Poker Central partner with Stadium to launch a brand new show allowing poker fans to connect with users of Facebook Watch.
It wasn’t that long ago that I had to wait a week to watch an episode of the World Poker Tour (WPT), and even then it was on at an obscure time. Crikey, I also remember coming home from the nightclubs, smashed, and sitting on the sofa to come down watching Hitman & Her and Late Night Poker.
Back then, episodes of poker were as rare as episodes of Game of Thrones and Stones Roses’ albums.
Poker Central has changed all of that.
In their latest move to dominate the world of poker broadcasting, Poker Central has partnered with Stadium to create an original series set to launch on Facebook Watch.
The new weekly series, called “Friday Night Poker,” begins Friday, September 21, and runs for 13-weeks. The format mixes the old with the new as Poker Central gathers up the stars of the game, sits them in a live cash game, and gives the viewers the opportunity to interact with the players ‘real-time.’
It wasn’t that long ago that high roller, Bill Perkins, tweeted about the potential for live poker shows to interact with Twitter. I wonder if he inspired this latest move?
The new format also allows the viewers to interact with the hosts, and Poker Central has picked three crackers. Jeff Platt continues his sterling work with the company, as does Brent Hanks, and radio star Amanda Leatherman returns to the fold.
Friday Night Poker is on the box between 7 – 11 pm (ET), and there is also a short-form preview show Thursdays at 7 pm (ET) reviewing the next day’s lineup.
The game is No-Limit Hold’em.
Poker play is on a 30-minute delay as per Nevada Gaming Regulations.
The action takes place at PokerGO Studio ARIA Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
Stadium is a multi-platform, multi-sport network with a finger in a lot of pies. They show live and on-demand games, events, and extensive highlights of all the top American sports, and the NHL and PGA Tour are part-owners. Stadium launched in August 2017 after the merger of 120 Sports’ live studio operations, Silver Chalice’s Campus Insiders’ live collegiate games and Sinclair’s American Sports Network’s (ASN) distribution and live collegiate games.
At the same time Stadium began wiping off vernix, Facebook Watch was also born. It’s Zuckerberg’s stab at running a video-on-demand (VOD) service, where content creators keep 55% of revenue, and Facebook nets the rest. Press reports suggest that Facebook is keen to plough a billion dollars into 2018 programming. It began as a US-only viewing experience but expanding globally in August 2018.
