Interview With Steve Lipscomb Of the World Poker Tour

PocketFives.com has an article based on an interview with the World Poker Tour's Steve Lipscomb. There's not much of interest in the article, but it does say:

In France, the appearance of WPT programming has launched a poker phenomenon across the country. Television ratings in France and elsewhere worldwide are as high as several of the highest rated cable programs here in the United States. In France, two new personalities take the place of Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, broadcasting the action from the felt. “You’d never even know Mike and Vince existed,” says Lipscomb.

MTV Seeking Online Poker Player For TV Show

MTV is looking for an online poker player to profile on their show True Life. It's a documentary-style show told from the point of view of the subject. See the producer's 2+2 post and the PokerListings.com article.

World Poker Tour TV Tapings: Mind-Numbing Boredom and Pre-recorded Spectator Shots

What's a World Poker Tour TV taping like? I've never been to one, but I've noted some "illusion is better than reality" elements of the show in the past, such as the use of smoke machines and an applause track. There's a thread on 2+2 which calls the tapings "6 hours of mind numbing boredom" and laments "the pre-recorded spectator shots where they want you to go "Ohhhhhh" or "ahhhhhhhhhh"."

High Stakes Poker Added To YouTube

GSN is adding High Stakes Poker to their YouTube channel. Seasons 1 and 2 are up now (we're in season 4). The videos are ad-free and all in one piece, but torrents provide better quality.

Poker on TV Update, November 11, 2007

This week's Poker After Dark features the players shown in the opening credits: Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, and Gus Hansen. It's the last show of season two. Season three starts in January. Hellmuth is the only one of those players without a Poker After Dark victory, and he bet Gus Hansen $20,000 at 4.5:1 that he would win.

Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.

Interview With Poker TV Producer Mori Eskandani

Ante Up! has a fascinating interview with Mori Eskandani on their latest podcast. It's long, but there are a lot of fascinating nuggets in it. The interview starts about 40% of the way through the podcast. Mori runs POKER-PROductions, which produces High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark, and other shows. See also this previous interview.

PokerBowl To Air On Fox Sports In January

Fox Sports will air the PokerBowl over seven 1-hour episodes starting January 26th, 2008. It is a competition of regionally-themed (e.g. the New York Rounders) six-player teams.

The High Stakes Poker $500,000-Minimum-Buyin Game

High Stakes Poker's $500,000-minimum-buyin game starts on GSN Monday and continues for seven weeks (see previous coverage). The blinds are $300/600/1200 (yes, they added a third blind) with a $100 ante. The players are Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, David Benyamine, Jamie Gold, Daniel Negreanu (who replaces Gold later), Patrik Antonius, Antonio Esfandiari, Sammy Farha, and Guy Laliberte. I consider Doyle, Barry, Benyamine, and Patrik to be among the 10 best players in the world. Guy Laliberte is the billionaire founder of Cirque du Soleil. He's also the biggest loser in online poker this year, down about $3 million on Full Tilt the last time I checked (under screen name noatima; Benyamine was the biggest winner).

The final two weeks of Poker After Dark season two start Monday, with Antonio Esfandiari, Mike Matusow, Jamie Gold, Mike Sexton, Paul Wasicka, and Alan "Boston" Dvorkis playing.

EPT Live isn't covering Dublin. The next tournament they cover will be the PokerStars. Caribbean Adventure in January.

Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.

Reaction To "ESPN/ABC To Apply Poker Model To Football Broadcasts"

For those of you that didn't get it, ESPN/ABC To Apply Poker Model To Football Broadcasts was a parody. The best parodies I've read are convincing at first but by the end are so far out that you get the joke. I tried to achieve that with this (I even left a hint), but many people believed it was real (or perhaps they didn't read till the end). You can see some reactions at Low Limit All Star and 2+2. The commonest reaction was "if they do that to football I'm going to stop watching," so I believe I got across the point that ESPN butchers poker in a way they wouldn't consider butchering football. Of course ESPN isn't the only offender (in fact the last paragraph applied more to other broadcasters), but they may be the worst: the network with such a disdain for its customers that they believe "The viewers don't care," the Great Satan of Poker Broadcasters.