Over the course of poker’s televised history, there have been plenty of excellent “made-for-television” creations. There have also been those that were a bit questionable. Where the latest partnership will go may yet be seen, but the World Poker Tour and Creator Television, a stable of “content creators,” have joined forces to create a new televised poker championship.
Content Creators Playing Poker?
In an announcement this morning, the World Poker Tour and Creator Television announced the newly born “Creator Poker Championship.” This tournament will be held on December 18, featuring popular “content creators” – internet personalities who have developed online personas that have made them semi-celebrities. Some of the names mentioned who will participate include “King Bach” (a Canadian comedian who had 16.2 million followers on Vine), “Wengie” (an Australian-Chinese fashion “influencer” with over four million YouTube subscribers), Daphinique Springs (a comedian), “Soy” (a TikTok sensation with over a million subscribers), and Jenny Lorenzo (a YouTube sketch comedian).
“Partnering with WPT on this incredible event is a dream collaboration. It brings an exciting and unique spin to an already successful global franchise,” said Joe Ochoa, the Co-founder and General Manager of Creator Television. “This event also marks Creator TV’s entry into the sports and gaming genres — something we are excited to expand alongside creator partners. It’s going to be a fun game.”
Loc Sondheim, the Vice President of WPT Studios, believes there is a market for such a tournament. “We’re thrilled to partner with Creator Television to bring this epic lineup of creators to the table,” Sondheim said during the announcement. “It’s heavy competition, big personalities, and can’t miss poker.”
The Creator Poker Championship is set to take place in Las Vegas on December 18. No details have been released as to a buy-in (or whether there is one) or any prizes that will be offered. Still, it will be available on Creator Television through such outlets as Amazon Fire TV Channels, LiveTVx, Plex, Sling Freestream, and Xumo Play, and on WPT’s YouTube, Twitch, and streaming distribution channels.
Whether it is a success or not could be determined by the one thing that both the WPT and Creator Television are looking for – eyeballs. The WPT states that the goal is to encourage creators to connect with their followers (subscribers) and, in exchange, get poker in front of people who might not otherwise approach the game. Likewise, the poker people who watch may become interested in the creators, adding to their brand.
Past Hits and Misses in Poker Content
Specialty poker productions – those that branched away from international tournament organizations and were specifically created for television – have a hit-or-miss record in the poker community. There have been some success stories, such as PokerGO’s creation of two different poker series, the U.S. Poker Open and the Poker Masters. In each of those cases, they have become critical parts of the international tournament poker schedule, featuring several popular professionals, both past and present.
A similar case can be made for NBC’s creation of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Bringing the best poker players in the world together with celebrity participants was one of the biggest poker productions during the “Golden Age” of poker in the Aughts (it is also slated to return later this year). For syndicated programming, there was Ultimate Poker Challenge, which featured a weekly tournament from The Plaza in Las Vegas. Hosted by the late Chad Brown, it was quite popular with viewers because it featured professional poker players who offered their commentary, such as Jennifer Harman, Antonio Esfandiari, and Phil Laak.
With the good, there is also the bad. While it was an interesting concept, and one that was copied recently at the World Series of Poker, the Game Show Network (or GSN) presented the “Battle of the Ages” as a part of their Poker Royale series. In this event, players under the age of thirty took on players over sixty (GSN also organized similar matches with male versus female players and celebrities against poker pros). These programs came at a time when poker programming was “hot,” and the different networks were scrambling to produce poker-related material (remember Celebrity Poker Showdown?).
Whether the Creator Poker Championship will end up on the “good” side or the “bad” side depends on whether people – either poker fans or fans of the influencers – tune in to watch. We will not know about that until December, when the program will air.
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