LOL, same here. I kept looking in the Game Shows forum. I meant to start watching this when it began airing, but only started watching a few weeks ago. Luckily, CPS is a half-season show, and I only had to watch four frequently-aired episodes to catch up. I'm excited about the cast for tonights show. David Cross should be so much fun. Hopefully Tom Green will be equally fun without any obnoxiousness. Is Tom Green going to be playing for the Tom Green's Nuts charity? I hope so!

From a while ago... . . . because they knew I'd be truly, truly grateful for them not showing her at all?

Terrible episode tonight. Half of them didn't even know how to play, let alone how to play well. I'm not even sure Cross knew what he was doing when he kept successfully buying pots when it was heads up. . . I think he may have thought he really had good hands and wanted to be called. Ugly stuff.

Does Creed boy at least go out early so I can watch this show? Because for David Cross I can stomach bad poker playing; however, my love for him will not allow me to stomach Scott Stapp and bad poker.

eta: thanks folks. I will catch it.

He goes out 2nd, even though he probably still doesn't know why he lost. What an asshat.

Stapp goes out second and it is worth the watch to see how stupid this guy is. He gets confused when someone's two pair beats his King-Ace. He thinks he should win when he's got nothing. Dude is a tool.

JJ beat me to it!

If you don't like Scott Stapp you should definitely watch the whole thing. He has no clue how to play and, at one point, even the dealer takes pity on him and tries to teach him. And they all had to explain to him why he didn't win several hands.

I think the only one who really knew how to play hold 'em was Mimi Rogers and it didn't appear that she liked playing heads-up. I know how she feels. I prefer a full table and I hate playing heads-up.

Yeah, Mimi Rogers seemed likely to exterminate everyone else, but she faded in the last quarter hour -- she seemed more intimidated by Cross's bluffing that I'd have supposed after her early confidence.

Scott Stapp was really amusing. So, so stupid.

Tom Green was on his very best behavior, subdued and proper. He even dressed the most formally of the players (maybe in all 5 rounds, in fact) -- wore a suit and tie.

I can't believe how laid back Tom Green was either. Kinda disappointing actually, but I guess it's a sign of how much his star had faded.

And I found it painful to watch how ignorant Scott Stapp was. (Seriously, I had to mute my TV a couple of times when he started questioning others hands, I was so embarassed for him.) Scott used to be kinda cute, but since he grew an extra chin, not so much.

I loathed Scott Stapp. Why even agree to show up if you don't understand poker at all? It's funny how vastly different each game has been from the previous ones. I was annoyed at John Spencer back when for not knowing exactly how to call and raise in terms of amounts, but he looked like a complete pro (and gentleman) compared to Scott Stapp. Ugh.

Yeah, I was a little surprised at how much Mimi backed off at the end... but I do think David had some sense of what he was doing when he kept betting so strongly, and I like that he was at least employing some strategy (his continued bluff)...

So any guesses on the final game? I think Nicole Sullivan might have a good shot.

(Oh and I was super-relieved Bravo didn't spoil this week's episode by showing the winner playing at the final table. Maybe I've just become really cynical about terrible and spoilery promos on television, but it seemed completely plausible to me that they would...)

Scott Stapp= moron.

He thought he was good to top it off.

Wow, for years I have suspected that Scott Stapp was a tool based solely on the few songs of his I have heard, his christlike poses and one interview. It is good to know I was in fact correct.

It may be my pro-David Cross bias speaking, but he did mutter at one point that he was betting poorly, because he kept driving Mimi out, instead of milking her for more raises.

It was a treat to hear him say God wanted him to win, and not Stapp, though.

One thing I've realized in watching this show -- musicians have no idea how to play poker. Seriously, that Scott Schmuck had to have been the most inept player I've seen on this show full of inept players.

Bravo'd been promoing it at "the biggest upset yet". I think it was an upset that someone actually WON. Being the novice that I am, it seemed like Mimi was the only one with a clue. Even then she got bluffed at the drop of a hat.

I'm thinking either Paul Rudd or Nicole Sullivan takes it all next week.

One more thing -- could Phil Gordon have a more wooden personality? If there is a season two of this show, get a better analyst. Try and get that guy from the travel channel (Mike?) to be the co-host.

God (heh) Scott Stapp sucked! At least I was able to figure out the game better cause Mimi had to tell that fucktard what was up. She did that for Carrie as well. She got stuck with 2 morons. I was hoping she'd win, I wanted to see her and Nicole duke it out.

Why do they have a poker game when at least 1/2 the people at the table don't know how to play? How can you play effective poker when you keep asking the dealer, "What should I do?" At least it looks like the final table will be better than this, plus it'll be 2 hours, so we'll get to see the real course of a game.

Radio Ryan, ITA on Phil Gordon as being a sub-par color commentator. While he's a great player, his personality doesn't set the poker world on fire. If you want someone as an entertaining commentator, get the most obnoxious player out there to fill the seat: Phil Helmuth, Jr.! I'd love to see him go "John McEnroe" on some of these morons: "How can you POSSIBLY go all-on with a 2-4? What are you, STUPID?!" Now that would be entertaining!

That was actually what irked me, as I believe he had a rather crappy hand when he said that. In other words, getting Mimi to fold was a *good* thing for him. I don't think he understood that if he had tried to milk her for more raises, he stood a very good chance of losing. I don't remember him overbetting when he ever had a particularly strong hand that he would want to keep her around for.

Or, to put it another way, I got an impression that he wasn't bluffing heads up, even though he should have been. But hey, at the very least he figured out that betting against Mimi was a good idea. She was a classic case of playing only her cards, not her opponent.

I got the impression that Mimi and David both knew how to play, but Mimi knew better.

Scott Stapp is the biggest fuckwad that ever walked the planet. It was enough for me to pledge never to buy a Creed album (luckily, I haven't up until now either). Not only did he not know how to play, but he kept challenging the other players and the dealer that he had won! Like they didn't know what they were doing. And then, once he gets back to the loser's lounge, he still tries to validate himself by asking Phil Gordon (Mr. Wooden) to back him up. Which Phil doesn't. I agree that he STILL probably doesn't understand why he lost.

What an asshat. Oh. My. God. I completely LOATHE him.

I loved that Cross came out wearing a yarmulke - it was like clash of the titans with him vs. Scott. Then after he got such crappy cards & chucked the thing across the studio, I burst out laughing. His luck really did improve after that.

Mimi Rogers (the former former Mrs. Cruise) annoyed me, even though she knew how to play. Though for some reason, I can listen to Carrie Fisher whine & complain for hours (like when there's a marathon of her talk show on Oxygen).

I'm rooting for Cross or Richard Schiff to take it all next week.
The commercial said it was a two-hour show, right? That's a lot of poker.

Me too! I noticed that when the commercial aired and I was pleasantly surprised. Bravo Bravo!

I think Mimi was the best player there but I do think David knew what he was doing. I think his strategy was to be aggressive. He never really backed off from that. He did get Mimi to fold some hands that she still might have won. Mimi screwed up when she didn't remember that David got himself into trouble early on by risky bluffs. With a clear chip lead, he was going to use them to intimidate her.

The three things that made me hate the guy from Creed:

1) He came out doing the sign of the devil. Dude, you're in a Christian Rock band. Don't pretend you're Ozzy Osbourne.

2) He was playing for the "With Arms Wide Open" charity. That's one of his own lyrics. That means he's playing for his own charity, which seems sketchy.

3) One of the times when he didn't understand why he lost, he pointed to the board and said "but I have a pair!" Yeah, the same pair of fours which everyone else has on the board. Dope.

I missed the first episode with Ben Affleck (so glad he lost) but I've seen the others. I think Nicole Sullivan has a good shot, but I get the "Survivor" promo vibe from her. In other words, the promo made it seem like she might win, so I'm guessing she didn't. Although I love me some Paul Rudd, I get the feeling that he doesn't 100% know how to play well enough to win.



Hee! I would SO pay money to see Hellmuth commentating.

I wasn't bothered by Stapp's inablility to play as much as I was annoyed by his insistance on being the winner of every hand he lost. As clueless as he was, he still thought he knew better than the dealer and everyone else at the table. His ego was out of control.

Mimi was such a good player, it's a shame she was cowed by David Cross. I'd like to see the better players make it to the finals.

How I think the order will go:

Out 1st - Schiff - he's not confident and he had the weakest table to get to the finals.

Out 2nd - Willie Garson - he's all balls, no strategy. Unless his insane luck holds, he can't get far.

Out 3rd - David Cross - Similar problem with the balls over strategy quirk but not nearly as bad as Willie, and I don't think he can bluff anyone at this table.

Out 4th - No idea really. I'll go with Rudd because...

Winner - Nicole is a shark.

If you dig back through the topic enough, there was a spoiler saying who probably won.

If you don't want to scroll back through, here's who it said: Nicole Sullivan

Radio Ryan, I think you're being awfully generous in calling Scott Stapp a "musician."

We were quite embarrassed watching him, too. I was praying for him to go out first because he was such an idiot. I don't even play poker, and I'd have done better than he did.

Hairymango, I agree with your order, except the very end. I think Paul Rudd will win it all.

Seems like I'd be generous calling Coolio a musician too.

Seriously, did Scott Stapp actually think that a pair of fours beat a flush? Two pairs beats a flush? Dude, the flush is about the best hand you can get! Just imagine how confused he'd be if he flushed and someone had a straight flush.

Also, Hellmuth would be perfect as a commontator. Anybody but Phil Gordon. I'm sure he's a nice guy and could whip my ass at the poker table, but he has the personality of a pencil.

I actually like listening to Phil Gordon. I feel like he brings an air of... I guess respectability. Like we all know that half of these players are complete shams and the sets don't really work, and having an audience there seems mostly lame (though at least they appreciated David Cross' humor), but there's really nothing to be done. That's sort of how I feel about Phil. Can't make most of these players good, so better to be polite about it and exclaim the few times someone does something right. (And does anyone else get a strange feeling of pride when that happens? Phil says, "I like that raise," and I smile.)

Still, I'd like HBO or someone else to take this show and make it as zany and fun as it could've been. Less PG.

And I'd give anything to watch The Bluths playing in character.

Well, Mimi Rogers gave it her best shot in that direction, when a game was down to her and Carrie Fisher, and Carrie said "Wellll, it's down to...", clearly intending to finish with some mock-tough line like "two chicks" or "two old broads," and Mimi said "four tits."

David Cross got more than his share of fucks bleeped last night, but Mimi got away with tits & several contestants flipped the bird without blurring.

Bravo is more forward than Oxygen when it comes to not censoring. I still can't believe what Oxygen did to the premiere of the fifth season of Ab Fab.

One of my favorite radio stations in San Francisco plays a recording every now and then informing the listeners of how long its been since they have played a song by Creed. I think its been two years.

Anyway I have always thought that it was a bit harsh until I watched Scott play poker last night. That tool deserves every insult he receives. I agree with previous posters, shut up and stop arguing with everyone if you have no clue on how to play the damn game!

I think what he really wanted to yell is:
Hey I should when becasue I am a man and she is just a girl. Men play poker, men are good at poker. I am looking at the cards (Sung to Eye Wide Open):
With eyes wide open, Now I have won this game, Give me your chips, Give me everythinnnnnnnng.

What. A. Tool.

I think David Cross knew what he was doing. He used his position especially well, and in doing so, I'd hesitate to say he was necessarily "bluffing" all the time. Mimi was probably the most knowledgable person at the table, but it was fairly obvious that she was pretty uncomfortable in heads-up. She kept checking to David, and as Phil Gordon has said a couple times, that's a license to steal. So he would bet out, figuring "if she folds, awesome; if she calls, she's got something, but probably isn't terribly confident; and if she raises me, I have a pretty good idea I'm beat." Luckily for David, when he did that, it looked like Mimi thought he had Pocket Aces every time, and she folded like a cheap card table...

I think the problem for Mimi is that she spent a large part of the game helping Carrie Fisher, Scott "The Moron" Stapp and, to a lesser extent, Tom Green play their hands. That had to distract her and she may have missed how recklessly aggressive David was being. Nothing against David Cross, but I would have liked to see Mimi in the final against players closer to her playing level to see what she could do.

If Bravo does this again, I hope they at least try to find celebrities who have some knowledge of the game. Or they could give some quick lessons to those who aren't regular players. I know this is entertainment, not a real poker tourney, but I think it would be more entertaining if all the players were competitive. Maybe they should throw an athlete or two onto each table. Pro athletes supposedly play a lot of cards on the road so they should be able to find some who can play hold 'em.

Scott "The Moron" Stapp (tm zooropa) is a different class of clueless from anyone else in this series. Mostly the others, if they had trouble, were confused about checking. how much to raise, all in, how much to call, etc. And while I'd like them to know more if they're going on TV, I can kind of understand it -- it's different at a table like that thsn it is when you're playing among friends at home. But they all knew what the hands are and what beats what... except S"TM"S, who couldn't figure that a flush beats a pair, or that having picture cards doesn't automatically make yours the bestest hand.

Good lord, I had no idea how to play poker and had never even heard the words "Texas Hold 'Em" until CPS but even I could see how lousy the poker was.

Maybe it's because I've now become a TV poker addict and watch WSOP and WPT but I found it actually painful to watch this episode. I cannot understand why they didn't shoot for celebrities (or even sub-lebrities) that know how to play the damn game. Or at least give them lessons beforehand so that they don't embarrass themselves. Ben Affleck, who I heartily made fun of during his episode, comes off like Phil Ivey compared to these losers. I found Mimi Rogers to be the only tolerable player, everyone else annoyed me to death. I know there's alot of Stapp hate, but David Cross bugged me much more. Maybe it's because I've never seen Mr. Show and don't care to, but I found his antics to be juvenile and boring. And that audience! How can they hiss and boo when someone properly folds?!? They ruin the game so much that I feel like the show would have been much better without them.

I'll watch the final episode which should be interesting because all of the hunks of cheese have been weeded out. I do hope Nicole wins because I think it would be neat for a girl to take it all but my money is on Rudd. Even though he had amazing cards during his episode, I think he's the most solid player left.

I HATE Scott Stapp with a passion. The radio gets switched when his stupid group comes on. I rejoice at any chance he has to show that he is a moron. And yet I fell asleep for the first half of the episode and missed his stupidity! Oh well.

Mimi Rogers definitely can play. I saw an ad for some tournament (WPT Invitational?) in Card Player magazine and it says she's scheduled to play. Surprised she wasn't more aggressive once it was heads-up.

Wow, Scott Stapp is quite possibly the tooliest tool that ever tooled. I've seen three year-olds that displayed greater maturity.

Anyway, Mimi Rogers would've definitely held her own at the final table. I can't imagine David Cross intimidating any of his opponents next week.

Word to those who think that it will come down to Paul Rudd and Nicole Sullivan. They're the only two who seem to have a decent clue about how to play. Richard Schiff is probably at the same level as David Cross and Evil Willie is, well, just plain evil.

One of the funniest things that happened the other night was Scott Stapp going "all in" out of turn, and then withdrawing some of the chips when it actually was his turn. What a freaking tool.

As much as he may deserve your vitriol, you should have more compassion for Scott Stapp. If you remember his BTM, he was raised in a very religious family & in all likelihood wasn't allowed to play card games, much less a "sinful" game like poker. You could pin that down as to why he didn't know the rules (or the ettiquette) of the game.

Of course, he also wasn't allowed to listen to "sinful" rock music, but that didn't stop him from making a fool of himself in that arena, too.

See, I would probably put it more on the players than the people behind the TV show. It's gotta be pretty difficult to be seeking out people who specifically know how to play Hold 'Em. And if you're a celebrity, and you got invited to one of these things, wouldn't you want to, I don't know, practice it or at least learn how to play the game?? If I were on some TV show or in some band, and someone invited me to be on a show called "Celebrity Backgammon," you better believe my ass would be buying backgammon books, picking the brains of people who know how to play, and practicing against some other people...

Yes, but celebrities are used to having things done for them. Most "celebrity" events like on Trading Spaces or whatever work by different rules based upon the star's sense of entitlement, i.e., their presence brings ratings so YOU should do the work.

Like Celebrity Jeparody where they dumb down the questions. Wait I am smelling an SNL spoof....

I do not think I could be more annoyed with Scott Stapp than I was after this show. I can tolerate you not being aware of Texas Hold 'Em rules but you should at the very least know the damn hands. Most certainly, do not try to get Phil to back you up when you don't know what the fuck you're doing.

I *gasp* liked Tom Green. I was surprised he didn't play up to the crowd like a comedian (such as David Cross did). While he may not have been comfortable with this game, at least he learned the rules and played a couple games before appearing on TV.

edited cuz my keyboard was sticking before

Yay! According to Bravo's FAQ website, Celebrity Poker Showdown has been picked up for another season. They say season two will air sometime in the spring...

And how could we forget: Scott so anxious to go "all-in" that he went out of turn! And backing off of it when it was his turn.

The guy should've had "Snap-On" or "Craftsman" written on his face for the caliber of tooliness he showed.

Yes, but isn't this precisely why someone would turn down an appearance on CPS? Clearly, the poker newbies were in it solely to get their charity $5000. Stapp coulda saved some time and just donated the money, though.

But Asshat said during his interview that he learned Spades in college, which led to Poker, and then to Strip Poker.

I don't want to give him any excuses. I hate his fucking band, his music sucks ass, and he's a massive fucking asshat toolhead scumsucking douchebag.

Can you feel the love toniiiiiiggght

I think David Cross is hilarious, but I have a feeling that he's also kind of a jerk.

Stapp may have played poker before but I don't think he had ever played hold 'em because he really didn't seem to grasp the concept that the cards in the middle of the table belonged to everyone. Remember when he had a queen and I think a 4 or 5 and the flop came down with 8-8-Q? Mimi had pocket Kings and went all-in and Stapp immediately called, saying something like "I hate to do this to you, Mimi". He was sure he had won because he had two pair, queens and eights. He really didn't get it that the eights also belonged to Mimi and her kings beat his queens.

I'm not excusing him because he acted like a jerk, but if that was the first time he had ever played hold 'em I can see how he could be confused. Of course, it can be said that he should have found out which poker game was going to be played before he agreed to the show and then he should have learned something about it.

It seemed to me that Stapp didn't even know which hands beat which hands, though. He couldn't spot the flush that beat his hand, either. I'm going to say that he doesn't know poker (as opposed to just not knowing Texas Hold 'em) because when you've only got 2 cards in hand, how difficult can it be to understand that everyone shares the community cards???
I don't think he's a jerk, but I think his humor is extremely obnoxious. You can easily sense this on Mr. Show. That's why the show was so much fun.

I believe Phil Gordon dryly pointed this out and Mr. Callavere and I just lost it. "Scott Stapp, going all in before his actual turn." Man, I'm laughing just remembering it.

Oh, Scott Stapp? Tool. And yes, where did that second chin come from? Because the rest of him doesn't look that fat.

I don't think Stapp was a tool, exactly, but I agree that he certainly didn't know how to play poker and hadn't bothered to learn.

But then, I even kinda like his music, so clearly my judgment can't be trusted.

That was the worst episode ever. I have to say the high point was that Tom Green was not acting like Tom Green. But the low point? Scott Stapp was acting like Tom Green. Jesus! That had to be the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen. And he never stopped insisting he was the best. He even mentioned it when they were trying to interview Carrie after she was out. Ego-monster, much?

I know that the budget for this show is 4 feet of felt to cover the table and 1,000,000,000 free cocktails from the open bar for the celebs, but for next season, it would behoove the producers to entice celebs to come play by mailing them a $40 Hoyle Casino computer game. That's where I learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em. Then those of us watching at home wouldn't be tortured by the ignorance of those at the table as much.

ETA - for those of you who mentioned a less PG-version of this, Comedy Central did a one-shot show about 3 years ago with 5 comedians, including Kevin Pollack. They sat around a table playing poker, got TOTALLY loaded and ragged and joked with each other. It was fan-fucking-tastic. By the end, they were all slurring their words. That is the 3 words per sentence that weren't censored with bleeps. By the end of the show, it just sounded like a truck was backing up from New York to California.