Lou Krieger
2005-02-13 16:14:11 UTC
I'm in Las Vegas working on a TV show called "Vegas Virgins," which is why
I've been largely absent from RGP the past few weeks but it's been more fun
than almost anything I've ever done.
Here's the show's concept in a nutshell: It's a poker-meets-reality-show in
which 10 people who have never played casino poker before -- five from the
USA and five from the UK -- are whisked away to Las Vegas for three weeks,
put up in a first class hotel and provided with poker coaching. That's my
job, and it will be on camera. A "success coach" in the person of Dr. Sally
St. John, has also been provided for the players, and it's her job to work
with each of them on life lessons while I concentrate on making credible
poker players out of absolute newbies.
Each day there are tasks to be performed, such as eating incredibly horrid
food, walking on a tightrope suspended just below the Fremont Street
Experience canopy -- sort of like "Survivor" or "Fear Factor," and it's no
surprise since the show's producers are veterans of those shows -- and task
performance determines the number of starting chips in each night's poker
game.
The winner of each evening's poker game selects one player to be tossed off
the show. In alternating fashion, they toss a Brit, then an American, until
just one player from each country remains. The two survivors will play and
the winner receives $5,000 to play poker against a few real "pros," each of
whom will be armed with fewer chips. The money discrepancy levels the
playing field and give the newbie a fair shot at winning.
I'm on camera for all shows giving poker lessons to the players and doing
the play-by-play commentary of each nightly tournament, which gives me some
opportunity to talk up my seven books, as well as the two online sites I'm
associated with: Royal Vegas Poker and the College Poker Championship.
I'm not sure about when the show will air in the USA, although it is set to
air in the UK in May or June. While we were filming, folks from the Casino
and Gaming TV Network were on hand, so they'll probably air the show, even
though that network has yet to make its debut. Vegas Virgins will be seen
in both the UK and USA through syndication, though I do not have any
specific dates; what I do know is that filming began the last week in
January and will run through February 15.
I realize the hard core cynics on RGP will probably trash the show as being
untrue to the real nature of poker, but I've never done anything like this
in my life and I'm loving every moment of it. Days are long; there are
poker lessons to be given, tasks to be performed (often at different
locations in and around Las Vegas -- we've been to the Rim of Fire, the Navy
Graveyard at Nelson, NV, an Elvis Wedding Chapel, Fremont Street) and the
riggings and shoots are quite time consuming. Often we begin in the morning
and don't finish until midnight. I think I've played poker only four times
since I've been here, although I did get a chance to have breakfast one day
with Jim Brier, Barry Tanenbaum, and Dr. Al Schoonmaker.
The nightly poker tournaments have been filmed onsite at the Orleans as well
as at Media Underground, a Las Vegas production facility with a controlled
environment, where a set has been rigged to model a poker game in a casino.
We began filming in late January and conclude February 15. The crew is a
mixture of Brits, Aussies, and Irish and a great group to work and hang out
with. When they hired me for the gig, I looked at it as a one-time
opportunity. But now with some light visible at the end of the tunnel, I'm
hoping the show is successful and they decide to bring it, and me, back for
a second season.
With John Harkness doing his thing on "Tilt," and me on "Vegas Virgins," can
episodic television be the next frontier for poker players? In this altered
state of poker perception and media feeding frenzy, anything can happen.
Quien sabe?
I've been largely absent from RGP the past few weeks but it's been more fun
than almost anything I've ever done.
Here's the show's concept in a nutshell: It's a poker-meets-reality-show in
which 10 people who have never played casino poker before -- five from the
USA and five from the UK -- are whisked away to Las Vegas for three weeks,
put up in a first class hotel and provided with poker coaching. That's my
job, and it will be on camera. A "success coach" in the person of Dr. Sally
St. John, has also been provided for the players, and it's her job to work
with each of them on life lessons while I concentrate on making credible
poker players out of absolute newbies.
Each day there are tasks to be performed, such as eating incredibly horrid
food, walking on a tightrope suspended just below the Fremont Street
Experience canopy -- sort of like "Survivor" or "Fear Factor," and it's no
surprise since the show's producers are veterans of those shows -- and task
performance determines the number of starting chips in each night's poker
game.
The winner of each evening's poker game selects one player to be tossed off
the show. In alternating fashion, they toss a Brit, then an American, until
just one player from each country remains. The two survivors will play and
the winner receives $5,000 to play poker against a few real "pros," each of
whom will be armed with fewer chips. The money discrepancy levels the
playing field and give the newbie a fair shot at winning.
I'm on camera for all shows giving poker lessons to the players and doing
the play-by-play commentary of each nightly tournament, which gives me some
opportunity to talk up my seven books, as well as the two online sites I'm
associated with: Royal Vegas Poker and the College Poker Championship.
I'm not sure about when the show will air in the USA, although it is set to
air in the UK in May or June. While we were filming, folks from the Casino
and Gaming TV Network were on hand, so they'll probably air the show, even
though that network has yet to make its debut. Vegas Virgins will be seen
in both the UK and USA through syndication, though I do not have any
specific dates; what I do know is that filming began the last week in
January and will run through February 15.
I realize the hard core cynics on RGP will probably trash the show as being
untrue to the real nature of poker, but I've never done anything like this
in my life and I'm loving every moment of it. Days are long; there are
poker lessons to be given, tasks to be performed (often at different
locations in and around Las Vegas -- we've been to the Rim of Fire, the Navy
Graveyard at Nelson, NV, an Elvis Wedding Chapel, Fremont Street) and the
riggings and shoots are quite time consuming. Often we begin in the morning
and don't finish until midnight. I think I've played poker only four times
since I've been here, although I did get a chance to have breakfast one day
with Jim Brier, Barry Tanenbaum, and Dr. Al Schoonmaker.
The nightly poker tournaments have been filmed onsite at the Orleans as well
as at Media Underground, a Las Vegas production facility with a controlled
environment, where a set has been rigged to model a poker game in a casino.
We began filming in late January and conclude February 15. The crew is a
mixture of Brits, Aussies, and Irish and a great group to work and hang out
with. When they hired me for the gig, I looked at it as a one-time
opportunity. But now with some light visible at the end of the tunnel, I'm
hoping the show is successful and they decide to bring it, and me, back for
a second season.
With John Harkness doing his thing on "Tilt," and me on "Vegas Virgins," can
episodic television be the next frontier for poker players? In this altered
state of poker perception and media feeding frenzy, anything can happen.
Quien sabe?