This article talks about the past, present and future of poker as a spectator sport - http://pokerupdate.com/features/i-see-your-bet-poker-as-a-spectator-sport/

My question is - What would you guys like to see from televised Poker going forward?

It seems like there's no good new Poker T.V out there right now.

Obviously Black Friday and the downfall of Full Tilt had a major impact, but even before that it seemed like T.V Poker was lacking the excitement that it had even a few years ago, like it'd become a bit dull & in need of some fresh new ideas and entertaining faces.

HSP like it was in season 5 and 6. Best TV poker by a mile.

I'd love to see more durrrr million dollar challenge but obviously that's not gonna happen. Maybe the same format but with Isildur sponsored by Pokerstars. That would be great.

I hate tournament poker. It's slow, boring, a luck fest and mainly features average or bad players. But yeah if that's what fish enjoy watching then that's what they'll keep showing.

Edit: more Big Game would be awesome. plz make it happen pokerstars

I'm a fan of stuff like Live @ The Bike cash game where they show every single hand and have a great mix of education and make it entertaining.

In future I hope ESPN had full coverage of the Main Event again and shows all the hands. I just wish the camera angles would be better though. I hate how they zoom in to where you can see peoples nose hairs.

Without sponsors, most of these poker shows just don't pull enough eyeballs to be worth it.

"BULLDOZER! AH HOO AHH I play this game to win, i don't play to lose." Tv poker is lacking emotion. I understand during game play you don't want someone yelling and celebrating after every hand; however it really does make for good tv. TV poker is missing it's prime trash talkers Mike the mouth miss hearing him berate someone. Everyone these days just wants to be calculating which is boring tv. Just ask yourself what would you Youtube first someone solving basic math or an argument over nothing.

I agree I don't think there was anything quite like the good high stakes poker cash games.

Hopefully in the future the main event coverage will have technology where you can view ALL of the hands. Technology is already out there FWIW, with electronic tags in cards which send data to a computer.

Yeah it's a shame, perhaps after U.S. legislation one of the big casinos will be able to make something happen? Surely Stars will give it a go at some point in the future too?

Yeah I agree on the entertainment thing, nothing funnier than watching a Phil Helmuth blowout compilation, I think it's probably time for some new entertaining faces though, although off the top of my head I can't really think of any new proper characters to the game...

A big game, 8 handed, with 3 loose cannons

Or

reality tv from bobbys room, have camera in there, and get daily editted highlights the next day

I have logged in more hours of Poker on TV that I care to admit.

For me it is ALL ABOUT THE HOST. A great host brings the emotion, and can make it enjoyable to watch.

Norman Chad. He is awesome, and brings excitement, his quick wit (although he probably rehearses his material) and pop-culture references are great.

Antonio E. and Daniel N. Although we only see them rarely, they have been great commentators with their knowledge of situations and analysis. When Antonio was covering ME this year without hole cards known, he was amazing, and his insight was second to none.

Gabe Kaplan and his side kick (forgot his name) on HSP. Although Gabe is a good poker player, but NOT great, he has played in these games and gives good insight. Gabe needs someone for back-and-forth banter about the game.

Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patton. They are good on WPT, but they are NOT funny like Norman Chad. Sexton knows what he is talking about, but not sure about Van Patton's comments sometimes.

Poker After Dark was horrible and boring, and why? Because the host was boring. If all you hear 90% of the time is chips being shuffled, then you might as well watch an infomericial and buy a new set of knives or non-stick pans.

Agree with all who have said that the more players at the table who are talking the better, especially loose cannons.

Mike the Mouth, Phil H., Antonio and Daniel are awesome to watch AND listen.

Drrr, Gus, Phil I. and even Texas Dolly we are just watching because they are playing better than any of us can ever play.

I personally think the problem is that I think these guys may have taken a hit in money earnings with everyone watching how they play on TV.

Next exciting televised game will be the Aussie Million's cash game going on right now, however I'm not sure what's to come after that? :S

Cash games for sure, preferably where they show every hand so you get a better feel for it. Players obv need to be entertaining and adding some rich fish to the mix is bound to bring action.

cash game

DEEP. Minimum 250bb. No cap. Straddling just makes the stacks shorter. I want to see poker, not allin fests.

one hosts that makes jokes when the players are being quiet, but doesn't talk over the players when they are talking to each other.

one host that knows strategy. he doesn't say anything advanced, as to not educate the fish, but he doesn't say anything stupid.

players that actually play high stakes poker. also they must not be tight. we need to see sick bluffs and hero calls. Not pot control and folds. If they talk a lot that is a plus I suppose. But I would much rather see sick plays than a lot of talk. If they do not talk, the commentators will fill the void by making fun of them for our entertainment.

The Big Game. Just like the first few season of HSP it fell like I'm watching a friendly home game (everyone is having a good time) but with serious money on the line.

i liked poker after dark cash games mainly coz they showed every hand and we as a viewer cud see the table dynamics and actually make sense of some weird plays. the one with ziigmund ,ivey , antonius , durrr was the best action i saw ever.

the newest season of HSP is pretty bad unless you dont mind watching billinoinaires making extremely questionable plays against pros every episode.

WPT has gone to crap with all the commercials and "features". The on camera Cast is still good, but the editing and hand selection is just awfull. I watch the WPT "live" online streaming final tables now, all hands, decent commentating by Dunst usually, card cameras used wisely. But I am a geek about it I certainly admit!

Some people itt say they like to watch billionaire fish play because of the action. I disagree. I would rather watch professionals bluff each other. Obviously is -EV to bluff a calling station fish who doesn't care about money.

I think there are still enough eyes to air televised poker. Execs just pulled their nuts up after Black Friday. High Stakes Poker, The Big Game, Poker After Dark, all great shows that need to come back. What are they airing in their place?

They just need to bring back High Stakes Poker just like it was but nightly like After Dark. Maybe just get rid of AJ Benza's fat ass and get Gabe Kaplan a sidekick worth a damn.

All the other poker shows suck. Some were good at one point or another but either driven into the ground or just plain crappy

I'll tell you why I stopped watching it.

I can't stand watching people who suck or are mediocre yet have such bigger bankrolls than me. How do they get those bankrolls? Do they just not care about their family or something? Do huge unexpected expenses never pop up for these donkeys?

Maybe its people, like myself, coming to terms with my own mediocrity or the limits of my circumstances. I mean I just don't see myself buying into a game for 200k anytime soon. I like to watch durrr and Ivey, guys who I see as more skilled. But when it comes to tourney winners and people like Phill Locke (who I actually think is entertaining but just not that skillful at poker) buying into the biggest games I just get kinda pissed at their luck to be able to have a seat there. I just can't take it.

People don't realize the extent to which these shows were basically financed like infomercials for the poker sites. The WSOP always had a small presence on TV in the same way that the National Spelling Bee or the Westminster Dog Show did, and then it benefitted so much from the poker boom that it gained some decent non-poker sponsors. But everything else was bought and paid for by one or the other poker site (which is why pre-BF you stopped seeing FTP and Stars pros on the same show).

Without the time-buys of the poker sites, nobody's figured out how to make televised poker economically viable other than the WSOP and maybe the WPT (which at this point is something of a time-buy for the WPT's online site).

I think PStars had a really good thing going with Big Game. Short-handed cash game is an entertaining format. They showed a lot of the hands and showed all the hands if you got on-line. The announcers did a decent job of staying out of the way and they also kept it poker focused enough to get in a decent number of hands per show (as opposed to say HSP going to all their various fluff segments between every other hand). The line-ups were a very good mix. You had celebrity donators, celebs who were half decent, celebrity poker players in their various forms, "real" poker players in their various forms, and the loose cannon angle (while over-done) wasn't all that bad. I didn't like their obsession with pounding the internet angle of it over everybody's head but all in all think it may have been the best poker show ever produced.

PAD was also much more solid than it seemed to get credit for near the end. It was a good formula and they weren't afraid to try different things (usually pulling it off). Really I don't think tv poker was going downhill it was more people expected more (nba dunk contest effect) and the audience just shrunk based on the level of casual interest in poker. The actual shows were terrific by any historical standard. So basically, don't agree w/ op that it needed something different. It was fine just died because of Black Friday and the general market. The shows that were going leading up to Black Friday were as good or better than anything that was ever getting put out there.

Hate not little grasshopper. Put your head down and jump high and you may soar yet.

Any poker show that is sponsored by a poker site and features their players I'm not interested in anymore because I think that they're all just playing with play money.

I like Norman Chad but the WSOP is basically just an all-in fest as well as attention whore players who scream and holler to get camera time on ESPN and possible sponsor deals.

And I hate the WPT announcers. They're so boring.

Just wanted to +1 this post as i totally agree except maybe the last sentence i'm not sure about that. Also, i think sexton and van patten make some pretty funny comments, they make me laugh anyway!