Correct, he's a play by play...errrrrr hand by hand commentator. His job is not to provide analysis. He messes up so often that at times you wonder if he's ever even played the game. It's not like he's the only play-by-play guy that has ever played poker. Hell, I've played poker with Jonathan Coachman and Dale Hansen, although the latter is a color commentator. Point being, I'm pretty sure a lot of these sports guys are into poker.

Lon is the problem? It least he is professional. I thought Norm is the problem. Norm is a buffoon! His comments are non-nonsensical to the hand most of the time. Neither gives in-depth discussions, but as others have said, they are probably aiming for the casual player and not the serious player. Norm's bufoonery is so grating, that my wife can't stand it and she walks out of the room....wait...Keep Norm!

Heh heh...good for you.

Yeah, this. But for whatever reason the pro-Lon crowd can’t get this into their heads no matter how often it gets said.

Lon's name just showed up on the Lonlita Express flight logs.....stay tuned!

This isn't an either/or situation. It seems clear that ESPN should stick with its edited highlight shows for casual ESPN audience while PokerGo should be streaming the entire events with knowledgeable announcers for the hardcore poker fans who are willing to shell out the extra money for PokerGo (and CBS All Access and whatever other subscriptions they force us to buy next year to watch some of the events).

I don't think it's as clear as you think. There is a real premium put on live content these days because it's one of the few things on TV that people will actually sit through ads for. It's the reason WWE was able to sign with Fox (and WWE's stock price which hovered below $20 for the better part of 2 decades, quadrupled) and the reason ESPN is paying $1.5 billion over 5 years for the UFC (and UFC's value keeps going up despite terrible ownership/management).

I'm of the opinion that the prerecorded show is way better than the live show but from a business standpoint live is the way to go, even for a casual audience. Also, with social media these days if you don't broadcast live the results become spoiled even for a larger casual audience. This is an issue for the World's Strongest Man competition this year. The shows were prerecorded but everyone already knows who won.

I don't think you can compare poker to other events like WWE though. Poker, especially tournament poker is boring af 90% of the time. Imagine WWE airing something comparable to folding pf all day

+1 good point

Where should he go? WSOP Hall of Fame with Chad?

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im late to this thread, and im sure people have said this a million times, but Nick Schulman is exactly the kind of person we want repping the community and speaking on our behalf. The Joe ingram podcast with him, and that other podcast (for cardplayer? im forgetting) really give some insight into his heart and character.

i didnt really follow the story but from what i understand schulman didnt get to announce for wsop because he said that comment.

Yeah, Lon is such a detriment to the game of poker across this land. He should be hated upon no doubt. Truly focus your energy upon hating Lon. I mean, look at all the harm Lon has done to the game of poker in the 21st century. Oh yeah, I forgot. NOT. Maybe try to focus where it at least makes some sense (if not successfully) like against repugnant Sheldon Adelson. Now, THERE is someone who must go (away from any influence in poker world).

Wow, this thread is just a strawman festival, isn’t it.

I don’t hate Lon and don’t want him replaced with robot women reading GTO stats. But it’s poker’s premier event and TV broadcast, and when I grab a few hours to watch it, I’d like the main announcer to be competent and interesting (and even “knowledgeable). I don’t think he’s good at this particular job (though he can still take part in the broadcast), think that if he did bring casual fans to the game that job has already been done years ago, and don’t see why he needs to hold it forever.

They air Randy Orton matches.

Nick is spot on, but sounds like a depressed stoner.

What are you talking about? Randy Orton is a great in-ring talent. He sucks on the mic.

He's competent yet boring. He's not doing anything wrong, but I can't get excited about any of his matches.

But then watches the bachelor with Glee.

Amirite?

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You must think you level of thinking is a lot higher than it actually is. GTO is not complicated. It really isn't. I am a rec idiot and can understand Nick.

Good thread, I think I had come to that conclusion in my head as well. I am a casual player with plenty of tourney experience at WSOP (no cashes, no main event....donkey). My unneeded 0.02 below.

Nejad + Schulman = great coverage for the streams/on-demand that were watched. Balance of high energy, jokes, and solid poker insight from Nejad with deadpan humor from Nick along with higher level poker insight. I love this combo as a frequent player of the game because these guys somehow represent the friends/enemies that we play with on a regular at the table.

Tuckman + ______ = David is the best IMO at filling the downtime with conversation that is a bit more mature than Nejad, focused on the poker action or player history/tendencies/etc. It is clear that he does his research on the players involved and so forth. I don't know his entire history but you can tell he was commentating on sports at some professional level. Whomever he is coupled with (I don't remember all of them) is generally on the more conservative side energetically. This person is usually OK with the poker strategy aspect. I will say one of the PLO final tables with Galfond was amazing, because Tuckman is good at the alley-oop and setting the experts up for direct and focused answering of scenarios and strategy (if this was not the duo, then apologies).

Lon + Norman + ______ = mostly terrible. That top-notch flower in Vegas is the only reason I could see them making this many mistakes and being uninterested(ing). The old ME coverage was funny, low-strat, and to the point. This just does not work for live streaming. The same way all cash game players aren't tourney players and vice-versa. They are clearly out of their element, anyone with basic common sense can see this, and the third person cannot carry them both.

I disagree with the idea that female commentary is a bad thing, even for the average Joe. I think gender/ethnic diversity should be welcomed in the booth, with proper credentials.