Week One, World Series of Blackjack 2

[KenSmith]

Players: Katya Underhill, Joe Pane, Hollywood Dave Stann, Kevin Blackwood and Rene Angelil

The premiere of the second season of World Series of Blackjack is tomorrow night (Friday, Jan 21st) at 10 PM Eastern on GSN, repeating at 1 AM Eastern, as well as Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday at various times.
For the full schedule, see World Series of Blackjack Schedule.

This episode features one of the best tournament rounds I've ever seen. The level of play is exceptional, and the interaction between the players will make this a great show.

Three out of five of the players post frequently here at BJT. Now we just need to invite Katya and Rene along for the fun!

One thing to consider while watching... The chip stacks in front of the competitors are enormous. Because of the low denominations of the Golden Nugget tournament chips, each player has several tall stacks of chips making chip-counting difficult. This was a very tough environment for accurate bet-sizing. When you see some of the precision bets being made at the table Friday night, you'll be impressed.

Post your thoughts in this thread, and I'll post a full review early next week.

[KenSmith]

Well, we did succeed in getting GSN on a TV at the Replays sports bar in Tunica, but we had to watch with no sound because of a band playing in the bar. It was still a fun time, even though we missed out on all the banter at the table. I can't wait to watch it with sound when I get home!

[Count of Montecristo]

Coming from someone who did not know the outcome beforehand, I'd have to say I was glued to the TV from start to finish, and it WAS a great finish. It made for great TV, congrats to all, though I was rooting for my fellow Brooklynite.

[KevinBlackwood]

I thought GSN did a tremendous job with the show. It certainly had a dramatic finish and should resonate well with TV viewers. An example of the quality of the production was how good they made Joe Pane look on TV. It's amazing what they can do these days with computer enhancements and makeup.

[Scorcho]

a great show all around, compelling right up to the last hand, congrats to Kevin and Hollywood for their respective advancements, though it was too bad, Katya had some horrible luck, I can't wait until next week.

[vickic]

It was great, I loved it. I've watched it twice already.

[Blackjack Rebel Too]

It was a thoroughly enjoyable program. I am glad I have it on tape. I am now looking forward to the next episode and hope they get outstanding ratings for this venture.

[gflan]

I figured it must have been a doozy from the give-and-take of the last few months. It sure was....JoeP and Hollywood, I sure hope you are sitting at the same table Round 1 of the Hilton final...let the sparring begin or should I say -CONTINUE. Seriously, that show will be hard to top for entertainment value alone. I was sorry to see JoeP eliminated...no offense Kevin.

[ptaylorcpa]

I really enjoyed watching the show too, in particular watching Joe giving Dave an earful when he was trying to concentrate on making his last hand play was funny. Dave gave it all night to the others, but he seemed to be put out when Joe dished it back on that last hand. That alone was worth the watch! I'm glad I taped it, now have to go back and study how the bets were figured on those last few hands.

[KenSmith]

I'll try to get going tonight on a ReplayTV-powered recap of the episode.
Man, what a show, eh?