A Cardiff TV Studio with a lot of poker history

Gary Clarke, 08/09/09 | Print this article

Many Irish poker players will claim that the TV show Late Night Poker sparked their interest in poker and for me it was no different. It’s launch in 1999 ran multiple series through to 2002 when the show took a break from our TV screens. In the mean time repeats were screened on the satellite channel Discovery Home and Leisure and it was around then that I came across this incredible show. I use the word ‘incredible’ here as without it I doubt I would even be playing poker today, let alone writing this article. It’s former winners are made up of all corners of the present day poker fraternity such as head of the Dusk Till Dawn poker club in Nottingham Simon Trumper, loud-mouth UK pro Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot and even louder-mouth US pro and most probably the most popular figure in poker today Phil Hellmuth.

For me Late Night Poker was all about characters. Each player had their own style like the conservative, patient Londoner Joe Beevers right through to the aggressive, action players like Swede Ken Lennard and Iranian player Korosh Nejad . For six seasons I watched religiously each and every episode as intrigued and fascinated as I was watching the first. The suspense of the show was such that even the players themselves were probably not as nervous as those viewing at home. The slow pace of the show let the audience forecast the hole cards before they were revealed. A feature which frustratingly, is never implemented in today’s TV poker. “Oh my god Barney, he’s got the Cowboys” whispers the ultra-cool American commentator Jesse May as the drama unfolds. The smoke billowed in the air and the thunderous laugh that roared through the opening credits was perfect. This show captured both the illusion and the reality of poker like no other.

This month I travelled to Cardiff to visit the place where TV poker was born and the city which developed a TV show which would change my life. The old ITV studios was no massive TV production galaxy or a state of the art centre that produced the most fascinating programmes on TV. In fact, it was a very simple and regular building. There were newsreaders walking into tiny rooms and offices all around. For me however the Presentable Studios had an air of poker history that no other studio will ever be able to boost. As players like American Pros Mike Matasow (over $7 million in tournament earnings), Huck Seed (WSOP Main Event Champ 1996) and Gavin Smith (former WPT winner) circled the side room, in many ways it was a pity. Although this was some of the finest poker talent in the world, I would have preferred to see Dave Colclough or Surinder Sunar or indeed any of the other original members of the Late Night crew.

As my buddy Roy Brindley got ready to take his seat next to Mike “The Mouth” Matasow, I envied the prospect of getting to play on the show where poker was first introduced to me. It wasn’t the prize pool or the opportunity to play on TV that attracted me but the chance to say “I played on Late Night Poker”.The show may have lost some of it’s edge and been diluted to a lacklustre format favoured by its predecessors but Late Night Poker will always be the Godfather of TV poker.

Late Night Poker returns to our television screens on Channel 4 tonight at 00.50.

Gary Clarke can be contacted at gary.clarke@pokerireland.ie

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