Finally got around to checking it out. I got a little further than LimpDitka, but not much. It was quite cringe. Bear in mind, this is coming from someone who credits Celebrity Poker Showdown – and not Rounders nor the WSOP coverage – for getting me into the game. I'm more than willing to watch bad poker so long as the people are entertaining. This was mostly not that.
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But then seeing I personally hardly recognized anyone in these fields, I became quite disappointed there. Am I the only one? How are they picking these so-called celebrities for invitations? What qualifies someone as being a celebrity for these events?
Besides any NFL player, my guess is "celebrity" means anyone who achieved at least some fame in another field. Results will always vary with this stuff. Not many of Alex Botez' 1.3 million Twitch followers probably know who Calais Campbell is. And in fairness, most NFL fans probably think the Benoni Defense is something Vic Fangio invented to stop the run.
But yeah, there must have been a low bar to be considered a celebrity by the PokerGo brass. I had to Google search the eventual winner. And having your claim to fame being streaking a Champions League game five years ago does not a Q Score make, but perhaps any hot blonde will make the cut because you can now throw her into the thumbnail.
In the end, I don't hate the idea of having these types of events to help poker expand its base. However, at least when it comes to YouTube, that HCL game with Ninja, Mr. Beast and Ludwig had a much better chance of accomplishing such an objective. That should have set the template. The crossover between NFL audiences and those you watch six-hour YouTube streams is relatively limited.