I Have My Limits: The Hardest Working Man in Poker Show Business Takes Five

Image courtesy of PokerStars (Danny Maxwell)

Joe Stapleton, the comedian and longtime commentator for PokerStars European Poker Tour, has announced that next week’s EPT Monte Carlo will be his final appearance for the mega-brand. It ends a storied run.

Perfectly paired with the unflappable James Hartigan, Joe, or Stapes, as everyone except his mother calls him, has been laying in wry remarks and actual LOLs with his pitch-perfect balance of irreverence and respect for the game for over fifteen years. The results, whether on live streams or EPT Championship broadcasts, have been far more entertaining than watching a card game has any right to be.

Making poker funny has been Joe’s mission since he stumbled into a job as a live reporter for Card Player magazine at the 2005 World Series of Poker. He kept putting jokes and puns into his hand reports, only to be told by his editor, “Poker isn’t supposed to be funny. Cut it out.”

Fortunately, he ignored that stupid advice and has been improving coverage of the game ever since. If you’re a member of The Pokerati – it’s just like The Illuminati except it forgoes world domination in favor of heavy consumption of poker content, then you are well-aware of the wit and wise-guydom of Stapes.

It ranges from the deadpan, such as: “Aces are my favorite hand. My second favorite hand, the other two aces.”

To sly pop culture references like, “Oh my God, they didn’t kill Kenny!” after poker pro Brynn Kenny narrowly escaped elimination.

I imagine it was lines like those that led poker great Daniel Negreanu to virtually demand back in 2009 that PokerStars hire Stapleton, then an unknown. Stapes was funny, and not just for a sports commentator, as evidenced by the fact that the late, great comedians’ comedian, Norm MacDonald, took him on the road as his opener for close to two years.

Since those early days, Stapes has only honed his craft. Last fall, I was watching the final table from EPT Malta and fell out of my chair when he referred to Dutch player Jeremy Bedell, seen below, as Run-OMC.

For those not in The Pokerati, OMC is short for Old Man Coffee, a stereotype of an older player, who may or may not drink coffee but who can be counted on to only play good starting hands and rarely, if ever, bluff.

 If, for some reason, you don’t get the reference to Run-DMC, I got you there, too:

As I said above, Stapes has been in the booth for the European Poker Tour with veteran broadcaster James Hartigan, going way back to when online poker was available in all 50 states and America and Europe were still allies.

In addition, the duo expanded their glib banter and fandom for film and television to a podcast called Poker In The Ears. It was a good hang, with equal parts poker, trivia contests, and that fount of comedy, complaining.

Sadly, it also won’t be coming back. Besides his collab with Hartigan, over the years, Stapes has been the longtime host of Poker Night in America, a sideline reporter for ESPN’s WSOP coverage, and on the comms of many other TV shows with poker in the title.

Currently, he is executive producer and host of PokerStars’ The Big GameOn Tour, a poker/reality hybrid on FS1. And, you can read about most of this in his autobiographical graphic novel, Trapped.

Stapes has been the hardest-working man in the poker show business for quite a while. Presently, there’s no word on what his next move will be. Personally, I’m glad to hear he’s taking some time for himself.

I understand he’s going to be focusing on his standup and, later this year, standing up at the altar when he marries his fiancé. Next thing you know, they’ll be saying Joe’s signature line, “Hello, my babies,” to actual babies.

Take a victory lap next week in Monte Carlo, Stapes. You earned it.