I swear I'm turning into a junky for this watching poker on TV deal. And I don't even play poker. It's really quite odd. Rationally, it's one step ahead (or behind?) of watching darts on the tube, but still, it captivates me, it grabs me, it makes me actually get up out of my chair, or off my couch, when I hear those words, "I'm all in."

Anyway, this is a set of 4 DVD's, the best of the third season of the World Poker Tour, which is this traveling circus that stirs up gigantic poker tournaments all over the world, and then they show the final table of 6 people on television. The fascinating thing to me about the growth of poker, well, one of the things, is that its growth is one that actually facilitates further growth. This is to say that as the tournaments get bigger, and more random people win, it serves the dual functions of making it tougher on the quote unquote "pros" to win the tournaments, but at the same time makes the pots exponentially bigger (more people showing up & paying the entrance fee.) another phenomenon is the aforementioned rookies, or nonprofessionals, making final tables and even winning large tournaments. This just encourages more amateurs to try their hand, further making the "sport" grow, making pots even huger, and providing the all-important kicker of making the average joe, like you or me, for example, think that they could actually enter & win one of these things.

Look, for example, at the "main event" or whatever, the world series of poker, movie stars enter, famous celebrities in other walks of life, and some of them actually get fairly deep in the field. If I see Shannon Elizabeth lasting longer than some twenty year poker hands, hey, I think I got a shot, which only makes it more marketable from a viewing perspective but encourages more suckers and higher stakes.

Anyway, back to this set of DVD's. fascinating stuff. Each DVD has two final tables as well as some bonus material. Each final table is the 6 remaining people from fields of hundreds of people, and the real action is just watching these people bullcrap the hell out of each other. Probably the most fascinating character in the various fields is this Australian guy named Tony G, who is probably the most obnoxious jackass of all time, and the most non standard poker player you might ever see. Constantly talking smack, threatening to take all of people's chips, saying how he'll metaphorically kill people, getting so worked up that spittle is flying, while most of his competitors just sit their stoney faced and take it. He's a damn good poker player though.