The Case For Running Poker After Dark as a Cash Game

A recent poll on the 2+2 forums asked would Poker After Dark be better as a cash game? Better as a cash game won by a 2.6 to 1 margin.

In comparison to High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark would have several advantages as a cash game: they show all the hole cards, the announcer talks over the table talk less, and they show most of the hands. Tournaments naturally vary in length, making them difficult to fit into fixed time slots. A Poker After Dark cash game could easily film just enough hands to show every one (or perhaps film a few extra for safety margin), however.

Cash games have a lot of advantages over tournaments. It's clear the producers recognize that, as they pretend Poker After Dark is a cash game by putting those bundles of cash on the table (I've always encouraged the players to use them as cash, e.g. by tipping the cocktail waitresses with them). Tournaments, on the other hand, are boring a lot of the time because players are finished if they bust out, so they play more conservatively early on. That's reflected on Poker After Dark where it seems like people raise and fold most of the time for four episodes then go all in and coinflip for the win on the last episode.

Cash games, on the other hand, can have a lot more action, especially when played shorthanded. Anyone who's seen the shorthanded Swedish cash game The Game can confirm that it's an amazing show. It's probably what Poker After Dark would be like if it were a cash game, and it may well be the best poker show in the world right now.

I've heard a lot of people say they'd like to see High Stakes Poker played shorthanded. Shorthanded cash games are a common format online. Poker After Dark's current format, on the other hand, is damn near obscure. I've never played a shootout, and wouldn't be surprised if I never do. Personally I'd like to see Poker After Dark as a full ring (9- or 10-handed) cash game, since that's what I play, but I'd be happy if it were any type of cash game.

Cash games are hugely underrepresented on US TV. Only one of the five major US poker TV shows is a cash game. For cash games to be fairly represented on TV, they should be more like three of five. Doyle Brunson once said on Poker After Dark that he preferred real poker, by which he meant the traditional form: cash games. I do too. Let us see another cash game on the next season of Poker After Dark.