Top 5 poker personalities on television
In a recent blog post Daniel Negreanu opined about the way some of poker’s top players play on television. The gist of Negreanu’s comment was to point out that playing perfect poker does not make for good TV. So with Negreanu’s comments in mind I have decided to choose the top 5 poker personalities on television. This list is of the 5 poker players that poker fans tune in to see.
- 1. Tony G
Tony G not only provides any poker telecast he appears on with a ready-made villain, but Tony is a notorious needler -and quite funny when he is on a roll-and is also an ‘action’ player. When poker fans see that Tony G will be in the lineup they know the show will be funny, and full of gamble.
- 2. Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth’s whining and crying used to be annoying, but now that the game of poker has passed him by his antics border on hilarity. Most of the new generation of poker players love to laugh at Hellmuth, not just for his ridiculous tirades, but more so because these tirades are usually misguided. Hellmuth has become the fish at the table that tells everyone else how poorly they play.
- 3. Phil Laak
Although the Unabomber is actually quite a nitty player, his personality and penchant for table talk make him one of the most sought after players for any televised poker show. Laak is able to do the near impossible at a poker table; appear completely opposite of your actual style of play. Another benefit of having Phil Laak in a poker game are the prop bets and stories that are likely to arise.
- 4. Daniel Negreanu
Negreanu has been taking his role as poker ambassador to new levels recently. No longer needing to make money at the poker tables, Negreanu has taken the talkative nice guy routine to a whole new level. Most poker fans love a Negreanu game because they know there will be a lot of shop-talk.
- 5. Gus Hansen
Hansen isn’t much of a talker on most occasions, but when he gets going his personality does come through. But the reason I chose Gus has everything to do with him making a game ‘good’. Hansen is known to take risks and gamble at the tables, and this typically rubs off on all the other players in the game.
Having even one of these five players in the game is usually reason enough to tune in to a poker telecast, and if there are more than two you better set your TIVO, especially if one is Tony G and the other is Phil Hellmuth -by far the best duo in poker history!
