Surveying the Poker Podcast Landscape (1 of 2)

If you look over on the right-hand column you’ll see links to a number of poker podcasts. A bit misleading, really. Of the twelve poker podcasts to which I currently subscribe, only a few are producing shows on a regular basis, and a number are in what appears to be a kind of hiatus at the moment. Here is a list of the shows I’m currently downloading: Ante Up!, Beyond the Table, Bluff Radio, The Joe Average Poker Show, Keep Flopping Aces, Pocket Fives, Pokerdiagram, Poker Podcast World, Pokerwire Radio, Rounders, The Circuit, and The Poker Edge.

I thought I’d provide a quick run-through of the podcasts I try to catch, including what I know about the current status of each show. In cases where I’ve written before about a particular show I’ve also added links to those earlier posts. I’m going to take these in alphabetical order and discuss the first six here in this post & the other six in the next.




Ante Up!
(website; RSS feed; blog; in production; shows posted Fridays)

Hosts Chris Cosenza and Scott Long recently moved their long-running podcast from Wednesdays to Fridays. The pair have continued to produce a fun, informative show without interruption for nearly 100 weeks now. They maintain a popular blog in association with the show, posting several times a week; additionally, the Card Clubs Network hosts a busy (and friendly) forum to which both listeners and the hosts contribute. While the pair sometimes interview big-name guests (e.g., Greg Raymer appeared last week), most shows are directed toward topics of particular interest to the amateur player. One of the show’s greatest strengths, in my opinion, is its inclusiveness -- Cosenza and Long have done a terrific job building a comfortable community where listeners can interact and exchange ideas about the game. (Last fall I wrote a post about one of the more interesting episodes titled “Who Am Us Anyway?”)





Beyond the Table
(Hold ’em radio landing page; RSS feed; in production, with new schedule to be announced shortly; most recent show 3/21/07)

While I’ve tried some of the other shows on Hold ’em Radio, only two have been able to keep me coming back for more -- Beyond the Table and Keep Flopping Aces. BTT is co-hosted by Dan Michalski and Karridy Askenasy (two amateur players located in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area) and professional player Tom Schneider (who lives in Arizona). Michalski maintains the popular Pokerati poker news blog, and often brings topics of the day for the trio to discuss. Schneider is a high stakes cash game and tournament player who relates stories from the circuit as well as “winning wisdom” from his book Oops, I Won Too Much Money, Winning Wisdom from the Boardroom to the Poker Table. And Askenasy ably keeps the BTT vehicle between the lines (when not spilling coffee all over his trousers). All three are smart about poker and at times can be friggin’ hilarious -- indeed, we’re probably talking more grins per minute here than every other show on the list. During last week’s show, the hosts announced their plans to move BTT off of the regular live schedule at Hold ’em Radio. Hopefully we won’t have to wait very long before new shows begin to appear. (Wrote a post a couple of months back titled "Who Wants to Write About Poker?" which includes more about BTT.)





Bluff Radio
(landing page; RSS feed; status unknown; most recent show 2/12/07)

The WSOP’s new “digital media partner” produced a regular live show twice weekly for just over two years. The two-hour long shows had aired every Monday and Wednesday evening on Sirius, though not every show was made available for download as a podcast. On the most recent show some six weeks ago, host Nick Geber announced the program would no longer be appearing on Sirius, but no information was provided about when or where the show might resurface. Geber is an amiable host whose British accent always makes me think of Tony Hendra (the National Lampoon pioneer perhaps best remembered as Spinal Tap’s cricket bat-wielding manager). The show was generally plagued by too many commercials and some thin moments during the call-in segments, but overall was usually a decent time-filler. I’d expect Bluff will be providing some audio this summer -- hopefully without charge (say us short-stacks) -- at the WSOP.





The Joe Average Poker Show
(website; RSS feed; on hiatus; last show 3/20/07)

Like Bluff Radio, the Joe Average Poker Show has been broadcasting live on a regular basis for around two years now. The show had been airing live on Sirius (most recently on Tuesday nights). The host, Fred Moury, isn’t really a poker player and relies heavily on his professional poker playing co-hosts -- Robin Farley and Charlie Knox -- to guide him through discussions about the game and interviews with various figures from the poker world. Gotta admit this one has always been kind of a hit-or-miss affair for me. The production is slick (probably the most polished of any poker podcast going) and now and then they’ll produce a decent, informative interview. They do feature an inordinate number of commercials (12 minutes per 48-minute show), and the level of discussion ain’t always even “average” as far as poker strategy goes. Not too bad, though, if nothing else is on. As happened with Bluff Radio, Sirius has bumped Joe Average from its live schedule, and the site will be posting repeat episodes for the near term until a new schedule is determined.





Keep Flopping Aces
(Hold ’em radio landing page; RSS feed; in production; live show every Thursday night with podcast usually made available early the following week)

KFA is hosted by Lou Krieger and Amy Calistri, both of whom are accomplished poker writers. Besides his informative blog, Krieger has authored numerous, well-received poker strategy texts. Calistri writes for Poker News and other outlets, and maintains her own blogs, including Calistri’s Corner over at PokerWorks and Aimlessly Chasing Amy. One can always count on KFA to provide thoughtful commentary on topics of relevance to the poker world. The pair do a great job interviewing high-profile guests as well. It would be nice if Hold ’em Radio could make the podcast versions of its programs available on a more timely basis; such is particularly the case with KFA since the show often treats “hot-off-the-press” topics and issues that don’t always play quite as well a week later. Even so, it is always worth checking out what Krieger and Calistri have to say about whatever is happening pokerwise.





Pocket Fives
(website; RSS feed; in production; shows posted Thursdays)

The Pocket Fives podcast has been producing brief (25-30 minute shows) on a weekly basis for nearly a year now. The show is ably hosted by David Huber and Adam Small. The show is, of course, associated with the very popular Pocket Fives website, the forum for which is most certainly the second-most popular poker forum on the web (behind Two Plus Two). The focus here is online poker, and the show usually features interviews with two top online tournament players (as determined by the P5s rankings). Sometimes the discussions of online tourneys can be a little tedious for those us who aren’t that involved in the scene, but the hosts always do a great job with their questions and allowing the guests to share their knowledge. I’ve been a little surprised that the podcast hasn’t seemed to focus much at all on the UIGEA or Neteller (and other vendors) pulling out the U.S. here over the past few months. After all, each show is introduced as bringing us “the latest news and events from online poker.” (I wrote a post that talked about my first finding this podcast called “Funny Business” last August.)

Will discuss the other six in the next post.