Customer Reviews

Ultimate Poker Challenge Season One

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoy watching the WPT Poker Videos. I've also purchased the Superstars Poker Videos. This series is a step below both of those tournament poker videos. It's a bit amateurish, but that's a bit charming at times--Mike Matusow in a bad suit pretending he's really excited explaining the play-by-play in one episode where he's the guest commentator. That's not bad.
This series could be so much better if it focused more on the poker hands and if it learned from the WPT. For example, one episode, the first hand shown, is an all-in and someone goes out. The next hand shown, is another all-in and someone else goes out. Now we're done to four and we've hardly seen any poker. I'm sure there were other hands going on--but they didn't show them. Another example, one hand someone is chip leader--the very next hand shown--he's short-stacked! A smaller nitpick is when someone is all-in and the guest commentator is explaining what cards can win it for them--they can't complete the sentence before the dealer turns over the critical card. So much for suspense. And like the WPT Poker Tours events, they'll still spend part of each episode explaining how to play Texas Holdem with their Shana be-alike, "Brandy", along with long introductions, and at the end, awarding a camera to the winner of the event. Please, please, please next season focus on POKER! You don't have to be brain surgeon to realize if you do that, you won't screw up.
A good part about the series is that you do get several episodes on each CD and it seems a decent value for the money. But I've found myself much preferring to watch WPT events or WSOP events. Watching the Ultimate Poker Season can be like pulling teeth.

I enjoyed these videos but they in no way compare with the WSOP and the WPT sets. Ultimate Poker Challenge should probably be the last thing you buy. Although, Dan Brown is an excellent play-by-play commentator and is vastly superior to Lon McEachern and Mike Sexton. He's very professional which is a welcome change of pace. Brown is an actor but also an accomplished tournament player. Indeed, he was on the first two WSOP circuit events televised this year. The idea of having a different pro do color commentary each week was excellent and that's why I give it four stars instead of three. As far as the pros are concerned, Chris Ferguson is the strongest of the announcers. He holds back nothing as far as instruction is concerned. I'd walk around taking notes if I ever have a chance to meet him in person. Matusow is a pleasure and really tones it down for television. Robert Williamson was quite natural and entertaining as well. The quality of the players is the real problem though. Some of the amateurs are downright awful. You wince when they give out free cards galore and go all-in with nothing. That's the only real limitation of these DVDs.

This set is an Ultimate waste of money for the poker fan. The video is not very good. The commentary is the worse I have ever heard. The commentator sounds like he is reading from a script. even when they have people such as Daniel Negreanu as commentator, he is stiff..like they said "don't be yourself act like a robot". there is NO HAND ANALYSIS and it is just lousy. They rush through each table like it is a race. You start with 7 at the final table and you would like to see it play out but they show you some top hands and soon, BAM, your heads up and the episode is done. Stick to the WPT or WSOP sets. You can buy this one from me cheap, it will be up on ebay in a day or two.

The best part of this show is the commentary, bar none. Chad Brown, the regular commentator, is very knowledgeable. In addition, every week features a guest commentator (usually a top pro: Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Kenna James, to name a few). Every week you get a new perspective on how hands can be played in different situations. The commentators often give their insight and reasoning behind not only what the player has done, but also another viable option in that situation. Truly top notch.

Now, about the players. This series does feature many top pros at the final tables, but there are also many "unknowns." I see this as a nice change of pace, as this gives us a look into some of the types of players we are more likely to run into in a typical tournament, which you don't really see as much on other shows. Though many of them play fairly well, you can occasionally see some mistakes. And, you get to learn from their mistakes! But don't get me wrong, there is also a fair amount of brilliant play along the way.

Overall, you really get a lot of bang for your buck. A lot of poker, and very good analysis.

The Ultimate Poker Challenge is probably the best weekend show that you get to now see on TV. Debuted on 9/26/04 in syndication, The Ultimate Poker Challenge is taped at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. Each week, Host Chad Brown as well as hostess Brandi Williams is teaming up with other commentaries in techniques of Poker. There are some great players that won thousands of dollars plus there was one episode in which the winner was given such a huge hamburger that had the logo of the Ultimate Poker Challenge right on it. This show is great and is highly recommended for those of you that are big poker fans. Also since they just released season 1 look for season 2 coming Oct. 2006.