You can’t swing a dead ferret around the cable television program listings without hitting a few shows that let the viewer watch folks play poker games. Poker stars are big business. Shows like the WPT that feature holdem players competing in poker tournaments for cash, prizes, and bits of championship jewelry to accessorize their outfits around are now a staple of the cable television industry. In the days before Party Gaming owned the WPT and some of the major poker stars will still watching Barney and Blues Clues, there was a show called Celebrity Poker Showdown. This program featured mainstream celebrities (B and C listers mostly) and poker stars competing in holdem tournaments for a cheesy golden poker chip. At that point in time, watching folks like Dennis Rodman and Star Jones play poker games got old fast. The show failed, and went to broadcasting holdem heaven in 2006. I think it may be time to reexamine a show where celebrities play holdem.
Let’s face it; a celebrity poker show is never going to be the WPT. There simply aren’t enough celebrities out there who can play poker games at a high level. If a producer only includes celebrities who actually know how to compete at holdem at the WSOP and WPT level, all we are ever going to see is Jason Alexander playing strip poker against Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth. That concept could either be really good or result in the viewing audience collectively clawing their eyes out. What is needed is a concept that is inclusive to celebrity holdem players at all levels, and one that can also get the professional poker stars involved without giving them the opportunity to dominate the table and eliminate the folks with all the mainstream name recognition. In short, somebody needs to produce a “Dancing with the Stars” for the holdem industry.
A workable concept would be to get ten popular celebrities, ones who would appreciate the opportunity to play poker games on television, and pair them with one of the big name poker stars. The Holdem pro will act as their trainer during the run of the show. Every week the celebrities will play poker games (not necessarily holdem. Mixing it up with other games would make a nice change). The celebrity with the lowest chip count for the night gets eliminated. The next week everybody starts from even again, and they play another tournament for their survival.
This idea could be extremely entertaining and be different enough from shows like the WPT to give it its own niche. It would probably also attract crossover viewers who just like watching celebrities do just about anything.
This could work and bring celebrity poker shows back to television. In nominate Linsay Lohan as the first star to rehab their career when somebody eventually produces this concept.
