Gala Announces Deal with ITV to Televise Great British Poker Tour (press release)

 

 

Gala Casinos today announces a deal to televise all six Great British Poker Tour festivals for broadcast on ITV4 this Autumn.

Presentable, the production company that started the worldwide boom in television poker back in 1999 with Late Night Poker, is filming all the key play from each 5-day festival events of the Great British Poker Tour (GBPT). This will form a series of 12 one hour shows, hosted by presenter Alex Jones, which showcases the range of abundant poker talent across Britain.
    
Play from each final table will be covered in-depth to reveal how each regional winner achieved festival victory.

Celebrity players will also be amongst those testing their skills on air. To date, Michelle Heaton of Liberty-X, Doug Henshall of ITV1’s Primeval, and Norman Pace from comedy duo Hale & Pace have all played in the GBPT.

Following its Edinburgh launch in February, the GBPT has visited Teesside and will next run in Nottingham on 9th - 13th May. Further festivals in Bournemouth and Leeds are then set for summer 2007 before the tour culminates with a £500,000 Grand Final to be held in Bristol in early November.

Nick Potter of Gala Casinos said: “This is a long term, prestigious partnership with ITV and Presentable which adds another dimension to the play at the GBPT. So far the tour has been a massive success, and we plan to work with Presentable and the poker community to get some great programme content that all fans of the game will love”.

ITV4 Channel Controller, David Fewings, said: “We’re looking forward to having The Great British Poker Tour on ITV4 this autumn. The popularity of poker is growing every day and I’m sure this will be a fantastic contest”.

Megan Stuart of Presentable said: 'It’s thrilling to be working with Gala Casinos on this exciting new tour that takes television poker out of the studio and around the UK. We're anticipating some terrific contests and hope to discover some new poker stars in the process.'

Poker players interested in playing in the GBPT can qualify online at www.galapoker.co.uk (Gala Casinos’ online poker website). Players can also qualify live through many of Gala’s 30 casinos throughout Great Britain.

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