The Poker Lab Rat

While the US seems hell-bent on criminalizing in-your-own-home poker play, it’s interesting to see what other countries are up to with their own leisure-time games of psychology, mathematical prowess and luck.   

In the UK, Sky TV’s Poker channel (subscription-based pay television) has introduced an interactive, for-broadcast tournament, called “The Open,” kicking off each night at 9pm GMT.

The show plays on Sky’s own live, online, no-download poker site, with the commentary and ‘TV glitz’ added in Sky’s Feltham studio.

Players can participate via their satellite TV hookups, as well as through the Web. A 5-minute lag is programmed into the televising of the TV table’s play to help prevent players from gaining information about in-progress hands.

Sky had previously televised play from selected Microgaming-based poker sites, but the difference here is that players can join in through their TV connections as well as a standard Internet-based poker site.

A passing novelty or the next big thing?

It’s early days and while the nightly events are now drawing several hundred players, the Sky poker site itself is still looking to attract critical mass and the all-important higher-stakes play necessary to attract and retain the best, and most viewer-rated, poker talent.