Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 18 December 2009 / Leave a Comment

Poker podcasts have never been more popular. It is hard to estimate with any real certainty, but there are at the very least a few dozen, and perhaps over a hundred ongoing poker shows being regularly produced and distributed for free via the internet.

Just as one finds a wide variety of styles and levels of proficiency at the poker tables, one encounters a similar mix among poker podcasts. Some are highly polished, professionally-produced shows, while others are clearly the work of amateurs. Some are sober, serious affairs, while others seem to make fun the ultimate goal. Many poker podcasts report and comment on the latest poker news, with some -- like blogs -- functioning a bit like a kind of "alternative press." Others are more strategy-oriented, or focused on providing entertainment.

It wasn't until around 2004 that the podcast -- that is, an audio program made available for syndication via the internet as a downloadable file -- first came into prominence. And it wasn't until later that year that the first poker podcasts started to appear.

Early pioneers in poker podcasting included two amateur poker players from Toronto, Canada -- Sean (a.k.a. "Cincinnati Sean") and Brent (a.k.a. "Stacks") -- who in November 2004 thought it would be fun to begin chronicling the adventures of the their home game, a card club called the Lord Admirals. Their shows, called Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio, featured the pair and other members of the club discussing their games, but also commenting on happenings in the poker world, including the growth of poker blogs. The show lasted for more than 80 episodes (through the summer of 2006), and there remain many who still remember the Lord Admirals fondly for their lengthy run of witty, entertaining shows that did a great job sharing the amateur player's perspective.

Other notable shows from that early period of poker podcasting included Rounders, the Poker Show, another product of Canada, hosted by Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz. Rounders debuted in April 2005 on a Vancouver sports radio station and was subsequently syndicated as a podcast. Johnson and Schwartz ably reported current poker news while interviewing most of the prominent figures in poker. A little later that year saw the debut of another show, Ante Up! Hosted by Scott Long and Chris Cosenza, the Florida-based show also featured news, strategy, interviews, and a healthy dose of humor, too.

As poker continued "booming," other poker podcasts began to appear, including those associated with major poker magazines like Card Player and Bluff Magazine. Online poker "radio networks" popped up as well, including Hold'em Radio and Rounder's Radio, featuring several different poker shows that were streamed live and then subsequently made available as downloads. In the fall of 2007, yet another network, Poker Road, made its appearance, introducing still more entertaining and informative shows for listeners to enjoy.

As one of those unfortunate souls who finds it necessary to spend a lot of time in the car commuting back and forth to his place of employment, I greatly appreciate being able to download and listen to poker podcasts as a means of making that drive more pleasant. These days I tend to sample from nearly 20 or so different poker podcasts from time to time, including such shows as Ante Up! (still going strong after four-plus years), the Casino City Gang podcast, the Hardcore Poker Show, Mediocre Poker Radio, the Pocket Fives podcast, Poker Road Radio, Lou Krieger's Keep Flopping Aces, and the new Gambling Tales Podcast.

For those of you who are new to poker podcasts, I thought I'd compile a brief rundown of the five shows that tend to leap to the top of my queue each week. Each can be downloaded from their websites online or subscribed to via iTunes or other podcast aggregator programs. I present these in no particular order, and with the caveat that they appeal to me -- a low-stakes, recreational player who enjoys some strategy but who also has an interest in news about the professional circuit (players and tourneys), who likes to hear stories about the history of poker and gambling, and who likes to laugh once in a while, too.

Deuce Plays
This show's host, Bart Hanson, is a cash game player based in Los Angeles and most of his shows focus on cash game strategy. The majority of Hanson's guests come from the stable of pros associated with the Deuces Cracked online instructional site, such as Joe Tall, Jay Rosenkrantz, Vanessa Selbst, Dani "Ansky" Stern, among others. He also has had other pros who are not connected with the site as guests as well, including Phil Galfond, Cole South, and Shaun Deeb. Deuce Plays has its roots on Poker Road Radio, where it began as Cash Plays in early 2008. (Cash Plays continues on Poker Road with a new host, Jeremiah Smith.) Even though the discussions can sometimes get a bit high-level on this weekly show, Hanson has a nice way of making the strategy sessions accessible, and he's also good at giving his guests space to share their many insights.

Gamblers Book Club Podcast
This show is produced every other week at the famous Gamblers Book Shop in Las Vegas. The host is Howard Schwartz, the bookstore's proprietor, and he often interviews authors of the books he sells in the store. Not all of the guests talk poker on the show -- there is also a lot of discussion of other gambling games as well as of other Vegas-related topics. The Gamblers Book Club Podcast has been produced for a little over two years now, during which time some of the poker-related guests have included Paul Magriel, Archie Karas, Barry Tanenbaum, Mike Caro, Nolan Dalla, Jeff Hwang, Alan Schoonmaker, and most recently, Doyle Brunson to talk about his new memoir The Godfather of Poker (reviewed here). Even the non-poker people are interesting, and Schwartz -- a living, breathing encyclopedia of all things Vegas -- always makes the interviews fascinating.

Two Plus Two Pokercast
This show, produced under the auspices of the popular forum and book publishing company, is the new incarnation of the old Rounders show hosted by Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz. The Two Plus Two Pokercast follows a similar format as the pair's former show, though with added attention to the various threads being discussed on the site. Besides covering all the top poker stories, this weekly show also frequently incorporates strategy segments during its two-plus hour running time. Johnson and Schwartz are terrific interviewers, and even though the show is sponsored the hosts appear to have the freedom (and willingness) to pursue issues with a somewhat unrestricted editorial voice.

The Poker Beat
One of the many shows over on the popular Poker Road site, The Poker Beat features a panel of poker media types who gather each week to reflect on the current poker headlines. Longtime poker podcaster Scott Huff and his co-host John Caldwell (formerly of PokerNews) do a nice job marshaling the rotating group of poker writers that include Gary Wise (ESPN), Dan Michalski (Pokerati), B.J. Nemeth (World Poker Tour), Matthew Parvis (PokerNews), among others. Joe Stapleton also contributes a weekly comedic segment -- "The Tight Laydown" -- which provides a humorous punctuation mark to the proceedings. Definitely worth checking out for a succinct rundown of what people are talking about, poker-wise.

The Poker Edge
I also like to keep up with ESPN's podcast, co-hosted by Andrew Feldman and Phil Gordon. Going back to the history of poker podcasting, Gordon was actually also something of a pioneer in the field when he recorded and shared brief audio reports from his play at the 2005 World Series of Poker -- genuinely illustrating the potential for podcasts to provide special insight into the world of high-stakes professional poker. That experiment became the seed for what eventually became The Poker Edge, a show that features interviews as well as some strategy segments, and tends to be most interesting to follow around WSOP-time.

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