Late Night Poker

The show that many believe kick-started poker on television is back. Late Night Poker, devised and produced by Presentable will return to screens on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 26 September at midnight with coverage of PartyPoker.com Late Night Poker Ace 2 and PartyPoker.com Late Night Poker Masters.

Late Night Poker Ace 2 is the search for the world’s best amateur poker player. 32 qualifiers make-up the final tournament tables from online qualifiers. Late Night Poker Masters pits the top eight amateurs from Late Night Poker Ace 2 against 24 specially invited top professionals, including players from the original Late Night Poker Series. Amongst those taking part are The Hendon Mob, Marcel Luske, Peter Costa, Tony G, Kenna James, Surinder Sunar and Ken Lennard.

The commentary team for both events is Jesse May, Simon Trumper and Barny Boatman and the programme is presented by Victoria Coren. The total prize pool for both Late Night Poker Ace 2 and the Masters is $410,000, with $50,000 going to the winner of Late Night Poker Ace 2 and $100,000 going to the eventual winner of the Masters.

A PartyPoker.com spokesman said “The gap between the abilities of the pros and amateurs is narrowing all the time. There are some truly remarkable hands, lay downs and table banter in this series.”

PartyPoker.com Late Night Poker Ace is billed as the search for the world’s best amateur poker player, and entry open to any amateur poker player. Qualification was exclusively online at PartyPoker.com with a field narrowed down to 32 players who won through to the televised tournament.

The tournament was played over four heats, with eight players in each heat with the final table seating eight players. Not only that the winner and runner-up from each heat win their buy-in to the Late Night Poker Masters and go through to the final of Late Night Poker Ace. The winner of Late Night Poker Ace wins $50,000.

The Main Event however is the $5,000 buy-in PartyPoker.com Late Night Poker Masters which is a new competition that pits the 8 best amateur poker players, who’ve won through from Late Night Poker Ace, against top professionals.

Four Professional poker players were chosen from the best previous Late Night Poker stars, while other current top international players are invited.

This tourney sees four heats, with eight players in each heat – two amateurs and six invited pros. The winner and runner-up from each heat go through to the final of Late Night Poker Masters (and the four winners take more chips than the runners-up).

The Grand Final sees eight players do battle for a total prize pool of $410,000, with the Grand Final champion scooping $100,000 and the Late Night Poker Masters trophy. All finalists win substantial cash prizes.

We say: Bring it on.