Poker legend Doyle Brunson graciously compliments an opponent with, Good hand. Mike Matusow uses the F word and is banished to pokers equivalent of the penalty box. Phil Hellmuth falls off his chair or tells an opponent, You dont even know how to spell poker. And when you get the Poker Brat (Hellmuth) and The Mouth (Matusow) at the same final table, as happened in the 2005 Tournament of Champions, broadcast on Christmas eve, the badgering and needling made for fun - if a bit contrived - TV fare. The third finalist, Hoyt Corkins, wisely wore earplugs. The Brat needled The Mouth about an inevitable meltdown that was to come. The Mouth responded with what gets under Phils skin: that he is overrated. They declared war on each other. Phil played to the crowd: I never give up. Never. Not satisfied with their response, he offered to buy the gallery 30 bottles of Dom Perignon if he won. Let the record show that a great cheer went up from the crowd! Unfortunately the winner made no such rash promise. The Mouth came away with a million bucks. The Earplugs placed second, for $325,000, and The Brat in third place, good for $250,000. Oh, come on! Phil recently sent in a Card Player report from Phil Iveys posh condo in southern California where Phil H, Phil I, Mike, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, and Andy Bloch were having a few drinks over a friendly game of poker and yukking it up. Maybe The Brat and The Mouth were rehearsing good lines for their next TV showdown. Sometimes it does get serious and is taken personally as when Mike and Greg Raymer tiffed at the 2004 World Series of Poker. Mike tried to turn some biting remarks and silly actions into a joke and wanted to shake Gregs hand as he said adios. Glad to get this guy out of his face, Raymer would have none of it. The level of banter on Christmas Eve was about what you would expect from a couple of nine year olds: Youre a jerk! Yeah, well, youre a bigger one! Mike is very experienced at this, telling Raymer, Ive got big cojones. Youve got little cojones. Dewey Tomko, a former kindgarten teacher, has heard enough of this stuff from children and those who act like children. Like Corkins, Dewey also wears earplugs during serious play, especially when Matusow and/or Hellmuth are at the table. Today, with so many high stakes TV tournaments, it is inevitable that some poker theatre creeps in. Howard Cosell emphasized the story line on Monday Night Football. Will the Bears repeat in the Super Bowl? Can Green Bay win with an injured quarterback on the bench? Will this rookie make it? In poker, has it come to, which trash talker will prevail? Fortunately, Christmas Eve also offered some solid poker on the part of all. There is high drama in a No Limit Hold em tournament when the big names clash. And lightening it up with a little fun is great. But how much of this in a market saturated with televised poker tournaments can the viewing public take? Chocolate ice cream is great. Too much chocolate ice cream is not. (c) 2006 Murphy James |
