Have you ever been watching an "Entertainment Tonight" type news/magazine/gossip/star-studded TV show and wondered, why don't they do something on the subject of poker, poker players, and what's happening in the poker world? I've got good news! "They" have and I want to tell you all about "them" and the new (upcoming) TV show, "PokerBeat."

"They" are poker people, primarily Michael Hochman and Annie Adlin. Michael began his career as a poker dealer over 17 years ago. Today, he is the Director of Table Games at Canterbury Park. Annie also began her poker career as a dealer and has been in the poker industry for over 20 years. Today, she is the Card Club Shift Manager at Canterbury Park. Matthew Kaphan also was in the poker industry but he changed professions a few years ago to pursue a career in video production. This circle of poker friends had many discussions on the success of poker in general and the World Poker Tour in particular. The questions they posed to each other were; with all the interest in poker, don't you think the public would be interested in the actual poker players as individuals and how they got to where they are, what their "real" live is like, and what is going on in the poker world? Isn't the public not only interested in more in depth, behind the scenes information, but also hungry for it? How do poker players really think? How did they make this career choice? Rather than TV people doing poker, how about poker people doing TV? Could it be done?

Sitting at a Denny's restaurant, the idea and concept for PokerBeat was born. "At one of our meetings", Michael remembers saying, "I said to Annie and Matthew that there are probably 100 other people at 100 other restaurants discussing the same thing. It seemed so obvious! We knew we had to get out there and do it first." After many more discussions, note taking, idea pitching, and brainstorming, Michael and Annie decided that they loved the whole concept enough to want to move forward, beyond the talking stage, but it is a long and expensive way from a good idea to production. "We went the extra step," Hochman stated, "we not only talked about it, we decided that it was such a good idea that we put our own money on the line and went forward with producing a pilot. I took my entire poker bankroll."

"I dipped into my nest egg," Annie stated. "It's a fact that a TV show can make a star out of a young player who hits one tournament. We had a dream to showcase people who have paid their dues with continuing wins and accomplishments in the poker world, not just in tournaments but also in the pursuit of the good of poker. People like Linda Johnson, Russ Hamilton, Tom McEvoy, Barry Greenstein, and Daniel Negreanu to name a few."

Without exception, everyone they talked to thought it was a tremendous idea. They came up with hundreds of ideas, which they narrowed down to specific areas they wanted to cover in the show. The lineup features, timely poker news and events along with a little in your face comedy. The hosts are Lee Adams and Dave Eglseder. They report the news, tournament results, and hit the streets to bring events and players into your living room and just maybe, a tad of juicy gossip (not always serious by a long shot!) "I see people all the time", Michael adds, "who are afraid they are going to do something wrong if they enter the real poker world. We wanted to address that in a lighthearted manner. With this in mind, the "Railbird" character was born. This is a fellow who looks the part - sunglasses, backward baseball cap, has all the moves, he walks the walk and talks the talk - but he can't play a lick of poker. He's our comic relief. That segment is going to be a lot of fun. In the next issue we'll continue with the show's lineup and how Hochman and Adlin made their vision become a reality.