Poker After Dark on NBC
Overview
NBC's Poker After Dark began
airing in early 2007 and airs 6 nights per week at 2am in most time
zones. The show lasts one hour and each week's worth of episodes
focuses on one specific 6-player single table tournament.
Monday-Friday night's episodes feature new tournament action until a
winner is determined and Saturday night includes a recap of the
action with commentary by the players. Each week's Poker After
Dark tournament has a $20,000 buy-in with the winner taking the
entire $120,000 prize pool. The tournament is invitation-only with
star-studded fields including pros like
Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan,
Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, Phil Ivey, Gus
Hansen, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, and a slew of
poker's biggest names. Ratings have been strong for this late-night
newcomer, so expect it to become a TV poker mainstay.
Comments
NBC's Poker After Dark is unique
in that it is one of the few poker TV shows that actually shows most
of the action. As they have an entire week to air a single
tournament, there is minimal editing for time as opposed to a
similarly formatted show like Poker Superstars. Poker
After Dark has several hours to work with and airs
seemingly insignificant hands like blind-steals and small pots.
While this may seem like filler to casual TV poker fans, actual
poker players will appreciate the opportunity to follow the strategy
of the full tournament rather than just watch highlights of all-in
action. The total airtime of the tournament is about the same time
it took to actually play the tournament. Besides the occasional live
poker on holidays, this is very unique.
Another aspect that I appreciate in
NBC's Poker After Dark is the minimal commentary during the
action, which gives way to the pro table talk and subdued atmosphere
(unless, of course, Hellmuth and/or Matusow are at the table) of the
typical poker sounds. While I often enjoy pro analysis, Poker
After Dark provides a different and minimalist approach that
appeals to both fans and players of the game. This also suits the
overnight time slot, which is the prime viewing time for poker
players. The production, set, lighting, and graphics are top-notch,
which is would you would expect from a major network. NBC has
embraced poker programming in general with airings of the
National Heads-Up Poker Championship and the first season of
Poker Superstars.
The invitation-only format also makes
for better television as the field can be hand-picked to those we
really care to watch. Personally, my interest level in a poker show
is much higher when I can watch 6 recognizable poker pros play a
good poker game with solid strategy and a mutual respect for each
other. Fortunately, you won't have to deal with amateur antics,
internet-level gameplay, and a half-dozen satellite winners who ran
well for a few days. I would much rather watch Poker After Dark
than most episodes of the World Poker Tour because of the
non-edited play and the professional field. Even though it's for
much less money, it's simply a better poker game with better
players.
The actual tournament structure of NBC's
Poker After Dark is very much like a 6-handed Sit 'n Go with
all players starting with the same amount of chips and a fairly slow
increase in blind levels. What's great about this is that poker
players at home can actually learn strategy for online tournaments.
Because the play isn't edited to death, you'll get to see the small
players that truly matter to the final outcome. Basically, in
Poker After Dark, you get to watch a bunch of pros play a Sit 'n
Go. What better learning learning tool can you have than that? Much
like GSN's High Stakes Poker is brilliant for picking up
professional-level cash game strategy, NBC's Poker After Dark
can be a good strategy tool for shorthanded Sit 'n Go tournaments.
Overall, I throughout enjoy NBC's
Poker After Dark and would recommend it to both poker fans
and players.
You can usually catch new episodes on Mondays during the Fall. View our interactive
Poker TV Schedule for a full listing of programs.
Qualify for Poker After Dark for Free
 Full
Tilt Poker has been the only online poker room associated with Poker
After Dark and is running free qualifying tournaments for our new
players to win a $20,000 seat on the show. Other promotions include
private $12,000 WSOP freerolls for our players. You can view our
freeroll
schedule for more details.
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