\jeff{krimmel}

Poker Championship on TV

I caught the last half hour of the 2005 National Heads-Up Poker Championship this morning on NBC, and I must admit that it is pretty compelling television. I know next to nothing about poker. I know what some of the more popular hands are called, but I couldn’t create a list of what hand beats some other hand.

I watched the championship match, where it was a best of three arrangement. Each player is given $640,000 US in chips, and they play until one person is bankrupt. One guy won the first match, and he was well on his way to winning the second match. What’s great about the NBC graphics is that they tell you the percent chance of each person winning that particular hand. So, at the end of the second match, the guy who won the first match had a 95% of chance of winning the hand where both players were all in. The other guy needed a 9, and there were only two left in the deck. The next card? 9. This other guy’s prayers were answered, and they moved onto the third match.

In the third match, the guy who won the first match eventually won, but not after being bluffed into folding two winning hands. It was a perfect demonstration of the art of poker. One guy knew his hand was garbage, but the other guy was still reeling after losing the previous match on an outcome of 5% likelihood. Regardless, the guy who won the first match prevailed, even after folding two winning hands. Like I said, it makes for pretty compelling television.