Poker on TV

PartyPoker.com Poker Den: The Big Game has started its run on Five in the UK on Wednesday nights, running for eight weeks. The series was filmed earlier this year by Matchroom Sport at the Poker Den in East London and was the UK’s first televised 24 hour continuous cash game.

Among those taking part were top pros Phil Hellmuth, Dave “The Devilfish” Ulliott, Tony G, Liz Lieu, Juha Helppi, Kenna James and Roland De Wolfe. Each player had to buy-in for a minimum of $5000, with blinds starting at $25/$50 and all players were free to leave the table at any time they wanted. The minimum buy-in rose to $10,000 at later levels.

A PartyPoker.com spokesman said: “The filming took place 24 hours after the conclusion of Premier League Poker and, suffice to say, some of the stars were still on tilt from that tournament. There is plenty of banter as you would you would expect from having such characters around the table but the game wasn’t without its problems.”

These ‘problems’ were handling the egos and demands of the players involved. Late into the night, over five hours into the game, Tony G turned up and wanted to play immediately.

However, at that point none of the eight seats were open so he tried to storm the studio and throw out those who were already on the table. When one eventually gave their seat up to him he called for “the Russian,” Kirill Gerasimov and didn’t give it up until “the rookie from red square,” was on the table.

Tension boiled over for some time as the regular Poker Den players became resentful of the superstars. His behaviour resulted in the walkout of several British players and bridges have had to be rebuilt since.

The real story of the cash game centred around one man, however, Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat spent most of his time with his head in his hands after taking a mauling in what he called one of the “spookiest” games he had ever played in. “I don’t remember a time when I spent twelve hours at the table without winning a significant pot,” said Phil, who walked out of the game straight into a cab to Heathrow Airport. Throughout, fellow players, led by the Devilfish and Tony G, were teasing the Madison Kid about his cash game ‘prowess.’

Commentator Padraig Parkinson said Hellmuth’s performance was “half murder, half suicide” and if you examine the Poker Brat’s body language it is evident that he is suffering.

The PartyPoker.com spokesman continued: “A 24 hour continuous cash game sapped the energy from a lot of the players. You see them laid bare and go on tilt so much that sometimes watching can be uncomfortable. Jesse May led the commentary for all 24 hours armed with strong coffee and red bull. We were surprised that the voice of poker had a voice by the end of it!”