Poker Central announces their opening schedule for Oct, 1, and Lee Davy explains why he believes it fails to ignite too many fires.
I love poker, but 24/7?
Poker Central is about to become the world’s only 24/7 TV channel solely dedicated to the game we all love. But here’s the rub; there is probably a reason it’s the only 24/7 TV channel dedicated to the game we all love.
The new channel opens for business on Oct, 1. I would rather spend the night in a cave full of baboons than sit in front of the TV screen to watch what lies on their silver platter. It all leaves me feeling a little bit empty.
I am an avid football fan. Each Saturday I pray to the universe that I will not learn the Premier League scores. Match of the Day is sacrosanct, but there is little point watching it if I already know the results. It’s the same with any sport. It’s the same with poker.
I once watched Depeche Mode in concert. I was so excited. I didn’t expect a night of golden oldies – they had just released a new album – but I did expect to be swept off my feet as soon as Dave Gahan grabbed that mic and started having sex with it.
It didn’t happen. For some ungodly reason they started with the slowest tracks they possessed. There had never been a more apt moment when they launched into Enjoy the Silence, because by this time the stadium was full of it. Most of us had fallen to sleep.
I was expecting Poker Central to open with a light sabre. Instead they open with a musket: The Premier League, World Poker Tour Alpha 8, High Stakes Poker, The Big Games, et al. These are all reruns. We have seen them all before, and a lot of this coverage can already be found elsewhere on the World Wide Web. Even the Super High Roller Bowl Cash Game, that’s being aired on Dec 2, can be found in bits and pieces on YouTube.
In a way it reminds me of my early experience at Netflix.
I remember when the streaming site first came online. I slivered over to the site with the grace of a silverfish. I was expecting to be enslaved. I had seen it all before. The one time that Netflix shone was when they started creating their own unique content. That was worthy of an amphitheater. Before that it was only fit for the school stage.
Poker Central is going to have some unique content: Pokerography and Inside Poker are two shows I am looking forward to checking out, but I am worried for them. I fail to see how the site can produce enough quality to fill 168hrs of programming per week.
Clint Stinchcomb, CEO, Poker Central believes Poker Central is about to ‘serve tens of millions of passionate and sophisticated poker fans in the United States and around the world.’ If I was a betting man I would be doubling down that their audience is not going to be the Millenials.
I don’t think it’s a good idea. I don’t think it’s the right platform. Twitch, and other live streaming platforms are going to rip it to shreds. Does the poker community want to watch reruns of High Stakes Poker, or do they want to buy a piece of Dylan Hortin’s action via the staking platform Global Poker Link, and then watch him streaming live on Twitch with full hole cards, and running commentary from the man himself, whilst enjoying the sweat of their lives?
I’m sorry about being obdurate about this, but we’ve moved on. Things need to change. Old reliable faces need to be replaced by new invigorating ones. Old reruns need to be pushed aside and replaced by fresh new content. Until that happens I can’t see how the channel will survive.
I was expecting Poker Central to be new and fresh. Instead, all I see is poker’s version of UK Gold.
