Poker Night Live
Encyclopedia
Poker Night Live was the United Kingdom
's first live Internet
poker
show, broadcast between 2005 and 2007 on Pokerzone
, usually between 9pm and 1am. Versions of it have been broadcast world-wide.
The show, in its live form, finished in May 2007, although repeats of past episodes were still broadcast until the closure of the Pokerzone channel the following year.
A regular feature from February, 2006 was the "Beat The Presenter" tournament, in which one of the presenters plays a single table tournament while the programme is being broadcast, and then analyses their play along with their co-presenter after it is completed.
In 2006, Poker Night Live offered its regular online players the chance to win places in a special PokerBowl show. The six qualifiers visited the PokerZone studio to play in a "live" tournament. The show was broadcast in September 2006 with Ken "Snappit" Hawkins beating Andrew "Gilberto" Parkhouse heads up.
The show was cancelled in December 2006 when CGTV was rebranded to GameTV.
Presenters on the Canadian version have included:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's first live Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
show, broadcast between 2005 and 2007 on Pokerzone
Pokerzone
Pokerzone was a channel dedicated to poker, broadcasting on Sky Digital channel 843 since 19 May 2005. Previously known as Game In TV it rebranded on 26 April 2005 and launched the following month....
, usually between 9pm and 1am. Versions of it have been broadcast world-wide.
The show, in its live form, finished in May 2007, although repeats of past episodes were still broadcast until the closure of the Pokerzone channel the following year.
Show Features
The show featured coverage of online poker cash games, single table "sit and go" tournaments, and multi-table tournaments. The games featured are from the Prima Poker network of sites, and are broadcast with a short delay, with all players' cards visible. The presenters also discuss viewers' emails and text messages on poker issues.A regular feature from February, 2006 was the "Beat The Presenter" tournament, in which one of the presenters plays a single table tournament while the programme is being broadcast, and then analyses their play along with their co-presenter after it is completed.
In 2006, Poker Night Live offered its regular online players the chance to win places in a special PokerBowl show. The six qualifiers visited the PokerZone studio to play in a "live" tournament. The show was broadcast in September 2006 with Ken "Snappit" Hawkins beating Andrew "Gilberto" Parkhouse heads up.
Presenters
Throughout its run, the show featured a number of different presenters, some of them expert players and others relatively new to the game. Hosts on the UK version of Poker Night Live included:- Mark BaninMark BaninMark "Prince Charles" Banin is a semi-professional poker player and television presenter on Poker Night Live and Sky Poker. Mark is known for his refreshing style, distinctive voice and excellent Poker mind.-Early years:...
- Caspar BerryCaspar BerryCaspar Berry is a professional poker player, screenwriter, actor, after-dinner speaker and television presenter on Poker Night Live, and more recently as an analyst for Sky Poker....
- Matt BroughtonMatt BroughtonMatt Broughton is well known within the British Poker community for his regular appearance on Sky Poker, as well as the humorous magazine show The Club, which he presented with Dan Lobb....
- James Browning
- John Clark
- Malcolm "The Rock" HarwoodMalcolm HarwoodMalcolm Harwood is an English professional poker player who learnt how to play whilst doing his National Service. He later appeared in Channel 4's Late Night Poker, where he reached the Grand Final in seasons 1, 2 and 5...
- Lynsey HornLynsey HornLynsey Hipgrave, formerly known as Lynsey Horn, is an English television and radio presenter.-Radio:Hipgrave's big break came on Manchester radio station Galaxy 102 where she presented the breakfast show, before being appointed a travel reporter on Radio 5 Live.She co-presents the Saturday morning...
- Alex HyndmanAlex HyndmanAlexandra Hill is a British broadcast journalist working on a freelance basis with UK news organisation ITN.-Early life:Hill was born in Grantham but grew up in Australia where she was educated at St Aloysius College, Adelaide...
- Tony "tikay" Kendall
- Barry "The Bully" Martin
- Michelle "The Night Nurse" Orpe
- "Dr Tom" Sambrook
- Kara ScottKara ScottKara Scott is a Canadian TV personality, journalist and poker player.Born in northern Alberta, Canada, Scott moved to the United Kingdom in 1999 and worked in the UK media until 2009 when she moved to California...
- Nick Wealthall
- Greg "Axxeman" Winters
- Michelle "Night Nurse" Orpe
Special Guests
Guests in the commentary box have included:- Kevin O'ConnellKevin O'ConnellKevin O'Connell is the chief weather anchor for WGRZ-TV, the NBC affiliate in Buffalo, New York. O'Connell also sub-hosted on The David Letterman Show on NBC, hosted the game show Go on NBC from October 1983 to January 1984, and presented the syndicated disco series Disco Step-by-Step from 1977 to...
- Victoria Smirnoff
- Nic SzeremetaNic SzeremetaNic Szeremeta is a poker player of mixed English/Polish descent, noted as a former editor of Poker Monthly magazine, and creator of the popular Late Night Poker television series -Early Life:Nic's father, who used to play draw poker himself, was a rear gunner who went missing during World War II.He...
- The Hendon MobThe Hendon MobThe Hendon Mob are a group of four professional poker players from London, England:* Joe Beevers* Barny Boatman* Ross Boatman* Ram VaswaniThe name of the group was first publicised by the Evening Standard newspaper in September 2000....
- Dave UlliottDave UlliottDavid A. Ulliott , known by the nickname Devilfish, is an English professional gambler and poker player. Formerly, Ulliott was a minor figure in the Hull underworld, but went on to become a World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, and a mainstay of televised poker...
- Johnny ChanJohnny Chan (poker player)Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....
- Simon "Aces" TrumperSimon TrumperSimon Trumper is an English professional poker player from South Kensington, London, England. He is chiefly noted as the winner of Late Night Poker series 2 and runner-up of series 4...
- Steve DavisSteve DavisSteve Davis, OBE is an English professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years and became the sport's first millionaire...
Celebrity Players
Several celebrities have been known to play on the TV broadcast tables, including:- Nick BatemanNick BatemanNicholas "Nasty Nick" Bateman is a British media personality and a former contestant on the first series of the British version of Big Brother.-Big Brother:...
(Former Big BrotherBig Brother (UK)Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
contestant) - Roberto Conte (Former Big BrotherBig Brother (UK)Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
contestant) - Charles IngramCharles IngramCharles Ingram is a former British Army major who made headlines worldwide after he was accused of cheating in the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2001. He was convicted of deception, although he maintains that he did not cheat...
(Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty...
million winner, convicted of deception) - Ewen Macintosh (Actor)
- Grub SmithGrub SmithMichael 'Grub' Smith is an English television presenter and journalist for FHM and Poker Player magazines.-Early life:Born Michael Smith, he adopted the name Grub when at Downside School, effectively a promotion after being given the nickname Maggot by a master at his prep school.Grub Smith is a...
(TV presenter) - Phil Taylor (DartsDartsDarts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
champion)
Canadian version
In February 2006, a Canadian version was created for Casino and Gaming Television (now called GameTV). The Canadian version ran for two hours, instead of the four hour run-time of the UK show. The format was similar with more focus on Sit and Go tournaments and No Limit Cash tables featuring Canadian players. The show aired live Wednesday to Sunday at 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. EST. Repeated episodes were aired Monday and Tuesday at 11:00 p.m. and 7 days a week from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.The show was cancelled in December 2006 when CGTV was rebranded to GameTV.
Presenters on the Canadian version have included:
- Tina Teggart (Host)
- John "Johnny T" Tokatlidis (Host/Expert)
- Devin "Downtown Devo Brown" Armstrong (Expert)
- Lou Gazzola (Expert)
- Audrey Audet (Expert)
- Antonio "The Magician" EsfandiariAntonio EsfandiariAntonio Esfandiari is a professional poker player, known for his elaborate chip tricks.-Early life:When he was 9 years old his family moved to San Jose, California...
(Celebrity Expert) - Gail Ordogh (Host)