Monday, April 07, 2008

Will High Stakes Poker Return To TV?

Will High Stakes Poker return to TV? Someone associated with producer Poker PROductions stated a while back that another season hasn't been ordered yet, but a decision would be made by GSN after the World Poker Tour premiered. We'll soon see how the shows' ratings compare. Some industry observers believe that the World Poker Tour will produce higher ratings than HSP. Additionally, the GSN executive that brought in High Stakes Poker and the World Poker Tour was removed amid declining ratings last year; and GSN appears to be a poor demographic match for poker compared to ESPN or Fox Sports.

12 comments:

  1. It would be a real shame for this one to be canceled. despite its flaws, it was great cash game poker and entertainment..

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  2. Why wouldn't Poker After Dark play strictly cash games? The ratings would go thru the roof.

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  3. > Why wouldn't Poker After Dark play strictly cash games? The ratings would go thru the roof.

    In the identical time slot (Mondays at 9pm Eastern/Pacific) on the identical channel (GSN), World Poker Tour (WPT) draws over TWICE the average number of viewers per episode compared to High Stakes Poker Season 4.

    Daniel Negreanu mentioned on EPTlive.com on April 16 that GSN chose NOT to renew High Stakes Poker for a 5th season.

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  4. CardPlayer reports "President and CEO of Poker PROductions Mori Eskandani confirmed that GSN opted not to buy more seasons of the cash-game poker show."

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  5. CardPlayer replaced the article in the above comment with a new one. The relevant text is:

    Although President and CEO of Poker PROductions Mori Eskandani confirmed that GSN has not yet contacted his production company for new shows, he wouldn't rule out that GSN would never buy more High Stakes Poker episodes again. According to Eskandani, that could happen as soon as tomorrrow or a decade from now. If GSN wants new shows, he said they will produce them. He reiterated that just because GSN has yet to place a call to Poker PROductions for new episodes in the last few months, it doesn't mean that they never will.

    Translation: Mori Eskandani of Poker PROductions is very concerned with maintaining a positive image and the reporter got a good scolding.

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  6. > Translation: Mori Eskandani of Poker PROductions is very concerned with maintaining a positive image and the reporter got a good scolding.

    Exactamente, amigo.

    You are mastering the art of "reading between the lines".

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  7. Very sad. I'm surprised that WPT is so much more popular that HSP. I used to enjoy that show, but there's nothing more interesting than watching the pros in a CASH game, instead of yet another tournament with mostly strangers. Also, Kaplan is far and away the most entertaining poker announcer I've ever seen. If only NBC would hire him and AJ for Poker After Dark... and make it a constant cash game instead of tournaments.

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  8. Poker PROductions's Eric Drache has reportedly told two people recently that High Stakes Poker will be back. Supposedly Full Tilt is sponsoring it and it will film at the Golden Nugget in August. The first report, from Steve Hall, is no longer on the web but Pokerati discusses it. The second report, from Thor Hansen, is in Norwegian, but it's discussed here.

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  9. Thor Hansen is saying they will announce it Monday.

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  10. Pokerati says "a well-informed higher-up involved with Poker PROductions" reports that HSP hasn't been renewed but "supposedly a more official announcement about the show’s renewal or lack thereof is coming, in about a week-and-a-half;" and Poker After Dark "will be moving from South Point Casino to the Golden Nugget."

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  11. Can someone please post some fake news on this so I can get excited. It's been almost a month.

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  12. You have to read the blog to keep up on the rumors. Try this.

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