i know i should be happy that people like OP are part of a poker community, but i just can't stand that kind of narrow-mindness.

The strategy discussion is pretty much the only reason to watch.

The hands play out so uber-boring that without a pro explaining as to why they're taking 150 minutes long on each decision I wouldn't get anything out of the hand.

Jesse May + any poker pro = best commentary.

Disagree with OP, I just zone out and ignore it when I get bored of it.

I would be happy with Max Stienberg getting a lifetime ban from microphones.

Sometimes yes, but mostly I think it is a case of who is doing the commentary. A few are just monotone, math and % geeks with no personalities, many others have a lot to add to the live stream. OP has a small point but is overstating it a lot.

See this is where your train of thought is not compatible with the rest of us. Almost no professional poker player likes to watch live poker, it's like watching paint dry. Add in no hole cards and/or commentary and it gets worse and worse. I don't want to speak for others but i think that's the opinion of the majority of 2+2 posters. I kinda see your point but the only way I'd watch a live stream that doesn't have a personal friend on it is if Gabe Kaplan did the commentary.

What I can't stand the most are analysts who see all of the hole cards and then talk like they are geniuses. Let's consistently see just one players hole cards and see how good they are then.

Anybody watch Premier League Poker season 6? Jennifer Tilly's commentary/strategy is the worst of all time.

Personally, I like the strategy content, and I go to geek heaven when they start showing HUD stats on screen (e.g. on 'The Big Game'). That said, I agree with Daniel Negreanu's viewpoint* that for mass-market TV (e.g. ESPN's coverage of the WSOP), the strat content should be removed entirely. I think that casual viewers really just want to see a lot of pre-flop all ins and suckouts, with the occasional big bluff post-flop.
Talk of hand ranges and game theory are not only turn-offs for casual viewers; they also show newbies that there is a lot of math in the game. To attract and retain recreational players, poker needs to be portrayed like it was in the glory days: a game of luck and ballsy bluffs, not a game of statistics or unexploitable Nash equilibrium plays.

* Negreanu quotes:
"With great story telling, fans & stars are created. Out with the high end analysis during broadcasts and in with the back stories, character development, and connection to fans."
"There is something interesting about EVERYONE! It's up to the production team to find out what that is, then sell it to the public. We waste time appeasing the wrong demographic [internet wizards]."

I had no idea Negraneu said all that. I guess we think alike. If the WSOP live stream's commentary went main stream it would be terrible for poker. But I don't think we should have so much strategy on the live streams just because it has less viewers and is online. If you guys want strategy that's what 2+2 and training sites are for... And I would have to say Daniel Negraneu's opinion is superior to most people's on this site...

For the many continuous hours a live stream covers, where the vast majority of the time nothing significant is happening, you have to fill that space. If you take out strat talk, what you will end up with is a lot of personal conversations that have nothing to do with what is going on at the table.

Superior to who? He is a brianwashed moron that happens to be good at poker. He's a quack and is not superior to me or my opinion.

Have you given an answer on why you can't just press the mute button? Just because you or a few other people don't care for it doesn't mean that the rest of us don't. Isn't this really just about you not wanting the fish to get educated?

View: Vegan is the new kevmode

By the way... I absolutely loved when Ivey was at the final table and his buddy was doing commentary by himself during the $1,500 8 game mix and he wasn't talking all this annoying strategy, but he was talking about how Ivey was so good any everything... I actually missed listening to it when I went to watch Ivey live in person... He is so amazing...

Become a commentator
Don't talk about the **** that you find annoying
Go back and watch your own commentary.

It's that easy.

OP doesn't want to get educated imo.

Oh, like "Live at the Bike."

hmmm, strategy talk is annoying while watching the broadcast of a major event where some of the best players of the field are left and I have the chance to listen a well known proven player giving you the insight of what is going on ... for free! ... nah, **** that ****, i'd much rather know whose turn to act it is and whether they are checking or betting ... now THAT is the really important stuff.

Seriously? give me a ****ing break, this thread has got be a level.

It all depends what audience your going for. But having steinberg talking about static continuing ranges was a little over the top, and I think Negreanu addressed this as well.

If they didn't talk strategy what would they talk about? End of the day live streams are pretty boring as without hole cards there isn't much to work. Tuchman is pretty good at keeping it interesting but a commentator on a live stream is pretty much a glorified announcer unless they talk strategy or tell funnies like stapes

It is **********ing now. http://www.************com/poker_night_in_america

I like that you call things annoying then have an avatar of Prahlad Friedman.

Aint nothin wrong with my boy Prahlad...

Do you find it at all possible that some people might not learn from them, or care what they have to say and find them very annoying?

I find it very hard to believe that removing the strat talk from the commentary would do anything towards having 30 minute delay live streams going main stream. I can't see the average recreational player, who really has no interest in getting better, tuning into hours of poker at a time. This is especially true when the majority of the time, there really aren't any big hands being played, and there is no commentary from professionals about what the thought process could be in a hand.

It is never going to be, nor should it aspire to be like the WPT broadcasts. Mostly 1 - 3 hands played between commercial breaks, with the highlights being a "classic coin flip situation" aipf. That's "all in preflop" for those non-2+2/strat talk fans.

On my tablet it looks like Judge Judy.