad can overdo certain bits at times, but overall he is fantastic and quite funny. Gabe Kaplan is even better.

Poker After Dark is borderline unwatchable because the commentators stink. And the WPT shows are completely unwatchable.

If you live and breathe poker maybe you watch all that stuff but to a borderline/mildly obsessed fan the difference is everything.

The only other good commentator duo I've seen in Phil Gordon and (believe it or not) the guy from Kids in the Hall from the old Bravo Celebrity Poker show. The Kids and the Hall guy was pure comic relief and not that good at that, but Gordon was good and they had great chemistry.

Kaplan gets a slight nod over Chad, but his antagonistic shtick with Ali Nejad is far more annoying than Chad's wife jokes. I'll take Sexton, but there's room for all three. The quotes from Chad's webpage earlier in the thread were quite good, he does nail a good zinger evbery now and then. I'm happy with the WSOP coverage. I do admit it took me a while to warm up to Chad. And HORSE is once again HORSE, glad ESPN got out of the business of "improving" the events themselves! Hopefully the colorful and controversial HORSE event this year solidifed the perceived entertainment value of non-NLHE events. Congratulations to HORSE's ass.

You are taking yourself and poker way too seriously.

Tell us why?

They should bring in a poker pro to join the crew for each episode. Maybe someone who went deep in the tournament but didn't make the final table (for the regular episodes) and maybe someone from the Featured Table if it's the Main Event. They could toss in insight about how players were playing in the tournament and give commentary on specific hands, while Norman and Lon make the jokes. Of course the player could partake in the joking, but they would mainly be there to give specific insight into the tournament.

but this is GOOD! If I want to learn about poker, I have other places I can go. I want the casual players reinforced about how good their preflop KK laydown was when they had 25 BB at the start of the hand, open for 5x then fold to a reraise, because the other guy had AQ and guess what an ACE came on the flop, so he would have lost all his moniez. NICE LAYDOWN!

I once watched an old WSOP broadcast (early 90s) and they had Hellmuth doing the commentary. This was before the massive ego and before hole card cameras. Hellmuth was really good, and I swear to God he did some crazy ass soul reading of players and got it right 90% of the time. One time he was like "he's got Queens" preflop (without a huge raise or anything) and sure enough the guy had Queens.

He did a season of the Bravo Celebrity Poker a few years ago and was pretty good but took it far too seriously and the chemistry was awkward.

That'd be interesting to watch. Do you know where I can find a video of that online? (or any older WSOP stuff for that matter. Did a quick search on PokerTube and didn't get any results -- Tried looking for the 1989, 1995, and 1996 WSOP - yielded no results)

No idea where online but ESPN Classic reruns the old ones fairly frequently. I think -- but am not sure -- it might have been the one where the final table was outside.

Look again then, it is all there; click on WSOP 2008, and on the next page you will find a box 'WSOP Main Events 1970-2006'

Except for 1996, of course, which wasn't broadcast.

As for Norman, he should be replaced. Compare 2004, 05, 06, 07, 08 ... he used to be great, but is going downhill. He ought to leave before he hits the ground.

tyvm. cant wait to watch some of these =)

Norm and Lon remind me a bit of a baseball radio duo who locals have grown accustomed to. I don't know about some of the other sports, but I do know that nationally prominent baseball announcers like Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver get a ton of criticism. Actually, the way that some people like and others really loathe the ESPN WSOP team reminds me of how some people love or hate ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball tandem of Morgan and Jon Miller.

Anyways, I've always maintained that the main problem with getting better analysis is that most of the people with a sufficiently high profile who could do the job are actually playing. In poker, you don't have a pool of retired players to draw upon for analysis and commentary. I'm sure most people liked it when Daniel Negreanu entered the booth on HSP. Is there anyone who would prefer it if DN took over the commentary role and didn't play at all?

Actually, the only player who I have heard seek out the job as an addition or replacement to the WSOP crew is Phil Gordon.

I can't stand Norman Chad either.

I find myself cranking up the volume in an attempt to hear the table chat then get blasted away with one of Norm's dumbazz comments.

Such a waste.

[ ]Norman Chad

[x]Table chat

norm chad is great and makes it entertainiing for the non poker players out there that just are curious about the game. but if he were to be replaced no one would be better then mike the mouth matusow