Sky Poker - 1st Impressions

Sky Poker launched their new interactive poker show on sky channel 846 a couple of weeks ago so I decided to check it out as the nightly £2,500 game looked like pretty good value.

I've now played in the £2,500 Open once, a £1,000 freeroll once and three or four celebrity Sit & Gos and I'm pretty impressed. The poker software runs in your browser, so nothing to download. The poker software is pretty good and runnning in your browser doesn't really hamper things. If you have Sky TV then you can watch the coverage on channel 846 and even play on TV using your remote. Very groovy!

Where things get really groovy though are the TV coverage and your involvement in it. The TV show runs in a an amazing virtual studio with two presenters analysing the game as it unfolds and three celebrity girst players, each with a bounty on their heads.

The night I played in the open there were 317 players. The presenters are able to call up hands and re-run them on TV and analyse the way they are played as well as keeping you up to date on the progress of the tournament. It's quite exciting to watch the TV coverage of the tournament you are playing in. The presenters also periodically chat to the celebrity guests to see how they are getting on in the game. There are also segments where they stop to answer questions that the audience are texting or emailing in.

One night this week, Tikay from Blonde poker was presenting and Colchester Kev was one of the Clebrity guests, so I had to tune in and join in. The banter between Tikay, Kev and Helen was an absolute riot as they took the piss out of each other. There were plenty of Blondes playing in the tournament and Sit & Gos and even more of them railing the tables and firing witty motivational comment around in the chat box and mailing into the show. It was compulsive, hilarious viewing.

But it gets better... After Kev was knocked out of the open I decided to join one of the Celebrity Sit & Gos that Kev was playing in. I actually ended up playing in three of them and clocking up a 4th a 2nd and a 1st. The first game was tough and I never really got into my stride, but the second game was where the fun really began. I was playing pretty well and holding my own whilst the chatbox was getting saturated with chat from fellow blondes.

Eventually it got down to Heads up with Kev. When asked how he was doing by the presenters he said he had a good chip lead. We continued to slug it out for another ten minutes then presenters came across to ask how Kev was doing again and he said it was a good game and that we were about even. Tikay then asked if I had fought my way back to even out the chip stacks and Kev had to confess he had been lieing earlier :-). Anyway, when asked about the current hand Kev told everybody what cards were out on the board and then went on to tell Tikay, all the Sky viewers and worst of all me what he was holding, oooops. What else could I do but put in a massive overbet, much to the amusement of Tikay in the studio and all the Blondes railing us. Kev naturally folded and much hilarity ensued. I never did tell him that I had made my straight and knew I had him beat even before he revealed his hand.

We kept playing for another ten minutes or so before Tikay and Helen came back to interview Kev. As they chatted the flop cards came down and Kev moved all in. He had been shoving a bit in previous hands as the blinds were now big and the flop was a bit raggedy. I had made middle pair but had a King kicker. I suspected Kev had either made top pair or was on an out and out bluff. I thought for a moment and was pretty sure I was behind, but that kicker was good and wouldn't it be a laugh to make the call and see his reaction on live TV. If he was bluffing it would be a riot, if not I still had my King kicker and it would make good telly. It's for a good cause too as anything Kev won would go to charity. I called his all in.

Kev leapt out of his chair and all eyes were on his monitor. Sure enough he had top pair and he started begging the Poker gods not to show him a king on the turn or river. No King came and he won the pot with his top pair before letting out the triumphant battle cry of "Ship it to the fat lad from Colchester". I litterally had tears streaming down my cheeks, what a laugh.

I played one final celebrity Sit & Go but NTL dropped my connection right at the start of the game and it took me about 15 minutres to get back in, by which time there were only three of us left in the game. I had been blinded down to about 800 chips and the two other players had around 4,000 chips each, this was going to be tough. I went into Pushbot mode, picked my spots and I'm delighted to tell you I took down the game with a very satisfying 1st place.

All in all an excellent night of poker, not the most profitable but perhaps one of the most fun. Being part of a TV tournament is great but it's absolutely awesome when you get into a situation where you are playing against somebody who you are watching on live TV , the presenters are getting involved with the game and the chatbox is streaming with comments and abuse from the Blonde squad. A truly interactive, compelling and absolutely hilarious experience. You should try it.