Major Poker Show at the Venetian

From Doyle's blog:

There is a big push going on to have a major TV show at the Venetian Hotel. There are some major players involved, headed by Merv Adelson. He has access to the best directors and producers in the business. There will be ten pros that host the show. I’m on board as is Antonio, Phil Laak, Gus Hansen, Todd Brunson, Eli Elezra, Jen Harman, Clonie Gowen, and Daniel Negreanu. Mike Caro is an important cog in the operation because there will be seminars and teaching classes.

Doyle Brunson Talks About High Stakes Poker

Doyle Brunson's comments on High Stakes Poker, from his blog:

I’ve never watched poker shows. I think because they make me look like an old, fat, bald-headed cripple. Oh, wait a minute, that’s what I am isn’t it

I accidentally tuned in on High Stakes Poker on GSN and I was absolutely fascinated by what I saw. This show isn’t a tournament; it is a real cash game where the players can buy more chips when they want and quit when they want. Also, the ante and blinds never go up. I sometimes wonder how I came off a cotton farm in Texas to where I am today. After watching that show every night for the past month, I can understand it. Most of these so-called poker stars can’t play a lick! It is almost embarrassing to watch how badly they play. There are a few that I would call winning players but the bad players far outnumber them. Tournaments don’t really teach you fundamental concepts and that is all most of them do – never playing what I call real poker. I think I have played eleven times since HSP started and have yet to have a losing session.

Another thing I don’t understand is the behavior of some of the players. In my opinion, many of them make fools of themselves by their conduct. The viewing public seems to like it though so I guess that justifies it in their mind. I never use two Doylisms in one blog but one comes to mind... it seems that Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, and “Sheiky” fit this one perfectly. “They are self-made men. And they love their creator.”

I have to add one more as I am in a sadistic mood tonight... “It is better to be silent and thought of as a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”

See also Doyle's opinion of The High Stakes Poker Episode That Only Showed Seven Hands. His above comments also remind me of the time on Poker After Dark when Doyle told Shana he preferred real poker (to the donkaments they play). That was one of my favorite moments on Poker After Dark.

History of the Poker Boom

PokerListings.com recently ran a series of articles on the history of the poker boom. Part one details the hole-card-cam fueled birth of the poker boom. Part three also has some relevance to TV: it's about the major televised tournament series. For more on the history of televised poker I recommend The First Modern Poker TV Show. Two interviews with producer Mori Eskandani (PokerNews, Ante Up!) also go into the history of televised poker.

This Week: Poker After Dark, WSOP Live

This week's Poker After Dark features Patrick Antonius, Johnny Chan, Roland de Wolfe, Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, and John Juanda.

WSOP Live is streaming the WSOP Circuit from the Horseshoe Council Bluffs at 6:15 PM on Wednesday.

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.

World Poker Tour Europe Planned

The World Poker Tour recently scaled back their schedule to 14 North American events, but, as previously mentioned (discussions to develop locally-based events, efforts in China), they are working on locally-based events for other regions. WPT boss Steve Lipscomb fleshed out their plans a bit at a press conference at the LA Poker Classic, saying:

We are expanding our presence in Europe and other international markets as we go into the online gaming space, and as we do that, we’re taking those markets piece by piece… This year, we’re going to do a WPT Europe event. We’re going to be doing regional tours similar to what we’re doing in China… Those audiences, as we understand, are very hungry for programming as they grow their own poker world, and we’re going to help them and grow it together.

The WPT has inked an agreement with Grup Perelada, the owner of Casino Barcelona, the site of last year's WPT Spanish Championship.

Sources: Pokerati, Bodog Beat

Antonio Esfandiari is the New Face of the World Poker Tour

Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari is the new face of the World Poker Tour, and will be representing them on TV, in advertising, and for their online sites.



Sources: Bodog Beat, Pokerati

World Poker Tour Eases Logo Policy

The World Poker Tour has eased their logo policy. Logos must still be approved prior to the tournament (see the WPT sponsorship page), but sponsors no longer need to submit a list of their players prior to the event. This leaves players that make a TV table free to negotiate for a sponsorship.

Source: Pokerati

Leeann Tweeden Replaces Shana Hiatt On National Heads-Up Poker Championship

Leeann Tweeden is replacing Shana Hiatt as sideline reporter on the upcoming National Heads-Up Poker Championship. I liked Leeann's work on Poker Dome.

World Poker Tour Season Seven To Film Only 14 Events For TV

Card Player is reporting that the World Poker Tour will film 14 events for season seven, down from 20 in season six. All of them will be in North America. There had previously been rumors that WPTE would drop just two of the least popular WPT events. The events that won't be returning are Mirage Poker Showdown, Mandalay Bay Poker Championship, Ladies Night invitational, Turks and Caicos Poker Classic, WPT Spanish Championship, and World Poker Challenge. Some excerpts from the Card Player article:

“Well, I can say that mostly what went into that decision has lots to do with the market. Players let us know [where they prefer to play] verbally, and they also vote with their tournament dollars,” Lipscomb said. “I think we’re trying to be mindful of places that people really want to go, where they want to play, and the properties that really have the resources and the dedication to be able to grow substantial events over time.”

Even though WPTE has scaled back its production schedule for next season, Lipscomb gave a hint of what international poker fans may soon see from the WPTE. Lipscomb says that locally-grown programming does better in certain parts of the world and WPTE is in discussions to develop locally-based events for regional broadcast. Because of the competitive poker market, Lipscomb wouldn’t say where those talks are taking place, but it’s something WPTE expects to tackle in the near future.

The move to GSN from the Travel Channel has both its positives and minuses, the biggest minus being that GSN reaches 26 million fewer subscribers than the Travel Channel. Lipscomb shrugs at the figure. He says GSN has about the same number of viewers that the Travel Channel did when the WPT first was aired there at the end of 2004. He feels confident that WPTE will help grow GSN just as it did for the Travel Channel.

The WPT season seven schedule follows:

* Bellagio Cup IV — Bellagio, Las Vegas — July 11- 17
* Legends of Poker — The Bicycle Casino, Los Angeles — Aug. 23-28
* Borgata Poker Open — Borgata, Atlantic City — Sept. 14-18
* North American Poker Championship — Fallsview Resort Casino, Niagara Falls, Canada — Oct. 10-16
* Festa Al Lago — Bellagio, Las Vegas — Oct. 20-25
* World Poker Finals — Foxwoods, Mashantucket, Connecticut — Nov. 5-11
* Doyle Brunson Five-Diamond World Poker Classic — Bellagio, Las Vegas — Dec. 13-19
* Gulf Coast Poker Championship — Beau Rivage, Biloxi, Mississippi — Jan. 16-19, 2009
* Borgata Poker Classic — Borgata, Atlantic City — Jan. 25-29, 2009
* L.A. Poker Classic — Commerce Casino, Los Angeles — Feb. 28-March 5, 2009
* WPT Celebrity Invitational — Commerce Casino, Los Angeles — March 7-9, 2009
* Bay 101 Shooting Star — Bay 101, San Jose — March 16-20
* Foxwoods Poker Classic — Foxwoods — April 4-9
* WPT World Championship — Bellagio, Las Vegas — April 18-25

This Week on TV: EPT Live and TV, Poker After Dark, Best Damn Poker Show

This week's Poker After Dark lineup is Doyle Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Chau Giang, Andy Bloch, Hoyt Corkins, and Gabe Kaplan.

Best Damn Poker Show may appear under various names in your programming guide, but it should be airing at 9 and 11 PM Monday and 12:30 AM Tuesday on Fox Sports.

The EPT Copenhagen live stream runs Friday and Saturday.

The TV broadcast of EPT Season 4's first event, Barcelona, has become available for downloading or streaming from the usual sites.

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.

The Downside To Poker On TV In 2007

In 2006 we awarded a Best New Show Poky, and a runner up in that category as well. In 2007 we couldn't even find one deserving new show. The fact is, it was a down year for poker on TV. Certainly, the economics of poker on TV must take part of the blame: ratings have declined since 2004, the government's opposition to online gambling has been felt, and the online poker rooms that fund shows pursued faster-growing markets overseas. Quality could still have improved, however, but it didn't. There were no more live broadcasts in 2007. Cash games haven't become more common (one appeared briefly, but is gone). Made for TV, and even "reality," poker shows continue to proliferate instead of real poker. ESPN is still creating poker shows for people who aren't interested in poker. High Stakes Poker still doesn't show all the hole cards. I hope that American TV executives or poker producers see the light and start producing better poker shows. If not, hopefully the vibrant European scene will lead the way.

2007 Poky Awards: The Best of Poker on TV

Best Poker Show
Poker After Dark
Honorable Mention
World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table Live

Best Commentary
Phil Gordon

Hall of Fame
American Poker Championship

Special Award For Innovation
Poker Dome

Poker After Dark (review) wins the Poky for best show primarily because it shows most of the hands. It's the only show that allows you to see how the game is actually played, and for me it leads the pack in both entertainment and educational value.

The World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table Live (review) earns an Honorable Mention in the Best Show category. The only way you'll ever know what really happened at the Main Event final table is if you watch the live broadcast. Even with the hole cards, ESPN's limited selection of hands doesn't convey what really happened. Watching history being made live is an incredible experience, though, at 16 hours, it's not one I'm sure I'll repeat.

Phil Gordon repeats as Best Commentary winner primarily for his work on Pro-Am Poker Equalizer (review). His commentary on that show single-handedly transformed a bad made-for-TV format into a show that I could recommend. Phil should have a regular gig doing commentary on one of the major poker shows.

The American Poker Championship joins Lifetime Achievement Award winner Henry Orenstein in the Hall of Fame. The American Poker Championship (review) was the first live poker telecast. It showed every hand of the last four hours of a real tournament, with hole cards. The technology to show a live broadcast hadn't been perfected yet, but it was one of the most serious attempts ever to show poker as it should be shown on TV.

Poker Dome is the show that perfected that technology, earning it a Special Award For Innovation. The show was filmed live to tape, with hardware recognizing the cards and chips, and software creating onscreen graphics, in real time. The show also had notable non-technical strengths: it showed most of the hands, and it showed all the hole cards at the beginning of the hands (rather than as people acted). If you were to combine a real event like the American Poker Championship with Poker Dome's technology, you would have the perfect poker broadcast. That's the Holy Grail of poker broadcasting: installing Poker Dome's technology in casinos so that every hand of real poker games can be broadcast live. The shows would cost less to produce and be of higher quality.

Do you agree with all the awards? Sign up for our poker surveys list and your voice will be heard.

See also the 2006 Poky Awards.

World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack On WSOP Europe, TV Coverage

Michele Lewis interviewed World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. When asked about the WSOP Europe, Pollack said:

The TV coverage hits globally in March.

ESPN will provide 32 hours of WSOP coverage, the same as last year:

Yeah, and to that, I don’t know that more is always better going forward. One of the things that I’m going to be looking at over the next few months with ESPN is whether or not they are overexposing the World Series of Poker. I think we need to be focused on quality more than quantity. They do a good job but I think there’s a theory to be explored about exactly which events they cover, why and in what detail. We may find that it’s better to have a little less on television with ESPN, but to better promote the shows and make the shows only special occasions, if you will. And I don’t know if that’s happening right now.

World Poker Tour Returns to TV March 24

World Poker Tour Season 6 premieres Monday, March 24 on GSN, and runs for 23 episodes. I found two things about the announcement to be interesting:

• Two shows (World Poker Open and Bellagio Cup) are being split into two two-hour episodes. Perhaps this is related to WPT's effort to improve the television table blind structures.
  

• In addition to new hostess Layla Kayleigh, Kimberly Lansing, who's been providing online video segments as the tournaments run, will will be doing segments on the action that led up to the television tables.

Torrent Review: American Poker Championship

The live telecast of the 2004 American Poker Championship from Turning Stone (torrent) was one of the best and most important poker shows ever broadcast. It was also perhaps the most serious attempt ever to present poker as it should be presented.

As one of the announcers explained early on, this wasn't a highlight show, like poker on TV viewers were used to seeing: it was the actual game. They showed the last four hours of a real tournament, with hole cards, on a five-minute delay.

They showed all the hole cards at the beginning of the hand, which is my preferred method, rather than as people acted. They also managed to get win percentages up in real time.

It wasn't a perfect broadcast, however. The RFID detectors didn't always get the hole cards. Howard Lederer's commentary was excellent, but none of the three announcers did much play-by-play, they usually covered up the dealer's announcements of the action, and there were no onscreen graphics of the action.

Later live and live-to-tape broadcasts perfected the technology. Unfortunately, the technology has been used to create made-for-TV shows instead of showing real poker. They don't make them like they used to.

Best Damn Poker Show Starts Airing

Best Damn Poker Show will air Mondays at 11 PM on Fox Sports. It's a reality show where Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth assemble teams to compete with one another in poker. You can expect to see Jennifer Tilly, some musicians, actor Patrick Warburton, and Absolute Poker spokesmodel Serinda Swan. Annie Duke talked about the show on Best Damn Sports Show Period.

As previously mentioned, Poker After Dark is new this week.

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.

Why Travel Channel Dropped the World Poker Tour

Multichannel News has an article about Travel Channel's recent history, including its sale from Discovery Communications to Cox Communications and dropping the World Poker Tour because it didn't fit with their brand. An excerpt:

The World Poker Tour was Travel Channel’s ratings ace in the hole when Pat Younge took over the network’s reins in 2005, back when it was part of Discovery Communications.

...

The ratings gain happened without support from arguably the most popular show in the network’s history, the World Poker Tour.

The series — which followed several poker players as they participated in the WPT’s tournaments around the world — debuted in 2003 on the channel and became an immediate success, averaging 808,000 viewers an episode. The show peaked in 2004, averaging more than 1.1 million, nearly three times the 390,000 viewers Travel Channel averaged in primetime that year.

“We needed it like a junkie needs crack,” said Younge, who joined Travel as the network’s president and general manager after serving as a programming executive at the British Broadcasting Co.

But while the show was successful, Younge said it didn’t fit what he felt was the image of the brand, as defined by a triangle that connects a lust for life to immersive exploration to credible authorship of travel content.

“That was the downside of the World Poker Tour … it did bring us a rating number, but it so damaged the brand in the eyes of the traveling community that it impacted our ability to monetize it somewhere else,” he said. “We are a travel play.”

As a result, Travel Channel last May did not renew the World Poker Tour for a sixth season. GSN has since picked it up.

Which was fine with Cox. “That was one of the first big discussions we had to have with Pat and we got it immediately,” said Esser. “His point was 'We’re not the poker network — we’re the travel network.’ ”

WSOP Live Today, Poker After Dark Next Week

The WSOP Live stream of the Harrah's Rincon San Diego North WSOP Circuit Event starts today at 6:15 PM.

Poker After Dark has a new series next week featuring world champions Chris Ferguson, Johnny Chan, Berry Johnston (1986), Jamie Gold, Phil Hellmuth, and Huck Seed.

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.

Layla Kayleigh No. 33 on AskMen.com's Top 99 Women List

Season 6 WPT hostess Layla Kayleigh is No. 33 on AskMen.com's Top 99 Women list. Season 6 starts in March. See our other article on Layla here.

















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