Poker On the Go - Podcasts, Eh!

I've recently jumped into the world of podcasts, and if you haven't already, and have an MP3 player, I highly recommend it. Subscribing to shows, automatically updating your iPod or other player each day, and then having the luxury to listen whenever you want, is just too sweet. There are literally thousands of home-made and professional shows out there on pretty much any topic you can dream up. This format is definitely here to stay...

So the first thing I did on the iTunes podcast directory was search for "poker" ones - no less than 44 recordings come up. Yes, everyone and their dog is jumping on this bandwagon. Most are pretty lame, but one stands out far above the rest: "Rounders, the Poker Show", an actual radio show in Vancouver, Canada. Adam Schwartz and Mike Johnson are the hosts, and after each weekly broadcast, Adam posts the show in MP3 format on his website, bigpoker.ca (iTunes and other big podcasts also pick it up for distribution). What sets these guys apart from other poker shows is that they are truly into the game and keep things moving with great information and interviews. They get top names from the industry each week: Scotty Nguyen, TJ Cloutier, Barbara Enright, to name a few. Adam is the serious poker pro, Mike is the more recreational player - so between the two of them, you get a great mix of strategy and news around the poker world.

Texter and I have been working on setting up our own PokerLizard podcast, and "Rounders" is definitely the bar by which we'll measure ourselves. Keep up the great work guys!

Las Vegas...Exciting and New!

Anyone ever notice how the TV show Las Vegas is a blatant rip off of the old show the Love Boat. The shows are almost identical, except one took place on a cruise ship and the other takes place in a casino.

Think about it, the characters are almost the same:

Vanessa Marcil caters to high limit gamblers (whales) = Julie McCoy, cruise director
Nikki Cox, plot lines revolve around sex = Doc, oversexed doctor
James Caan the leader of the casino = Captain Stubing, leader of the ship
Josh Duhamel, young guy who beds most of the guest stars = Gopher, young guy who beds most of the guest stars
James Lesure, african american sidekick to gopher = Isaac, african american sidekick to Gopher
Molly Sims, James Caan's daughter on the show = Vicki Stubing, Capt.'s daughter on the show.

The show's plots are remarkably similar. Each episode has one love story, one serious story, and one comedic story. The each have B-List guest stars on every episode, for example Love Boat would have Sonny Bono and Las Vegas would have Jean Claude van Damme. In each show, the head of the boat/casino has an ex wife. In the case of Las Vegas it's ex-Charlie's Angel, Cheryl Ladd vs. Bonnie Franklin for the Love Boat (LV definitely wins that battle).

Since he produced Love Boat, I'm surprised Aaron Spelling hasn't sued to get his daughter on Las Vegas.