A 'Check' on Poker Clichés

:: snake

Two weeks ago it was Rounders co-writer Brian Koppelman calling for a moratorium on the use of poker clichés by sports writers. ESPN's the Sports Guy fired back, demanding the end to all poker columns period, while the Fool's Jeff Hwang revealed he was fed up with market writers' incessant use of clichés.

So I'm guessing all three would love Sol Sanders' recent cliché-ridden nugget at WorldTribune.com on the upcoming meeting between GW and Chinese dictator, I mean president, Hu Jintao. Read it for yourself, it's a dandy, but here's a bit of play-by-play on some of the greater offenses:

- The article sets up the poker metaphor from the beginning with its headline:
"Hu vs. Bush in a game of new world poker down at the ranch"

- The first paragraph and he's already cashing in:
"Another test comes when China President Hu Jintao cashes in his invitation, supposedly reserved only for allies, to The Ranch in September."

- Third paragraph, a classic, overplayed cliché:
"Bush’s hand has some well known aces."

- Later on, the writer sticks with the 'hand' cliché, but this time changes his mind on Bush's hole cards:
"Bush’s hand has too many deuces."

And from what I've seen the last few months, Sanders isn't the only poli-poker player in the mix. Just go to google.com/news and do a search for "Nuclear Poker" and you'll see that:

- "Iran now holds some high cards in this poker match"
- "Osama Bin Laden is playing poker with a Texas cowboy holding all the nuclear aces"
- "Foreign policy is a lot like poker: You play your cards close to your chest"
- "An abstract and dangerous poker game was played by the superpowers in which the stakes were apocalyptic"

And finally, it's worth pointing out that the aforementioned Jeff Hwang couldn't help to be, as he would say, a poker clichés wisenheimer with his recent commentary titled "WPT: Bet, Check, or Fold?"

This is the same guy who had this to say just a few weeks ago:

I gotta tell you: The general level of journalistic creativity in the financial market is astounding. When 71-year-old poker legend Doyle Brunson may or may not have led a group of investors in making an unsolicited and unconfirmed $700 million bid for WPT Entertainment last month, writers from no less than three different financial news services cleverly labeled the bid to be a "bluff."

One wisenheimer went as far as to say that "The bid turned out to be a complete bluff; WPT management couldn't get Brunson's group to reveal its hole cards, and the deal was folded away in days."

I mean, come on.

Yeh, Jeff . . . come on.

Slagging aside though, Hwang offers his usual expert and thoughtful analysis on the WPTE and its upsides and downsides. Definitely, worth the read.