Drama-packed live cast flies out of the gate. #HashtagKing makes it rain. Gets felted by Shaun Deeb. Brandon Cantu puts Deeb on “seven year” layaway plan. Poker fans react. Friday marked the return of Poker Night in America as concurrent viewership peaked at over 4,500 fans who tuned-in to watch Upswing Poker featured pro Doug Polk, Shaun Deeb, Eric Wasserson, Salomon Ponte, Kyle Bowker, Brandon Cantu, Kelly Winterhalter, Mike Dentale and other high profile players compete against each other in a $25/$50 No Limit Hold’em cash game broadcast live from the Choctaw Casino Resort in Oklahoma. The official PNiA stream began at approximately 3:50pm Central Time, and it only took a few moments for fans to realize they would be in for an evening of unique, drama-laden high stakes action that showcases some of the biggest names in United States poker. https://twitter.com/Roothlus/status/855603185574182913
Judging solely by the numbers, Friday’s show was wildly popular; eclipsing last month’s opening-day cast by roughly 2,000 viewers. Yet as several key posters in the TwoPlusTwo NVG forum have pointed out, the hours’ long drama took precedence over almost all of the actual card playing, poker promotion, and general flow of live programming.
Inexperience of carrying a broadcast that is being watched by thousands in real time may have played a role in some of the drawn-out table banter. Like it’s one thing to whip out the old “scammers gotta pay” dialogue and pass it around the table for all to digest… yet another thing entirely to chew on it for eight hours without a resolution. Taking a live audience to Third Base on such a hot-button issue, and never rounding towards Home Plate meant that several opportunities to grow poker were missed by the live playing talent. Separately, Doug Polk was on the receiving end of yet another one-way shouting match that didn’t conclude with a legitimate heads-up contest. This time it was Salomon Ponte (aka “Hashtag King”) who took 90 minutes out of his busy schedule to ply his trade, talk a ton of smack and attempt to get his gimmick over before moving on to hawking his wares upon being stacked by Deeb.
Soaring interest in Poker Night in America’s 2017 programming validates the argument that PNiA and its player roster are sitting on a bonafide winner. The show’s producers have awarded an enormous, unprecedented amount of leverage to poker players in an effort to innovate televised poker entertainment by embracing a modern era of marketing in which talent drives growth with media in supporting roles that make sense for all involved. Choctaw Day 2 is currently underway with Doug and Kelly stepping-in for Saturday action featuring Kyle Julius, Steven Fuhrman, Parx Casino Poker Room Ambassador Esther Taylor-Brady, David Baker, and Ashley Hine. WATCH NOW! Poker Night in America Live Stream – Day 2 Choctaw Casino https://twitter.com/MattGlantz/status/855802029209509888
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