When the Nine meet at the Rio on November 5, poker’s ultimate final table will also be its ultimate feature table, watched by millions of viewers around the globe. Ever since the invention of the “holecard cam,” televised poker has been hugely popular, but what exactly are we seeing when we watch a televised poker game?
Is it just like any other sporting event on TV, with the camera as passive observer clinically recording each play but rarely having an effect on the players themselves? Or is it more like a sedentary, hoodie-drenched reality show, featuring a cast of characters who can’t help playing to the cameras—even if they’re not consciously aware of it?
In a sense, all poker players are performers, acting out various roles during the course of the game. We pretend to be weak when we’re strong and we pretend to be strong when we’re weak. We constantly think about our “image”—in this case our table image—and we look for ways to manipulate that image to create an advantage in the game. But for poker players caught in the white-hot glare of the TV spotlight, “table image” takes on a whole new meaning. These players aren’t just performing for a small handful of opponents whom they want to fool into making the wrong decision. They’re performing for the entire pokerplaying world.
Good poker players always try to think one level ahead, but having a TV audience creates a whole new level for players to deal with. It’s one thing for a player faced with calling an all-in bet to think, “Does he know that I know he’s capable of bluffing in this spot?” but put that same player on TV and now he also has to think about how the audience is going to judge his decision. If he makes a bad fold, millions of people—friends, family, the checkout guy at the grocery store, past opponents, potential future opponents—are all going to see that he can be bluffed at a critical moment.
On the other hand, if he calls and it turns out to be an amazingly sick call that snaps off his opponent’s bluff, TV commentators and viewers will be singing his praises. Whatever the player decides to do next, he’ll do so with the knowledge that countless Monday-morning quarterbacks all over the world are waiting to dissect and critique his every move. Every bad fold, ever ill-timed bluff, every missed opportunity is fair game to be picked apart in the poker blogosphere and forums. How can players not let their play be affected?
Beyond that, there’s usually some plain old-fashioned grandstanding. Players who take longer than normal, agonizing over what should be easy decisions, just to get a little extra TV face time. Other players might be over-dramatic when they win a big hand (or when they lose a big hand) for the benefit of the TV cameras. Players known for trash-talking may ramp up their verbal attacks, knowing the TV producers just love that kind of stuff. Then you have players who are known—or want to be known— as super-aggressive and capable of creative, outrageous moves. Great for TV, not always great for poker. Having that extra audience can encourage players to get a little too carried away with aggressive moves. The only thing sexier than pulling off a giant bluff with 8-3 offsuit is doing it in front of millions of TV viewers. But conversely, bluffing off all your chips with 8-3 offsuit in a major televised tournament where huge amounts of money are at stake is pretty much the antithesis of sexy, not to mention downright embarrassing.
This year’s November Nine are some of the smartest, toughest poker players on the planet. They’re also human, and the pressures they’ll be facing are already crushing—even without the TV cameras. It will be interesting to see how they cope and if that “fourth wall” has any effect on the ultimate outcome.
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