Poker is very much like Hollywood. Fans are interested in the action outside the main arena. Who is dating whom? Who is bitching whom? What is happening at the parties? Poker2Nite filled in this gap. Once a week hosts Scott Huff and Joe Sebok along with their team of Dana Workman and Lacy Jones interviewed poker celebrities and got them to speak out on personal moments or controversial topics. A recent episode had Sara Underwood revealing more than yoga skills. Another had Maria Ho talking on how she was heckled during the Amazing Race.
Season 2 of Poker2Nite is over and the gossip mill has it that it is curtains for the show. The rumor was started by none other than the co-host Huff, who was probably peeved at being out of a job that required asking intimate questions to poker babes. He Tweeted, “Cat is out of the bag with @poker2nite. Was fun while it lasted, and whether you loved it or hated it, I’m glad we tried something new. Since @Poker2Nite has not been renewed: Working on a musical number for my Legally Prohibited from Talking Poker on Television tour.”
The Poker2Nite web site has nothing to say on this issue. You can still read the invite for the second season, that says, “After a killer freshman season where some of the world‘s biggest names in poker stopped by to talk, Joe Sebok and Scott Huff are back with Season 2 of Poker2Nite. And the sophomore season promises to be even more entertaining than the first.” However UB, the show’s sponsors, issued a clarification through Chief Operating Officer Paul Leggett. Leggett said the door has not been closed completely and no long-term decision has been taken on the fate of the show. UB is taking a summer sabbatical while it mulls on whether it will do a Season 3 in the fall or another poker television show.
Meanwhile those who miss the show can go to the Poker2Nite web site and get a rerun of some of the hottest poker babes like Trishelle Cannatella, Annie Duke, Joanna Krupa, Lacey Jones, Lauren Kling, Liv Boeree and more.
WSOP is hosting the Tournament of Champions in which 20 spots will be filled on the basis of a public vote. Poker fans and bloggers on occasion have backed their favorites. However till of late no poker pro has pleaded for votes. It would be demeaning their stature. But poker babe Jennifer Harman threw self respect to the winds and uploaded a promotional video on You Tube.
The half minute Real Jen Harman video, which within a week has close to a 1000 views, has been couched as a Mother’s Day tribute but no one is being fooled. The video shows Jennifer cooking for her husband and says “Jen’s a wife”. The next scene shows her playing with her kids and says “Jen’s a mom”. Jennifer is shown applying make up and the caption is “Jen’s a woman”. And then Jennifer reveals a pair. Actually she reveals two pairs. One is a pair of aces, but it is the other pair that has been the talk of the town.
There was lot of praise about the quality of the pair bur aspersions were cast about its realness as well. To those who claimed that the frontage was real, a poster challenged “lol find a picture of her a few years ago and compare. then tell me they’re real” Not much has been said about the impropriety of canvassing for votes through such a video. But then poker blogs are more for fun.
The video ends with a reference to her poker playing abilities. The track says “I’m about to kick your **** and send you home to your own mom!” and the video displays the fact that she is a two time WSOP champion. The vote is then asked for. Jennifer is fully aware that it is not her poker skills but her décolletage that will do the trick. As one poster said, “Wow! Btw, I voted! ”
Jennifer is not the only one who is campaigning on You Tube. Poker pro Marty Smith raised the Irish flag in a longer video. Unfortunately, as someone said, “But he does not have the tits to match”.
As dumb as I think it was for them to launch a “big new poker site” on the Everleaf Network I have to give Victory Poker some credit in their advertising campaigns. They are doing lots of viral type videos and have even signed some “pro” players including Antonio Esfandiari, and The Maven. To be honest though I think they are throwing away their money as it is going to be next to impossible to add liquidity to a network that has an average of 400 players online at any given time and is ranked 17th for poker networks. Who wants to wait 3 hours to join a sit n go when they can go to Pokerstars and be in one in under a minute?
Anyway, here is a video I came accross that they made blowing up an RV with one of their pros “blitz”:
Phil Hellmuth is looking to change his image and no longer be referred to as the “Poker Brat”. According to Hellmuth in a recent interview with ESPN he feels that his image is causing him to lose more because more players are targetting him due to his evil reputation. In the interview he discussed how he played much better in 2006 when he wasn’t referred to as the “poker brat” and even though the TV editors love the way he draws ratings with his rants, he is making an effort to turn that around.
He recently tried this at a tournament where after getting sucked out he decided to just go over and shake his opponents hand instead of errupting. This was met with a round of applause by the audience.
Here is the interview with Hellmuth and ESPN where they discuss Phil’s new “kinder and gentler” image:
Last night UB.com (aka the cheating poker site formerly known as Ultimate Bet) launched a new TV show called Poker2Nite. The show is hosted by Joe Sebok and Scott Huff and is supposed to be some kind of poker talk show. For the very first episode they brought on former real-world hot tub three-way specialist (according to her wikipedia page), Trishelle Cannatella.
The interview started off with the 3 chatting about Trishelle’s last name, then Sebok asks why she is dressed so modest. Trishelle gets extremely “upset” and storms off the set. While on her way out, Huff says to her, “Maybe you’d be more comfortable if we did this in a hot tub”.
After watching this video, it looks like this is purely a marketing ploy for the show considering all 3 of these characters have ties to Ultimate Bet. As Trishelle is walking off the set the look in her face is more of a smirk then actual anger, and Sebok himself seems to have a smile on his fase as well. Here is the video here:
Cannatanella also seems to be the latest AP/UB “hot chick” poker player as she was seen playing the WPT Celebrity Invatational sporting an AbsolutePoker.com patch seen here. To her credit she did end up coming 3rd in the tournament winning $20,000.
Poker is very much like Hollywood. Fans are interested in the action outside the main arena. Who is dating whom? Who is bitching whom? What is happening at the parties? Poker2Nite filled in this gap. Once a week hosts Scott Huff and Joe Sebok along with their team of Dana Workman and Lacy Jones interviewed poker celebrities and got them to speak out on personal moments or controversial topics. A recent episode had Sara Underwood revealing more than yoga skills. Another had Maria Ho talking on how she was heckled during the Amazing Race.
