DAILY BUZZ: Poker Game Show, Cada-Letterman, Bellande Out at Bodog

Jason Kirk | November 17, 2009

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

New poker game show features familiar faces

Mike Sexton will host Shuffle Up And Deal

Mike Sexton will host new MyTV game show Shuffle Up And Deal

Poker game shows are apparently the biggest trend at the crossroads between television and poker right now, so it’s not surprise to hear that another one called Shuffle Up and Deal is coming to the small screen in the near future. According to the press release announcing the show:

In each episode, amateur poker players choose their own cards from an over-sized electronic board, and the turn of each card either helps the contestant’s hand or destroys their chances of winning. The main objective of the game is to finish with the largest amount of cash winnings amongst the five contestants. The one that advances to the bonus round plays for a progressive jackpot that seeds at $250,000 and goes up ten thousand dollars for every day it is not hit. The jackpot will eventually top out at one million dollars.

That doesn’t sound all too poker-y, but it seems that’s the cost of doing business as “TV’s First Family-Friendly Poker-Themed Game Show.” The lineup of talent attached to the show helps to tilt it back in the right direction, though; hosting the show will be none other than 2009 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Mike Sexton, along with former Ultimate Poker Challenge hostess Brandi Williams. A traveling live version of the show will also visit casinos around the US, sporting former Bluff Player of the Year Chad Brown as its emcee.

The myTV network, which reaches some 50 million viewers in the U.S., has ordered 13 episodes of the show to air early next year.

World champ to appear on Letterman tonight

Newly crowned world champion Joe Cada is just beginning to enjoy his reign. After appearing on WWE Monday Night Raw at Madison Square Garden last night, the 21-year-old is continuing his New York trip with a scheduled appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman.

It looks like he’s the first poker player to appear on the late night king’s show since 2004, when Annie Duke was a guest, which has to put Cada’s WSOP Main Event win firmly in the “good for poker” category - especially if Dave asks him about playing online and gives him a chance to stump for the entire community. Cada said last night that he’ll be playing a cash game backstage with the Late Show production crew before heading back to MSG for a New York Rangers-Washington Capitals hockey game - not a bad way to spend the evening whether you’re the world champion or not!

The Late Show With David Letterman airs on CBS at 11 p.m. ET.

Bodog bids Bellande bye-bye

Bellande out at Bodog

You wouldn’t know from looking at his Twitter feed, where Bodog’s logo is still prominently featured, but Jean-Robert Bellande is no longer a member of Team Bodog. Sources close to Bellande say that his sponsorship contract expired at the end of October and the online room declined to renew it.

The move doesn’t come as a big surprise. With the exception of a second-place finish in a bracelet event at the 2008 WSOP, success in big tournaments has eluded Bellande for the last several years. However, he made the most of a 2005 televised final table appearance at the WSOP Circuit Las Vegas, spinning that face time into an appearance on CBS’ reality series Survivor and the Bodog sponsorship. Who knows - with the public’s appetite for reality television as hearty as ever, JRB might be able to spin up another sponsorship if the online market in the U.S. is ever opened up.

Bodog still has three sponsored pros on its roster - Justin Bonomo, Evelyn Ng, and David Williams - none of whom are expected to leave anytime soon.

Keep up with Jean-Robert Bellande to see what he does next by following his Twitter account.

Cake Poker introduces synchronized tournaments

Starting today, Cake Poker is giving its tournament players a break - a synchronized break, that is.

The growing online poker room today implemented synchronized breaks across its entire tournament schedule, giving players the chance to actually step away from the computer long enough to grab a quick bite or hit the bathroom without missing any of the action. All multi-table tournaments on the site, including those in late registration or the first blind level and multi-table sit-and-go tournaments that started with more than 30 players, will now go on break at 55 minutes past the hour, every hour.

Shark Out Of Water

And finally, have you ever noticed just how few good poker movies there are? There’s the Steve McQueen classic The Cincinnati Kid, the pre-poker-boom Matt Damon flick Rounders, and maybe the improvisational The Grand, and then not much else to choose from - unless you’re one those people who actually liked Deal or Lucky You, in which case you might want to consider never telling anybody about your forbidden love.

Maybe the reason so many directors have gotten it wrong is that they’ve gone feature-length, rather than going for the short film route. If that’s the case, there’s hope for director Juan Riedinger’s Shark Out Of Water, a newly-released 18-minute film that’s making the rounds of the North American film festival circuit. Shark boasts cameo appearances from Phil Hellmuth and Brad Booth, and with such a short running time there’s no room for a bloated plot, which has to bode well. Right now there’s no way to see the film without attending one of the many film festivals for which it was selected or buying it on DVD for $10, but there are apparently plans to release the film via iTunes sometime in the near future.

Check out the sharp-looking trailer at the official Shark Out Of Water website, where you can also purchase the DVD. A tip of the hat goes to Pokerati, who first alerted us to the Shark in the water.

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