One of the best things about poker on television is the way it has given the game millions of new players, offering a video education on strategy, people and styles thanks to the hole-card cameras.
One of the worst things is the way the apparent constant action could sucker you into the bad habit of playing too many hands. That's all editing. So many hands are folded. It's what the best players do. A lot.
Another thing you don't get from television is the context in which plays are made. It is not just the cards that make a hand, no matter how they analyze it on television.
Perfect example: the final hand of the main event of the 1995 World Series of Poker.
Dan Harrington, the courtly white-haired New Englander frequently seen wearing a green Boston Red Sox hat at the table, had about $1.7 million to Howard Goldfarb's $700,000-plus.
"You probably have to go back to the last few hours of play," Harrington said. "I made him lay down hands in four or five different situations. So I knew he was ready to make a stand. Psychologically, he had to make a stand."
With the blinds at $15,000-$30,000 and the ante at $3,000, Goldfarb raised it $100,000 from the button with A-7 unsuited. Harrington held 9-8 of diamonds.
"I said, 'This is the hand that could end the tournament,' " said Harrington, whose book "Harrington on Hold 'Em" was published a few months ago. "Suited connectors. I liked it. So I called."
The flop came 8-2-6, two clubs, giving Harrington top pair.
"I'd already made him lay down a number of hands," said Harrington, who amazingly made the final tables of the last two WSOP main events despite the biggest fields in history. "Well, it was his turn to make me lay down a hand. I checked. He put his $600,000 out there. Just shoved it into the center.
"I had to restrain myself from beating him to the center of the pot because I knew without a doubt I had the best hand at that point. I did wait a second for courtesy's sake before I called him."
The turn and the river came Q-Q. Harrington's 8s held up. He had won the bracelet.
"I knew it would come to that situation," Harrington said of reading his opponent. "But let's not underestimate the luck factor, too. Getting lucky makes up for a lot of bungles - believe me. You can look like a genius when you get lucky."
