PokerGO got excited about their latest hot property and decided to launch the first episode of No Gamble, No Future early. The show went up on PokerGO last night, and more or less delivers what you'd expect.
The first episode is a $200/$400 cash game with Dylan DeStefano, Matt Hanks, Eric Hicks, Patrik Antonius, Ryusuke Daifuku, Eric Persson, and Matt Su. Matt Su you may remember from the 2022 WSOP Main Event final table.
Every player has at least $100,000 on the table. JRB turns up with $101k, while Alan Keating arrived with $600,000 in Aria chips.
There are plenty of bluffs and five-figure pots in the 90 minutes of play we get to see.
As you might expect from the man who broke Hellmuth, Eric Persson gives the table life. He's been pulled right out of the mid-2000s. The show shines when he is doing his (mostly) good-natured, ugly-American table patter. In short, he is a character and TV poker needs those.
At times he almost outshines the pair in the commentary booth.
From podcast to cash game
No Gamble, No Future's commentary is one of the major selling points of the show.
Fans of the Jeff Platt and Buffalo Hanks diad will be able to get their fill as the pair cover the action.
The show's main gimmick is that the two commentators (three if Amanda Negreanu joins the show in later episodes as anticipated) have a series of prop bets in play. These bets all concern possible outcomes and include things like "7-2 wins $100,000 pot" (at odds of +2,000) and "aces cracked" (-200).
As gimmicks go, it doesn't add a great deal — the poker is still very much the draw — but if it is a sufficient excuse to keep Platt and Hanks coming back for a second season, then it is well worth the time taken to set it up.
Fans of the show will have plenty of content coming up with the full season running to 21 episodes and not ending until well into January 2023. You can only watch the show on PokerGO.
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Poker.org covers the highest stakes poker action live and online. If you have spotted and/or taken part in any high-stakes action that you feel should be covered here, don't hesitate to get in touch with Jon Pill by email to jonpillwrites(at)outlook.com.
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Featured image source: PokerGO