Monday, March 2, 2009

High Stakes Poker Season 5 Premiere

GSN has posted the first episode of the fifth season in full to youtube!

Watch and discuss in comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0llxnthUMo

16 comments:

Sushi Cowboy said...

Nice! Thanks for the heads up. Does anyone know if they plan to do this the entire season? I don't get GSN and would rather not have to beg one of you guys to bring in a copy each week.

Woodrow said...

I'm sure they'll get uploaded to www.pokertube.com as soon as they come out. First episode was pretty boring though, I expected Dwan to loosen the game up but he seems to have everyone a little spooked.

Sushi Cowboy said...

YouTube says that the video is private but as pointed out it is up on PokerTube. Thanks for the reminder Woody. Don't know why I didn't think of that before since I watched old seasons of HSP on that site.

jsola said...

Aghhhhhhh what the fuck, GSN.

Ok, new links:
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4

Unknown said...

Woody's tired of hearing me say this, but Doyle cracks me up. I'm not sure if it's intentional or if he's just a crazy old man, but that guy slays me.

Sushi Cowboy said...

I don't care for them upping the stakes, especially since it was for such a small increase. Moving from 300/600/100 to 400/800/200 doesn't really do much for me. Playing with blinds that high is already so out of touch with most players that changing it doesn't really strike is as "wow, they're playing for huge stakes now!" I would rather that they make the stacks deeper with the same blinds which I think changes the game more than an incremental blinds increase. Even when they did their million dollar shows they threw in a mandatory straddle which just made the game bigger and not that much deeper.

Still like watching the show though.

Adam said...

I'm clearly an easier guy to please than many of you. I enjoyed it, but then I again I pretty much always enjoy poker on TV. Can't stand the WPT, but besides that...I'm fairly easy.

As to this first episode, what I found most interesting is when Greenstein said that, because of his closeness/respect (??) to Doyle, he never check raises him unless he has a huge hand. He suggested, although he may've just been kidding, that Doyle would take him out if he did it (more often).

Was he kidding? At that level, is Barry Greenstein really going to make a less advantageous play because of his buddy-buddy relationship with Doyle? Not only can I not relate to that emotion (I can't think of any more satisfying poker experience than beating the snot out of Whitmore - when it happens once every two years), but it cause me concern were I anyone not receiving Most Favored Nation status.

Or, was this just a big goof, and I'm taking him too literally. Response?

Anonymous said...

I'm not in love with the dynamic they have now. The mix of internet to old tyme gamblers seems wrong to stimulate the show. Where's Sammy? He would play with those internet kids and show it to them old school.
Part of the success of the old shows were due to the fact that most of the players knew each other well and so there was a web of people trying to outplay people who knew their styles well, that history between players makes for a much more interesting game IMO. As for the poker, I was less than entertained for the most part. I see Drrrr as a kid who wants desperately to promote himself as well as Helmuth, without the baby stuff - so I get bored of his play because for TV I think he's doing it for show.

jsola said...

There's a lot of showmanship in Durrrr, but he's not playing differently here to make a scene. His style is always very aggressive, he plays a lot of hands, and relies on his incredible postflop skill to take down pots. He is kind of a jag, but have you ever read the 2+2 forums? Troll city, man. He's one of them, and it goes with the territory.

And also I seriously doubt greenstein is not check raising doyle out of respect. Maybe fear, since Doyle is so goddamn good. These top tier players don't softplay each other, they're all out there to win and to crush whatever game they're playing in. Anyway they've been playing together for so long that they've got decades of meta-game built up that we can't even begin to interpret. Most likely they've just wrapped back around from level 28 hand reading to level 1, and now just playing their hands straight up for value is the most deceptive way to go.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Couldn't put my finger on it before but I agree about the Internet kids. Maybe mix in one at a time to the old guard. The interaction between the players is half the show and people who don't know each other don't provide the same entertainment factor as a bunch of old skool players.

Anonymous said...

With nearly an even mix of old and internet, you have two separated groups who have played in isolation with each other but not with the rest of the group, though Dwan is really putting himself out in the televised stuff now.

chuck m said...

I agree with Brant. I know we're only 1 episode in so it may be too early to judge, but I don't like when they try to mix internet players with the old guard (that's why I didn't enjoy the latest season of Poker After Dark that much). You end up with a worse dynamic at the table and a more boring game. I miss Laak, Antonio, and Sammy.

Woodrow said...

@Adam

Sarkon accelerated fusion elemental.

jsola said...

ahahahaaa ok this is old and it isn't HSP but holy fuck...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kHkdjmssus

phil hellmuth blowing up, AND saying "that's not poker" to boot. it is the perfect video poker video.

Adam said...

@ Woody

Blah, blah, blah, ginger.

jsola said...

Episode 2:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4