Late Night Poker

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Late Night Poker
Late Night Poker logo
Genre	Poker on television
Running time	60-90 mins
Creator(s)	Nic Szeremeta
Starring	Jesse May Nic Szeremeta Barny Boatman Lucy Rokach
Country of origin	Great Britain
Original channel	Channel 4
Original run	17 July 1999–21 November 2002
No. of episodes	51
Official website
IMDb profile

Late Night Poker is a British television show in which poker players, mostly professionals or strong amateurs, compete in a short series of No-Limit Texas hold 'em tournament games for a prize of approximately £50,000.

1 History
2 Crew
3 Format
4 Under-the-table cameras
5 Series finalists
6 Late Night Poker Masters
- 6.1 Confirmed Players
7 See also

[edit] History

Six series of the show were created between 1999 and 2002. Produced in Cardiff, Wales, by TV company Presentable, they aired on Channel 4.

A celebrity version of the show was produced on 12 October 2000, featuring (in finishing order from 1st to 7th place) Anthony Holden, Al Alvarez, Martin Amis, Victoria Coren, Patrick Marber, Stephen Fry and Ricky Gervais. This led into the creation of Celebrity Poker Club.

In 2005 an all-amateur tournament by the name of PartyPoker.com Late Night Poker Ace was broadcast, following a qualification round on the aforementioned website. The tournament was won by 46-year-old security van driver John Shaw from Dunfermline, who won the £50,000 first prize. A second tournament is planned for 2006.

[edit] Crew

Jesse May - commentator; also appeared in a season 1 episode under the pseudonym "Mickey Dane."
Nic Szeremeta - creator (uncredited), commentator (seasons 1-3)
Lucy Rokach - commentator (season 4)
Barny Boatman - commentator (seasons 5-6)
Thomas Kremser - floorman and referee
Peter Schmid - dealer
Marinda Rado - dealer

[edit] Format

A series of Late Night Poker consists of 9 programmes - 7 heats, one semi-final, and the final. Each heat has 7 players. The 7 winners of the heats progress straight to the final, and the runners-up go to the semi-final, where one additional player progresses, for a final table of 8 players.

(NB: The first series featured 5 heats, with the players finishing 1st and 2nd in each progressing to the final. The players who qualified by finishing first in their heat started the final with twice as many chips as the heat runner-ups.)

Although the precise sums of money involved have varied, the typical buy-in has been in the region of £1,500, with a first prize of between £40,000 and £60,000.

The shows lasted 60 minutes when broadcast, with the season finals lasting 90 minutes. When shown in America on FSN, the episodes were cut into two (or three) 30-minute parts.

[edit] Under-the-table cameras

Late Night Poker's success is largely attributable to its "under-the-table" cameras (later known as hole cams) which allow the viewers and commentators to see the players' cards through the transparent table. It is doubtful Poker could succeed as a spectator sport otherwise, and American broadcasters have subsequently used a similar technique in programmes such as World Poker Tour.

Nevertheless, in contrast to most Poker shows, Late Night Poker tends to use these cameras in a rather minimalist way. For example, in a two-way pot, often only one player's cards are shown, with the commentators trying to infer from the other player's actions what cards he or she holds, and how the first player should act. Because of this, the commentary often mirrors the actual decision-making process of a Poker player. Only late in the hand, at the time of a critical decision, would the other player's cards be shown, possibly revealing a startling bluff or an unexpectedly strong hand.

[edit] Series finalists

Season	Winner	Prize	Runner-Up	3rd place
1	Dave Ulliott	£40,000	Peter Evans	Dave Welch
2	Simon Trumper	£40,000	Ross Boatman	Ram Vaswani
3	Phil Hellmuth Jr	£45,000	Adam Heller	Paul Alterman
4	Hemish Shah	£50,000	Simon Trumper	Barny Boatman
5	Padraig Parkinson	£50,000	Korosh Nejad	Joe Beevers
6	Peter Costa	£60,000	Jin Cai Lin	Lucy Rokach
Ace 1	John Shaw	£50,000	Hung Luc	Miles Adam
Ace 2	Raul Mestre	$50,000	Simon Ehne	Michiel Van Woerden

[edit] Late Night Poker Masters

Late Night Poker will return to British television from September 2006 onwards on Channel 4 under the new title Late Night Poker Masters. The format is changed to 4 heats with 8 players in each. (6 players in each heat will be professionals; the other 2 will qualify through the second series of Late Night Poker Ace.) Two players qualify through each heat to the final. ^[1].

Former winners Dave Ulliott and Padraig Parkinson have publicly stated on the Hendon Mob's forum that they will not be playing in the event due to favourable efforts being made towards foreign players by the show's producers. ^[2]

[edit] Confirmed Players

The following players will be returning: Joe Beevers, Barny Boatman, Dave Colclough, Peter Costa, Liam Flood, Ken Lennaárd, Marcel Lüske, Donnacha O'Dea, Pascal Perrault, Ben Roberts, Surinder Sunar, Willie Tann, Simon Trumper and Ram Vaswani

The new players featured are Roy Brindley, Peter Davidsen, Tony G, Kenna James, Iwan Jones, Theo Jørgensen, Michael Keiner, Lothar Landauer, Sean Murphy, Mikael Thuritz, and 8 online qualifiers. ^[3]