TV poker and celeb players

I study a website like this, then I watch poker on tv which has an array of TV stars, film stars etc

NOw without pre judging what these people do, it seems to me like they're winning pots but without having studied the real art of poker and by simply playing the "play with only big hand" game.

Can anyone give any thoughts on this?

In essence I'm saying that they don't look like they've really put anything into the game except for playing a lot, having inordinate amounts of money and playing a basic strategy...so what separates them from the pros aside from the obvious (that pros do it for a living)?

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Originally Posted by EasyPoker

I study a website like this, then I watch poker on tv which has an array of TV stars, film stars etc

NOw without pre judging what these people do, it seems to me like they're winning pots but without having studied the real art of poker and by simply playing the "play with only big hand" game.

Can anyone give any thoughts on this?

In essence I'm saying that they don't look like they've really put anything into the game except for playing a lot, having inordinate amounts of money and playing a basic strategy...so what separates them from the pros aside from the obvious (that pros do it for a living)?

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RPM, did you intend to give a response, or do you want to know too?

TV coverage is heavily edited - they leave out all the hands that the producers think will be "boring" for the public, so it is basically impossible to work out the table dynamics, etc.

You can't possibly accurately assess the play from what is shown.

The question's moreabout the players. Am I to believe that those celeb players spent hours and hours studying the art of poker to get to the level of sitting on tables with pros?

nope, the pros are pros for a reason. you just only get glimpses of it on tv.

for instance, there's a hand on youtube where phil hellmuth makes a flush on the river in a hand where tom dwan has been slowplaying a boat. hellmuth makes an impossible laydown on the river. i bet at least 3/4 of us FTR regulars would have shipped dwan our chips.

there was a hand in the WSOP in which mike sexton sniffed out a matusow bluff on 2 streets and calls him down with a pair of 3's on a wet board.

i suspect TV producers prefer suckouts and hellmuth blowups to well played hands, but every once in awhile you get a taste of what big time poker is all about.

BTW the best show for seeing pros playing well is GSN's high stakes poker

But High Stakes Poker (if it's the same one I watch) has loads of non-professional celebs lol...one example is the guy who wrote the film Blow.

OH NO SOMEBODY CALL THE POKER POLICE

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Originally Posted by kiwiMark

OH NO SOMEBODY CALL THE POKER POLICE

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What's this supposed to mean?