Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge Available Online

The Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge is available online now, and it's been getting a lot of attention. It's a series of high-stakes heads-up matches that took place in London and aired on British TV. The first 7 of 9 episodes are available for download or streaming as I write this. The episodes are:

• 1-3: Durrrr versus Sammy George in NLHE. George is a British businessman who's well known in the high-stakes poker world.
• 4-6. Durrrr vs. Luckexpress, an experienced high-stakes online player but also an amateur. They played NLHE and some PLO at the end. 
• 7-9: Durrrr vs. Ziigmund in PLO with commentary by Phil Galfond (Jesse May is paired with Isaac Haxton in the other episodes). Durrrr, Ziigmund, and Galfond are three of the best PLO players in the world, and Galfond's commentary is excellent.

Each episode is about 1:38 long. 

In my experience British poker TV is generally inferior to the good American shows. Their distinctive weakness seems to be in conveying the action. This show isn't as bad as Million Dollar Cash Game on that front, but it's still problematic. The onscreen graphics would be decent except they're delayed for a few seconds, making the action hard to follow, and the commentary covers up the dealer's narrative. This show has another weakness in common with some of the top American shows: they cover up too much of the table talk with commentary. Overall I find Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge to be better than Million Dollar Cash Game but not as good as a top American show like High Stakes Poker or Poker After Dark on a good week.

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Poker After Dark Cash Game Next Two Weeks, Plus Newsbites

(Edit May 30: until we get a more current update up, please check our schedule and list of upcoming shows, which are up to date.)

Poker After Dark has a new $50,000-buyin cash game over the next two weeks. The players are Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, and Mike Matusow. Dennis Phillips and David "Viffer" Peat joined after players left. See also NBC's preview or you can read some spoilers if you like.

Next Sunday's High Stakes Poker is from day two of the taping, which included Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius, Barry Greenstein, Dennis Phillips, Lex Veldhuis, and Andrew "good2cu" Robl.

Our WPT TV schedule now includes links to previews of the TV tables. The currently-running show is the Festa Al Lago, featuring Freddy Deeb, Tommy Vedes, Shawn Cunix, Jason Lavallee, Craig Crivello, and Jason Burt.

This week's newsbites:

• G4 didn't renew 2 Months $2 Million. Read about it at Poker News Daily and Krantz's blog.
• 73% of people think High Stakes Poker would be better off without Kara Scott's interviews. There's also been a lot of support for bringing back AJ Benza, and he said he had a great meeting with GSN executives. Personally, I think they should get rid of almost everything that isn't a poker hand.
• The WSOP tweeted about what sounds like another of their experimental made-for-TV tournaments: an All-Star game.
• ESPN has a good article on how John Duthie created the European Poker Tour. It also discusses how online qualifiers have led to good turnouts for the North American Poker Tour.
• A network is seeking young poker pros for a documentary.
• Shuffle Up and Deal, a poker-themed game show to be hosted by Mike Sexton, is looking for a sponsor and a channel.
• Brandon McSmith's lawsuit claiming he came up with the idea for Face the Ace was dismissed.
• Mori Eskandani talked about the criteria for choosing players for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship on the Hard Core Poker Show, March 2, segment 2.
• Call the Floorman, a poker-themed game show being shopped to TV channels for possible syndication, shot a pilot.
• Poker News Daily ran an article on how real poker is different from what's seen on TV.
• Poker News Daily summarized the evolution of poker TV shows and editorialized that Poker Game Shows Need Fixing.
• World Team Poker, with teams from various countries, will tape their first event May 19 and stream it live over the internet.
• ESPN and Harrah's executives talked about the WSOP and the growth of poker on TV, but it's a rather boring article.

Check our poker on TV schedule for the full list of shows running new episodes.

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From Busto To Robusto Espisode 2 One Day Sneak Preview

The second episode of the poker documentary series From Busto To Robusto is up on the internet for a one-day sneak preview. This one is about Andrew "good2cu" Robl. It will disappear at 3 AM Eastern tonight (it's gone now) then return permanently in a couple of weeks when their website is finished. The first episode was well regarded, but I don't think the new one is as good.

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Poker2Nite Moves To Versus

Poker2Nite, the weekly talk/news show sponsored by UB.com, has moved to Versus for its second season. It will maintain its old time spot: Wednesday nights at 11 PM. During NHL playoffs its airtime may be pushed back slightly. The first episode just aired and reruns today (Thursday) at 5:30 PM. The show is also available on UB's site.

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