You know that straddles halve the effective stacksize right? Also straddles are not good at all for the game, they make the game much nittier. Antes are much better to loosen up the game imo

Straddles raises the stakes,and makes the pots bigger wich is what the viewers wants i guess. Utg straddles is good for the game,button straddles i agree with you makes the game nittier.

Sure they can do antes if that is better. I just have no interest watching Hellmuth play cash if that means him nitting it up in a full ring game with 2 blinds waiting for nutted hands with a 50 bb shortstack.

Let PH set there nitting it up. Basically makes a 8 handed lineup a 7 handed one plus we get the PH theatrics when he gets coolered or sucked out on.

Everyone else will loosen up (less players in ring), we get the ultimate PH blow up and also the PH entertainment. One thing about PH, you might not agree with what he says and it may suck in a poker value, but he will have plenty to say and it will be entertaining.

While it it grating to watch for me, you could ensure TonyG or Esfandiari (or both) are there. We know they will needle the heck out of PH for entertainment value.

PH on HSP S6 was his best work.

He plays 5/10 PLO every day now. You can.just go play with him yourself.

Straddles incentivise thinking players to tighten up their RFI ranges because they are now betting into 3 blinds.

Two blinds with big antes is much better.

For example: I think 500/1K with a 2K ante from the big blind (assuming 8 players) facilitates more action than 500/1K/2K but both games have the same amount of dead money in the pot.



Edit: I wish more games would increase the size of the small blind to match the big blind. This incentizes people to open up their SB ranges, is less studied, and increase the amount of dead money.

I'm running through all the old HSP shows right now. I think I've watched seasons 1-6 about once a year since they've aired. It's comfort food for me.

Nick is great. A totally different vibe from Gabe (also great), but let's not forget Nick is widely considered the best commentator in the game.

Some dream candidates for later stages of this season and future seasons:

Persson
JRB
Keating
Garrett
Linus (or another online nosebleeds endboss)
Durrrr
Phua or another equivalent Triton reg
Negreanu
Rick Salomon
Robl
Hanks

What we don't need:

Phil Ivey
Phil Hellmuth
Matusow
Anybody from this season thus far not mentioned above

One name were forgetting is Scott Seiver who is a crusher and also always brings the banter.

Nick is good as a commentator,i just dont think he fits well for the HSP product.

I agree with those saying that Gabe is probably impossible to replace. Impossible in the sense that his voice,his jokes,his banter and his way of commentating really is the deepest soul of HSP. Without him its just another streamed cashgame really.

Agreed. Always solid entertainment with Seiver.

Watching S2.

Don't remember Esfandiari being such a passive fish. I mean a lot of people were limping back then, but it seems like him and Laak were doing it the most.


and +1 to Seiver

I guess it also might be a case of playing a tighter style aiming for smaller swings due to the game being very big compared to current bankroll. It was alot more common back then to take insane shots,and some players had their whole bankroll on the table.

S2 is my fav season. One thing I noticed over the years is how hard AE plays against women and him vs Harman battle was actually very interesting to watch. It came with a seat change which almost never happened on HSP and Jen and her ex husband going after AE because of it. Another fun moment was Barry running a massive bluff early in the session against Elezra and Barry later saying on Joey's podcast that Eli's wife got so mad at him for embarassing her husband on TV that it made Barry play a lot more ABC in future TV cash games because he didn't want to ruin business relationships. This is even more funny because in S5 Barry does end up bluffing Eli again for 250k with a bad flush draw cause Eli kept talking sht.

I didnt know about this so thanks for posting. S2 i also think is good,loved to see online crushers like sbrugby aka Brian Townshend in action.

My fav is probably S4 though. Farhas banter is on its peak and Hellmuth is also bringing it. Ending it with the 500k buyin episodes is the icing on the cake.

I know I'm late but that AA vs ATo hand in S10 E1 was so dumb lol that runout was frustrating to watch

This is next week's lineup.

I'll set the line for combined hands played by the 3 guys I circled at 5.5





Don't actually know the 2 other than Bobby, but they're old so I'll just assume they're nits.

Is that raidalot on the left? He's pretty solid if so

Wow,what underwhelming lineups they have this season.

Meanwhile i am watching the new NL Triton cashgame from Cyprus for free on youtube,and they have exciting crushers like Michael Zhang and Addamo in the lineup.

Triton and Hustler are so much better these days

Is there any way to get Nick to stop saying “Pal” so much

yeah it's not that much fun to watch to be honest. Hopefully they do something for WSOP cause this is shameful for HSP

Yeah,they have to up their game for sure. Hustler and Triton is just on another level at this point.

The 'offensive' swearing was beeped out from Episode 4.

Is tis a new thing ? I cant find an original content setting - and if I cant hear the original content it will be a deal breaker for me.

That table certainly looks terrible but lets not crap on it until we see it. Baldwin was hilarious in that Triton cash game a few years back so maybe someone needs order him a couple shots to make him entertaining.