Tonight's line-up is Richard Orford as Presenter, with Anna Fowler as the recreational player taking on pro player Ryan Spittles, & with - as DoyleBrun would attest - waffle (interesting waffle) supplied by Yours Truly.
I would doubt that anything special is planned as such, as we have to keep it professional for Sky Sports.
When I signed up with Sky it was slightly weird to go on the show and be more of a regular than a guest and I always felt a little bit rude to be bursting into something that worked so well for so many years without me. The whole team, both those who appear in front of the camera and those who work away out of the limelight, were hugely welcoming and always professional but I was actually quite a bit more nervous when I started appearing as the Ambassador rather than as someone who could just sit there and chip in when I fancied it.
I'm not sure how long it was after I started wearing a Sky Poker patch before the announcement was made that the show was moving to a once a week Sky Sports slot but the decision certainly made a lot of sense to me. There was no real choice as SB&G didn't have a licence to run a shopping channel as the licence was owned by BskyB but even if they could have carried on they would have been weighing whether to continue making a large band of largely existing customers who watch occasionally very happy as those people really loved the show and many had been with it from the start, but not many of them watched it on any given night, against getting 50x more people to watch it many of whom had no idea why they were watching it, what was going on or whether they would ever watch it again. I definitely think taking the later option would have ben the right choice if there had been a choice but that presented a whole new challenge to those that worked on the show to make something that might appeal to a much newer and more casual viewer who may have only just arrived and who may not stay long.
I think they did a brilliant job at covering all bases and making something fresh, different and interesting that engaged a pretty huge number of people every week.
Tonight's line-up is Richard Orford as Presenter, with Anna Fowler as the recreational player taking on pro player Ryan Spittles, & with - as DoyleBrun would attest - waffle ( interesting waffle) supplied by Yours Truly. I would doubt that anything special is planned as such, as we have to keep it professional for Sky Sports. It'll be an upbeat show though, I'm sure of that. Posted by Tikay10
Oh wow! I'll def be tuning in then ! I've not seen Scotty77 for AGES!! ;-))))
In summary I'd like to say I loved my time appearing on the Sky Poker TV shows in all the formats and I hope when people have watched they have been able to see how much fun we are often having.
I think it's fitting that the last show should have the four people who have put in more hours than anyone else in front of the cameras as the talent. I hope you all have a great show, I found it a pleasure to work with you and I'd like to wish you all the luck going in future endeavours.
It is sad that people should lose their jobs at anytime of year and I hope that Dan, Chan and Louis who have worked hard behind the scenes get something that they love doing that pays them handsomely very soon.
I got back into Poker after over 20 years when watching channel 865, James, Richard & LML doing the presenting and Tikay and Ed doing the analysis. Others who have come and gone since including Ryan, Karl, Ross, Sarah, Neil, Stapes, Jules and Anna have all been really great viewing, and even Carlo gave us an insight or two at times! Apologies to those I've unintentionally omitted.
Really sorry to see Sky Poker TV go. I may even try to find a dodgy internet stream of the channel to watch tonight's finale.
I knew I shouldn't have started listing favourite people on Sky Poker, so sorry Laura, Redmond, Julian,the fantastic Jen and of course Stuart!
I was looking around Youtube to see if there was any footage of either of James' rapped/sang hand analyses, didn't find them but did come across this gem I don't remember seeing before - James teaching Richard how to play OFC!
Condolences to those that have lost their jobs, but you've got some great cvs.
The writing was on the wall as soon as skypoker was taken over by a private equity company, as I mentioned at the time. A small loyal following has little interest to someone who is only interested in the cash in hand. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has played a lot less once the live shows disappeared. Thanks to all the presenters, guests, and skypoker players that made it such compelling viewing and through which we learnt so much about playing, and enjoying, online poker.
In Response to Re: Sky Poker TV Announcement : Yup, there's still a bit of husbandry and tidying up to be done Mick. It'll all be sorted in the next few days. Posted by Tikay10
Comments
Tonight's line-up is Richard Orford as Presenter, with Anna Fowler as the recreational player taking on pro player Ryan Spittles, & with - as DoyleBrun would attest - waffle (interesting waffle) supplied by Yours Truly.
I would doubt that anything special is planned as such, as we have to keep it professional for Sky Sports.
It'll be an upbeat show though, I'm sure of that.
When I signed up with Sky it was slightly weird to go on the show and be more of a regular than a guest and I always felt a little bit rude to be bursting into something that worked so well for so many years without me. The whole team, both those who appear in front of the camera and those who work away out of the limelight, were hugely welcoming and always professional but I was actually quite a bit more nervous when I started appearing as the Ambassador rather than as someone who could just sit there and chip in when I fancied it.
I'm not sure how long it was after I started wearing a Sky Poker patch before the announcement was made that the show was moving to a once a week Sky Sports slot but the decision certainly made a lot of sense to me. There was no real choice as SB&G didn't have a licence to run a shopping channel as the licence was owned by BskyB but even if they could have carried on they would have been weighing whether to continue making a large band of largely existing customers who watch occasionally very happy as those people really loved the show and many had been with it from the start, but not many of them watched it on any given night, against getting 50x more people to watch it many of whom had no idea why they were watching it, what was going on or whether they would ever watch it again. I definitely think taking the later option would have ben the right choice if there had been a choice but that presented a whole new challenge to those that worked on the show to make something that might appeal to a much newer and more casual viewer who may have only just arrived and who may not stay long.
I think they did a brilliant job at covering all bases and making something fresh, different and interesting that engaged a pretty huge number of people every week.
In summary I'd like to say I loved my time appearing on the Sky Poker TV shows in all the formats and I hope when people have watched they have been able to see how much fun we are often having.
I think it's fitting that the last show should have the four people who have put in more hours than anyone else in front of the cameras as the talent. I hope you all have a great show, I found it a pleasure to work with you and I'd like to wish you all the luck going in future endeavours.
It is sad that people should lose their jobs at anytime of year and I hope that Dan, Chan and Louis who have worked hard behind the scenes get something that they love doing that pays them handsomely very soon.
I got back into Poker after over 20 years when watching channel 865, James, Richard & LML doing the presenting and Tikay and Ed doing the analysis. Others who have come and gone since including Ryan, Karl, Ross, Sarah, Neil, Stapes, Jules and Anna have all been really great viewing, and even Carlo gave us an insight or two at times! Apologies to those I've unintentionally omitted.
Really sorry to see Sky Poker TV go. I may even try to find a dodgy internet stream of the channel to watch tonight's finale.
I was looking around Youtube to see if there was any footage of either of James' rapped/sang hand analyses, didn't find them but did come across this gem I don't remember seeing before - James teaching Richard how to play OFC!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZwM16jnjvg
And of course not forgetting Machka's ode to "Value Town" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHHTwuF_biY
Condolences to those that have lost their jobs, but you've got some great cvs.
The writing was on the wall as soon as skypoker was taken over by a private equity company, as I mentioned at the time. A small loyal following has little interest to someone who is only interested in the cash in hand. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has played a lot less once the live shows disappeared. Thanks to all the presenters, guests, and skypoker players that made it such compelling viewing and through which we learnt so much about playing, and enjoying, online poker.
RIP Skypoker TV