For the past few years, there has been a major decline in TV poker programs. Ever since “Black Friday” took place, the only successful broadcast tournaments were the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).
This trend, however, may be over, as the Youtube channel of Game Show Network has shown interest in rejuvenating a program of its own. The program is to be called High Stakes Poker and GSN has recently been surveying its channel viewers about their opinion on re-launching their program. GSN expects that the results of the surveys will give them a good-enough data sample, providing enough information on whether a re-launch will be successful.
The survey consisted of the standard introduction questions of age, sex, location and other demographic details, followed by questions of how often users have seen the show each week or month, and whether they watched it online or on television. Next were questions which focused on the reasons why viewers watched the program. Those who filled the survey were asked if they stayed for the particular players on the program, the settings and atmosphere of the tourneys, or if they watched to simply learn more about poker.
Further on, the survey focuseed on the two hosts of the program, Gabe Kaplan and Kara Scott. Gabe hosted the event for six seasons and Kara – for two. Viewers were asked how important the hosts were for them to enjoy High Stakes Poker. The results of the survey showed that the hosts were quite important for the success of the show, which means that they will be hosting it again, if it is decided to air again.
The survey ended with soft questions such as favorite poker player, other preferred poker programs and main sources of poker news.
More about High Stakes Poker
The show would have made its tenth anniversary, if it was still being broadcast. It was broadcast through cable and network TV. The show often included world famous poker stars such as Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein and Doyle Brunson. Kaplan had A. J. Benza as a co-host who commented from Golden Nugget in L.A. What made the show so successful was its focus on showing the perks of cash game poker, instead of tournament poker only. The personal relations between the poker players, as well as them bringing their own money were part of the authentic charisma the show had.
The show has been broadcast for a total of seven years, five of which were hosted by Kaplan and the last two by Benza and Norm MacDonald. The show was popular throughout all the seven years.
Due to “Black Friday” taking place in 2011, the program was left with no sponsors. High Stakes Poker was not the only TV program to end like this. Face The Ace and Million Dollar Challenge, sponsored by PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker respectively, were also left to linger away despite the recent comeback of poker.
