Shown on
Channel 4's excellent
4Later season.
Hardcore
poker players from all around the world come to the table to compete for a place in the
Grand Final.
Every sitting at the table costs each entrant £4000 sterling, with
jackpots on the table reaching sums of three thousand plus pounds at times.
This is
real money. No
monopoly currency here.
The unique thing about late night
poker is that every player has a
camera mounted beneath their spot on the table, allowing the
public to see their hands, so you can tell who is
bluffing who. The game they play is called
Texas Hold 'em, so this allows up to 5 public cards to be displayed to everyone at the table, with each player having 2 private cards in order to make up the
best hand of 5 out of the 7. Betting takes place on the next card to come from the "
flop", which is when the dealer deals the first three public cards. The private cards are dealt first.
This type of poker combined with the cameras makes for some of the best television you will see these days. You can see these guys actually trying to
bore into the other players eyes to see who is bluffing. The bluffing that happens is serious, and really good to watch.
Some players are so good that just before the hand is over, they try and
guess the other players two cards. You would be surprised how accurate these guys can be.
Some of the players who appear on the show are
Sir Clive Sinclair, the actor
Ross Boatman (who appeared in
Patrick Marber's
West End play "
Dealers Choice"),
Simon Trumpe, and
Dave "DevilFish" Ulliot, from
Hull in the
UK, last years champion of
Late Night Poker.
Commentry is provided by
Jesse May and
Nic Szeremeta, who's banter greatly adds to the
atmosphere and
tension of the show.