The Celebrity Poker Club

Celebrity Poker Club was a game show of sorts on British television, a spin-off of another popular poker "game show" called Late Night Poker. That show had a buy-in format, occasionally featuring a low-level celebrity or sports figure, but mostly pitting 8 poker pros or strong amateurs against each other in a $3000 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold 'em game. In other words, every table was the final table. Condensing the usual four or five hour lengths that these games can go into an hour format and interesting and groundbreaking production values (such as the "card camera" that allowed viewers to see the player's hands) ensured a huge audience. From Late Night Poker sprang, naturally, Celebrity Poker Club.

Celebrity Poker Club Off The Air

Unfortunately, only one of the two shows survived, and it is not the one that featured Fiona Foster. You'd get that joke if you were British. Either way, it must be mentioned that Celebrity Poker Club is off the air. There is a considerable audience for DVDs and taped copies of the old show that ran from 2003 to 2005 -- a cult audience, one might say. The top prize available to these "celebs" (if you consider ex-journalists and old BBC stars "celebs") was 25,000 Pounds -- or almost $50,000 American. The celebs were apparently not paid for their appearances, making the stakes a little higher, although it is interesting to note that they were not required to donate any winnings to charity, as one would imagine would happen in America. Either way, a good time was had by all, and if that isn't the British way what is?

As the Celebrity Poker Club series faded in popularity, a "hottie" was added to produce some quite vapid post game interviews ("What were you thinking when you went all-in there, then?") in rather revealing costumes. This brilliant move did not apparently produce the ratings boost producers hoped, as the show hasn't aired since and probably never will.

Celebrity Poker Club Failes - Late Night Poker Thrives

So why did Late Night Poker thrive, and why does it continue to thrive, while Celebrity Poker Club failed? Could it be possible that television viewers are smarter than we give them credit? I would hope that professional players duking it out would be more entertaining than celebs playing off a two hour intro lesson, and apparently this is true. Perhaps viewers were too loyal to Late Night Poker to really include another hour-long poker show in their viewing time. Maybe the overwhelming presence of 3d graphics and manipulative techniques (such as the aforementioned "hottie") alongside increasingly intense and annoying card-by-card analysis by the infamously meticulous host Jesse May was finally too much for viewers. Either way, the show had its moments and still retains fans.

Celebrity Poker Club - Guest Celebrities

Some guests of Celebrity Poker Club were Sir Clive Sinclair (similar to our Bill Gates with less pure wealth), Ed Giddins (similar to Barry Bonds, drug abuse issues and all), Tom Parker Bowles (this one's tough . . . just imagine a Bush twin playing poker), and Raj Persaud (the Indian/Carribean/British Dr. Phil). Silly nicknames were bandied about and a laugh was had by all, but generally the winners of the series were "celebs" who just happened to have backgrounds in poker. The third series was nearly one by the aforementioned Giddins, who plays poker professionally besides playing cricket, but on a fluke he took second place. The second series was taken by poker pro Victoria Coren, who plays for Team PokerStars, and one could say that the winner of the first season had a huge advantage. Sir Clive Sinclair is, plainly, a genius -- the inventor of the first slimline calculator and a mathematical wiz, he is the mental equivalent of the world's top poker pro. In other words, the winners weren't much of a surprise.

Similar shows in America have enjoyed greater success. Does this mean American television audiences are more likely to watch a poker match full of beautiful people? Apparently so, although the truth is that traditional World Series of Poker programming gets similar ratings to the celebrity shows. Perhaps we just have more time to watch. At any rate, Celebrity Poker Club was what it was -- an attempt to cash in on a meteoric rise in the popularity of poker in general, and Texas Hold 'em in particular.

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