Lets remember this is purely a Lon thread, norm is an american treasure

https://twitter.com/NormanChad/statu...48034881720320

Why do you want good players with their correct analysis to comment on WSOP?

If you want to make poker more popular among non-players, isn't it better to be like it was in WSOP 2003, when Norm was giving simple but wrong advice on how to play? Non-payers could understand that simple advice (raise to find out where you are at), and they could think that they should try playing.

If you think that it is good for poker to have a commentator that knows what is GTO, VPIP, balance etc., then you are wrong.

This!

Agreed, they're both great. They have fun and they're entertaining. They don't get too in depth with the strat which is great on several levels

Yeah that was slightly rant-y this whole Lon thing really gets people on here wound up doesn't it?

I have to say i disagree with your assumptions around who is watching this, particularly for the main event coverage on ESPN. there are no doubt a lot of people who "play poker", but IMO the vast majority of that group will be very very casual players. millions playing play money for fun online or playing very social home games or pub games. The subset of poker players who know some strategy and theory and/or come on 2+2 is still going to be a pretty small minority in my opinion - especially for ESPN coverage. I also think that being on a mainstream sports network they will get a decent percentage of viewers being people who don't play poker but have their attention caught and enjoy the coverage as something different

So i still think Lon/Norm style commentary is likely to be a better fit for the large majority of viewers of this event. Obviously this does not hold true for other stuff like mixed game coverage on PokerGo

It’s 2019. If there was going to be a second boom caused by jokes about ex-wives and sloppy outfits, it probably would have happened during the past decade. It’s not like the jokes have changed.

Maybe trying to recreate the 2003 broadcast every year isn’t going to suddenly cause people to be interested in trying poker.

I can’t find the 2018 numbers, but ratings in the 18-49 demographic were down 5% in 2017 from the previous year.

Why did you stare at the piano before your lesson?

Thanks for posting, I've been at Phish all weekend

Maybe Lon read this thread and shut up a bit

sorry havent read any other comments but A.J. Benza and Norm Mcdonald are the worst poker announcers ever. It Aint Even Close. Wish they could get Gabe on there somehow. There are some cheezy others on low budget productions but for the money/

Lon and Norm like the old sports announcer that even if they "F" up or come across as totally drunk, its ok because they are Lon and Norm ( See with all due respect and I'm not saying they are in the same league: Harry Caray, Chick Hearn, Johnny Most, Vince Sculley etc.) .

Imho solid, classical and efficient tv duo w/ good balance between the naive and average American role played by Lon and the funny-sarcastic-more on point and "in depth" analysis role played by the Jewish friend Norm. That type of fuo seems to be a classic in Merica Tv shows. And it does work.

lol

After hearing Lon, the NZ rugby team reportedly also changed its name to the All Monochromes

Poker on TV is unwatchable and Lon and Norm are two of the biggest reasons why.

Cringeworthy crap.

Lon is OK. Maria and Kara are OK. Norman Chad is a sycophantic ****. He is as funny as a pork chop in a Mosque.

They're all great, but I'd rather listen to Lon than Norman or WPT'ers Sexton/Dunst complain about players not wearing sports coats and suits at a poker game.

Gabe and AJ are like Jack Buck/Hank Stram compared to Lon/Norm’s Roy Firestone/Tony Kornheiser.

The only reason why the 18-49 demographic numbers are still used is to disguise how awful the trend with the 18-34 demographic is. If you split that up, you’d probably get a double digit drop for that group. But not just for poker, for everything across the board.

For sports on TV in particular, except for soccer which attracts a growing number of young viewers, the average viewer gets significantly older every year. Over the last 20 years, the average MLB TV audience aged roughly 4 month every single year. In a couple of years, the average age of somebody watching an MLB game on TV is going to be above 60.

Poker and MLB are obviously two very different things, but fact is that (almost) all ESPN TV broadcasts are targeting an audience that’s above 40.

In 97, when Ungar won his third. Sexton was going on and on about how he would wear a tuxedo to the final table should he be so lucky.

His good friend Ron Stanley made it to the final table and he did wear a tuxedo.

And he looked like a total ****ing idiot.

Lon and John Skipper, head of espn, grew up together and are married to a pair of twin sisters, Dawn and Sunni. They share a summer lake cottage. Lon's son Skip recently donated a kidney to Skippers ailing daughter. So I doubt Lon will be fired anytime soon....

Indeed.

So what happened to Schulman? I heard something like he said watching the ME won't make you a better player? For one, he's right and two that should not be enough to get rid of him. He is the BEST right now. Him and Ali are amazing on PokerGO. Also, this years FT sucks big time.

You seem to know about John Skipper minus the part where he resigned from ESPN a year and a half ago amidst being extorted for his coke problem and that he and his wife are divorced.

But do they still share the summer lake cottage?

Ho man.

Me 15 years ago: Keep Lon! No strategy talk! Don't educate the fish and cut into my hourly rate!!!

Me now: I've finally cleared the TV for something that doesn't involve Puppy Paw Patrol or Mako Mermaids...and this dopey fool Lon is still the best ESPN can come up with? What an absolute waste. Jamie isn't bad - but Nick was top notch.

Most people are dumb and fish don't care about getting better.

I like the first hand of the night with the final three players. I believe it was between Dario and Houssein. Dario had K,T and Houssein had K,6. The flop came down 7,J,7,J,4. Lon says Dario has him out kicked with his Ten! I grimaced at how bad that was. Jamie corrected him, very politely of course, and Lon went on to say it was a chopped pot. Brilliant!

Once again, only the first of many miscues by Mr. Glib.