Wednesday night may have marked the final installment of the UB.com sponsored poker news program “Poker2Nite.” UB.com officials declined to renew the show for a third season, according to show co-host Scott Huff.
The Twitterverse was buzzing on Thursday morning just hours after the “Poker2Nite” Season 2 finale aired on Versus. Huff Tweeted during the witching hours, “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.” Eight hours later, Huff clarified his cryptic remarks by commenting, “Since @Poker2Nite has not been renewed: Working on a musical number for my Legally Prohibited from Talking Poker on Television tour.”
Huff told Poker News Daily, “UB.com made the decision not to bring the show back.” Despite Huff’s Twitter comments and statement to Poker News Daily, Tokwiro COO Paul Leggett left the door open for a possible return. Leggett told Poker News Daily, “No long-term decision has been made on the fate of ‘Poker2Nite.’ We are taking a break from production over the summer to decide whether we will do a Season 3 in the fall or perhaps another poker television show.”
Season 2 of the program debuted on Versus on March 3rd with Absolute Poker pro Trishelle Cannatella, the eventual winner of the inaugural “On the Clock” trophy. Cannatella, the former bad girl of “Real World: Las Vegas,” answered eight rapid-fire questions in 60 seconds from “Poker2Nite” hosts Joe Sebok and Huff.
Guests during the second season of “Poker2Nite” included Cannatella, UB.com pro Annie Duke, PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) hostess Joanna Krupa, Lacey Jones, Prahlad Friedman, UFC’s Bruce Buffer, former “Celebrity Poker Showdown” host Kevin Pollak, actor Samm Levine, Tiltboy Rafe Furst, and Full Tilt’s Mike Matusow. In one of the more memorable moments of Season 2, Matusow threatened to run down the Las Vegas Strip in his birthday suit if three women win bracelets during the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Season 1 of “Poker2Nite” aired on Fox Sports Net and debuted on November 18th with ESPN poker announcer Lon McEachern as the featured guest. Hot topics for the kickoff show included Joe Cada’s then-recent win in the 2009 WSOP Main Event and Jeffrey Pollack resigning from his post as WSOP Commissioner. Other Season 1 guests included Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas, 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton, Gavin Smith, and tournament director Matt Savage.
Each week, Sebok, a UB.com pro, gave viewers the details of the “Poker2Nite” Pro Challenge, which will dish out five WSOP Main Event packages in a tournament to be held on June 6th. The top 200 players in each week’s freeroll moved on to the finale.
At press time, archived episodes of “Poker2Nite” Seasons 1 and 2 still appeared on UB.com’s website. “Poker2Nite” was also featured in the “Promotions” area of UB.com.
Huff and Sebok gained considerable media exposure through PokerRoad, which produces poker podcasts and video features. Other PokerRoad hosts include Jeremiah Smith, Joe Stapleton, Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, World Poker Tour (WPT) tournament reporter B.J. Nemeth, and Barry Greenstein. Stapleton was instrumental in providing media instruction to Cada following his win in last year’s Main Event.
We’ll have additional reaction to you on UB.com not renewing “Poker2Nite” right here on Poker News Daily.
Well, When you change the channel it’s on to a channel that lots of people do not have. It makes it very hard to keep those viewers. I was looking forward to watching season 2…now that I knew about it. But then the show changes it’s channel it broadcasts on to one I do not have. Therefore I cannot watch it. I’m sure many of my fellow Poker2Nite fans feel the same way.