As we work our way into the second quarter of 2014, the amount of poker on television has been dwindling. Other than the new broadcasts of the World Poker Tour (and their upcoming Alpha8 series), there isn’t any new poker material hitting the airwaves. As they prepare to tape their fourth episode, one of the most anticipated poker programs in recent memory hinted at their premiere date.
‘Poker Night in America’ has been something that the poker community has been talking about for some time. Instead of focusing only on a few key hands played in a poker tournament, the cameras of the series follow the players around for an entire span of a tournament, capturing their moments of victory and anguish. In addition to the poker, the show trains the “never blinking eye” on the activities of these professionals and the hijinks they get into, especially the fun they have when they aren’t on the tables.
On his blog recently Nolan Dalla, who is a creative consultant for ‘Poker Night in America,’ commented about the anticipation that the show is building. “There’s lots of breaking news ahead, including a major announcement coming up about when and where the new show will air,” he writes. “I know many poker players and fans are eager to see what we’re doing, and the debut show should get a lot of people talking. We hope and expect this to be a real game-changer.” While there isn’t a network named, there is a date – April 27 – that the show will debut.
In making those statements, Dalla also announced the next stop for the cameras of ‘Poker Night in America.’ The new Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover will be the fourth locale that the ‘Poker Night in America’ team will land in, covering the $1 million guaranteed prize pool Main Event of their Maryland Live! Poker Classic. That tournament, with a $3500 buy in, will feature two Day Ones, with the first opening up play on March 21 (the tournament schedule itself begins on March 10). Action will be covered up to and through the final table, scheduled for March 24.
In addition to the coverage of the Main Event, the ‘Poker Night in America’ cameras will also be on hand for two special cash game events. Beginning on March 25, these cash games are expected to feature such players as Maryland’s favorite son, former World Champion Greg Merson, as he squares off against Gavin Smith, Matt Glantz, Darvin Moon, Christian Harder, Danielle Anderson and other “surprise” poker professionals. The buy in for these cash games is a minimum of $5000 and a maximum of $20,000.
The trip to Maryland Live! is the fourth expedition for the ‘Poker Night in America’ cameras and the previous three appear to have been extremely interesting in their own rights. The inaugural show is set to feature several top professionals – including four time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Tom Schneider, Eli Elezra, Layne Flack, Mike Matusow, Greg Mueller, Phil Laak and Smith (among others) – as they battle their way through the 2013 Empire State Poker Classic Main Event at the Turning Stone Casino and Resort. The cash game filmed during that time in New York – including a notable “slow roll” from Shaun Deeb against Matusow – is expected to be one of the highlights of that taping.
Following the New York journey, the ‘Poker Night in America’ cameras ventured to Reno, NV, for a slate of events at the Peppermill Reno. The crew wrapped up their 2013 tapings with a trek to Pittsburgh, PA, in November at the Rivers Casino, where the cameras were able to draw in a field that created the largest tournament prize pool in the history of that location.
Now that the fourth taping location has been made known, future dates are still being determined. When the series decided to start taping shows last August, there were three slated for 2013 and three for 2014. As of yet, the two additional sites for this year haven’t been released, but it is likely that they will be completed well before the start of this year’s WSOP.
