16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Steal at Any Price!, October 24, 2005
This review is from: 2004 World Series of Poker (DVD)
Although, I must admit that I too obtained these DVDs for less cash than what is listed here. Yet, even if I had not, I must emphatically note that the 2004 WSOP is perhaps the most educational poker video ever made. You can learn more from the pocket cams than you can from 16 hours of a lecture from a major pro. To put it simply, watching is learning. It's amazing how many scenarios I later recall when I play in games online. An example came the other day when part of me wanted to slow play a 10 high flopped flush, but I quickly thought better of it after remembering a player who lost due to letting a guy with the Ace of his suit receive a free card. Situations like that happen again and again. For this reason, unlike other DVDs, this is one you'll want to own and not only rent.
This year there are 10 episodes from the Main Event which are included. In every way, this DVD is a substantial improvement upon the 2003 edition. Also included are other events such as Pot Limit Omaha and the Kansas City lowball tourney. Although, my favorite component is Greg Raymer's lengthy play-by-play analysis of the final table. I watched that special feature twice. Fossilman is a splendid champion and a bastion of sportsmanship amidst a crew of sore losers and paranoiacs. In this segment, he meticulously goes through individual hands and reveals the nature behind many of the decisions his competitors made. We learn that Harrington's final all-in was not such a bad move, and actually something he believed would allow him to earn enough money to stay in the game. Further, it is revealed that Matt Dean shared his final table strategy with his friends, and one of these "friends" actually went around telling people about the maneuvers Matt would be making. News of his "play loose once a few people were knocked out" plans eventually reached Raymer who made use of the inside information when he could. What fan of Greg Raymer's does not still wince when reflecting on the disrespect Josh Arieh threw his way after he was knocked out? It was an awful way to treat the big man. However, here again, Raymer is a big man. He exhales sportsmanship and honor. He points out that Arieh's words were spat out in the heat of the moment, and that Arieh later apologized for the things he said. He makes clear that Josh is actually a good person and nowhere near the piranha we saw on the felt in May of 2004. I believe that Raymer's analysis of Arieh is correct as it has also been verified by Daniel Negreanu. Frankly, I cannot think of a better poker related purchase than these DVDs. It's right up there with Small Stakes Hold'em, and Dan Harrington's two books from last year. It is a must buy.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
pretty good, but room for improvement, May 1, 2006
This review is from: 2004 World Series of Poker (DVD)
compared to the 2003 w.s.o.p dvd 2 disc set, this is a big leap forward, but still not as good as it could be. there's a strange quality to these w.s.o.p dvd's. it happened with the 2003 dvd, and again with the 2004 dvd. i find the early stages of the tournament to be a bit less interesting (naturally) and it's hard for ESPN to know who's going to be the big mover. but the latter episodes you can feel the tension building to a crescendo. by the time you get to the final table it's pretty tense viewing. i love that aspect. i also liked the tournament of champions episode too (it was pretty badly edited comapred to the one that aired on cable tv here in australia, it must have been for time constraints, but it looked pretty half assed).
i also read that ESPN really misrepresented Josh Arieh throughout the whole tournament, making him out to be the "villain", clearly making him the player all viewers wanted to hate. some of the things he said and did were pretty indefensible, but many players (raymer, negreanu, lindgren) have leapt to his defense and said that ESPN chose some footage of josh that served their purpose, but left out a lot of his aggressive, ballsy incredible plays. apparently lindgen when he got knocked out , suggested to ESPN to keep the camera on josh , that he would be the big story from this tournament. raymer really was a gracious champion i thought, who handled a lot of tough situations, and played great poker , and i especially loved the matusow - raymer confrontations. much as you hate matusow's behaviour, it makes for good viewing. i'm looking forward to similar footage of the 2005 w.s.o.p where matusow got 9th. (haven't seen any of the 2005 episdoes yet).
some criticisms are that ESPN shows too many all in confrontations in a row, some actual post flop play would be nice. i know at some point a lot of the players keep going all - in to build up their stack, but as far as the viewing audience, it's not as intriguing as watching them bluff, check-raise, and try many other deceptions to win their pots.
10 episodes for the 2004 dvd was an improvement on the 7 episodes from the 2003 dvd, and i'm guessing they should put in at least 15 episodes for the 2005 dvd and make it a 4 disc set, with more footage of other events. (a good episode to include would be the episode where john robert bellande finished 3rd to doug lee and jennifer harman. man was he an entertainer).
as a viewer i can't help but think "if i were in charge of making these dvd's i'd make them 8 disc sets, with footage galore, and they'd go on for 20 plus hours", but i know there are many constraints and the editing process must be hell, and they can't film everything interesting that happens.
my suggestion is that maybe they could concentrate a little less on the early stages, but once it gets to the final 20 - 30 players, they should really expand that footage more, because that's when most viewers (and aspiring poker champions) want to know what situations arise, and how these players handled them. we want to know what mistakes were made, and what the great moves were too. sometimes by editing too much, you miss those crucial momentum shifts. it kind of sucks seeing a player's chip stack being $245,000 at the completion of one hand, and at the beginning of the next hand, he's on $90,000.
showing everyone's pocket cards would also be a big plus, rather than just those people that decide to play the hand. this is where the wpt has a big plus over the w.s.o.p coverage. i like seeing what cards players deem to be unplayable in certain situations and in ceratin position, but the ESPN coverage doesn't allow that luxury. it would add a lot, a subtle but crucial change that surely wouldn't be too difficult to incorporate into the existing camerawork and footage.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top Notch Poker Coverage, May 27, 2006
This review is from: 2004 World Series of Poker (DVD)
This 2004 WSOP DVD covers the event very well. The 10 ESPN episodes slowly take you through the bluffs and bad beats. This was a big improvement over the 2003 WSOP DVD. Also, it comes with an entire extra DVD of additional features. The 2003 WSOP DVD had about 5 minutes of extra features, it was pretty bad in that regard.
In addition to the ten episodes of ESPN coverage, you get the following Bonus features with this DVD:
Tournament of Champions (About 80 min)
Top ten moments from the 2004 WSOP (7 min)
Greg Raymer final table commentary (46 min)
$1000 buy-in Texas hold'em event (18 min)
$2000 buy-in Pot Limit hold'em event (18 min)
Kansas City lowball (45 min)
Stu Ungar feature (8 min)
Greg Raymer all-access (2 min)
Greg Raymer Bio (8 min)
Beyond the felt: Poker Talk (6 min)
I have seen all the televised poker DVDs and this one is the second only to the WPT second season DVD set. All of the extra features on this DVD is a real bonus as well. If you like to play poker or just like to watch, this would be a good DVD to add to your DVD library.
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