blonde poker forum

Hello i work at a production company in Manchester and they are preparing to do a pilot for a show to pitch to some tv channels one of the ideas they want to pursue is a gambling style find the best punter kind of thing. So what i am want to do is put the idea up here and get some feedback to see what you think of the idea how it can be improved etcd whats shit what you like. All feedback welcome good or bad.

Basicaally they want to find 8 contestants who each have to put up 1000 pounds of their own money. Each contestant then has to do 5 things with that money they are

200 quid horse bet
200 quid dog bet
200 quid football bet
200 quid sports bet
200 quid poker

there will also be a a mian winner takles all prize provided by a sponsor hopefull in the region of 25000 to 50000 then the three best punters out of the 8 qualify fot the grand final. The best punters being the ones that have the mosty money left after they have done the five bets. Any players who have money left and are not in the top top three lose the money anyway and whatever they have left gets added to the overall prize pool.

The final then is the three best players get 1 week to do whatever they want with there profit can stick it all on one horese etc enter a poker tournament or not even have a bet at all hoping other players will lose it all. Then finally agfter the week the one player wins the whole thing including any profit from the other 2 remaining finalists.

So thats the idea what does everyone think about the format all opinions appreciated.

Couple of points that were worrying me that i have discussed with production manger is it will be basically following people around with a camer vidseo diary style and how to draw the maximum excitement from that and also the final would be better if you could get the finalists together face to face etc.

The other thinkg was it would be over the period of 8 weeks and i feel all the best game shows etc happen in one day and are a chance to wina huge some of money but the chance you could win nothing ie deal or no deal, millionaire, weakest link etc.

The other thing which i would like people to consider is would you be willing to lose 1000 of your own money to win 50000. Anyway sorry about the long posts and all feedback is welcome especially bad feedback thanks

Howsabout getting 8 punters to bet £1000 each week, but with each one specializing in a different sport/game.

This way, each week you could look at betting on each sport/game in greater depth. Getting an "expert" in his chosen field rather than 8 guys doing too many things half-assed.
Instead of just being a battle between people who nobody knows it'd be a competition to see what's the best thing to bet on. I think this'd get the viewers more engaged.

You've got a grand, a week, one choice of thing to bet on, make as much money as you can. Point a camera at them and explain a bit about what they're doing, the world they're in etc. and there's your programme.

Maybe you could have one guy going round playing fruit machines, one guy on the poker, one guy betting on horses, one on casino games, one of football, one playing the stock market, one playing the dogs, one doing football bets and so on.


Just my tuppence worth mate  :)up

Couple more thoughts,

Live and internet poker being different disciplines on different weeks.

If you're going to be getting specialists, then you could find folk willing to put up more than £1000. More £=better TV.

Also, you'd need to somehow get whole responsible gambling message across. With 8 guys trying to make as much as they can in a week from £5,000 say, I'm sure at least a couple would end up down for the week. Emphasising their losses might do the trick.

A panel of "celebrity gambling experts" could comment on each competitors video diary.

Also, try and get some scantily clad women in there somewhere. Not sure how you'll manage this. Kev might have an idea or two?

Just my fourpence worth  ;goodvevil;

like the ideas not to sure about scantily clad women though. The sensible gambliing message was somethinig we had though about and would be included somehow. One idea we came up with is the final gamble kind iof thing the winner has the chance to have one last bet etc and risk everyhting on one bet and whatever they win would be matched that of course is something that will be down to budget but as an idea how many people would gamble their 50k with the opportunity for whatever you win to be matched again ???? 50k on a 10-1 horse 1/2 mill would you!

Any more opinions anybody and who wants to put up 1k and be one of the first contestants :D

Missed that part, you stump up yer own cash and don't get to keep the profit. Hmmmmmmm

Sounds a bitty iffy. What's the reason for doing things that way?

as im only a lowly researcher for the produciton company im just putting the idea out there to get some feedback of what peoples ideas were etc. I dont give a **** if i cant spell or type its late im tired and my grammar or lack of it is nothing to do with the feedback i eas after. Obvioulsy its just at the idea stage and its looking at being pitched but before you pitch you look at pros and cons. If you dont wasnt to leave feedback then dont

As for the not keeping your money if you are not in top three thats the gamble 1000k of your own money to be the best and win 50k are you willing to risk your 1000k even if you make a profit. Anyone any opinions about the idea welcome not about my ability to spell.

Do the work for me simply want opinions from the kind of people (poker players) who might just like to take such a gamble 1k for a shot at 50k)

Say you could play your 1k at poker and try and make more profit than 8 other random guys. Would you be willinfg to risk the 1k to win 50k. The money does go towads final prizepool so in essence if you had a belief in your abilities to make a more profit than the others you would risk your 1k. Like i say all idea stages at the moment. Criticis the idea not me.

also axeman you sound a bit bitter at the tv industry is that something that has come on since your not on it anymore.

No, it sounds too dodgy.
If a TV prog is giving away 50K but 8 players have to bring their own 1k to the fray??

Not for me, too reeky of scam.
Perhaps a set-up where the top 3 are plants that clean up in some sort of fix. Not saying that's the case, but something isn't right here.

Not wanting to cast dispersions on your character here gmoneyAK. I'm not saying it's bent, it will just look that way. You'll be hard pushed to convince any poker player to do this with his own 1k as most will see it in a similar light. I feel a re-think may be necessary.

its not a scam its a reputable production company that comes up with 100s of ideas for tv programmes etc of all formats, and are looking to come up with a game show idea and as with any show you get public opinion you then put together a pilot. The 1k was the unique selling point risking your own money for a shot at 50k. Obviously it would not be a scam as all the bets etc or whatever the money was placed on would be recorded and fairly monitored. The reason they came up with the idea of the 1k was if you had 1k of someone elses money your likely to approach the gamble different than if it was your own money. Obvioulsy as a bew programme is conceived problems arise that you would not forsee. That was the main reason to get some feedback of like minded individuals and gamblers.


before the idea is pitched properly the company is gonna run an imaginary run through to see anymore problems that occur. However if many people see the idea of gambling their own money as a likely scam then maybe it is something the production company will look at. It was just thought that risking 1k of your own money for a life changing amount of money was the big turn on. Like the guy who had all is money on one spin if roulette.

As an example look at the programme THE ULTIMATE GAMBLER they give the guy 15k to win as much money as possible and he gets to keep the profit now he goes round the workd and at the end of the day it doesnt really matter if he wins or loses cos hes not risking anything. But if that same guy has to use 15k of his own money and the show meant whatever he matches will ber matched by x4 its a much more riskier prospect and brings into question risk reward.

Or for instance i willo spin a coin and you can have 1000 pound i have give you on heads or tails and i will give you 3-1 your gonna go okay. What if it is your own 1000 and i give you 3-1 do you take the risk RISK REWARD etc .

Thanks for the info as it all helps me do my job as researcher but i was miffed at being criticised for my spelling and it being dodgy. Its not dodgy im not asking anyone to take part its still in very early stages and maybe one of those ideas that never leaves the drawing board but you gotta come up with a 100 ideas to fina one idea you like and even then it might not be any good. Thats TV!

It just needs a small ammendment.

If they gamble and win but don't finish in top 3 let them keep it. What's to be gained from taking it off them (besides the obvious) It won't make that big a difference to the top prize. There's still the chance that they'll lose it all anyway.

I don't think risking 1k of your own money is that great a hook for a TV prog. It's simply not enough as it's within the realms of possibility for most people to be able to gamble that amount.

Basically someone at this TV company saw King of Vegas and decided they wanted to do the dodgy east end geezer version for the UK market.
Not only that but to make it incredibly cheap they want the contestants to pay the prize money.

To quote my favourite typo.
Jopke.

What was the kings of vegas never seen it was was the format. AS for east end cokney its a manchester firm so it will have to be salford scally

gmoney what your doing by getting the person to put up the money then lose it all if he isnt in the top 3 is change the way the person will gamble

he will now no longer gamble in a way to maximise profit while reducing loses he will just gamble as there is no point making a small profit if the other 7 people have all gone for doubling up on a coin flip thus making a mockery of the show

you asked for feedback both postive and negitive now dont snap just because its negative

He didn't snap at the negative feedback, he snapped because another member questioned his spelling and grammar.

You made to errors here Axxe. Firstly you inadvertently forgot to say "in my opinion" on your first post and secondly you forgot the the Poker Den set up where Party Poker managed to get the contestants to cough up the prize money and charged a rake for the privelage. Make it up? It's been done.

Any speling errors in my post are delberet to give you a chance to reply.

Everyone's getting antsy over little things recently.

gmoneyAK, I can understand you feeling annoyed with people picking holes in your spelling when you post at 2.30 in the morning but remember, you came to us asking us for advice. You have to take it all on the chin, whether it's constructive criticism of the idea, or people having a go because you didn't read back your message to yourself before posting it.

Axxeman has had a falling out with a TV company before, so I can understand that he would be quick to pick holes in a production company's ideas. However, I think his comments were valid. gmoneyAK, you've come on here representing a production company, yet you've neglected to portray yourself in the best possible light. You've been quick to anger and taken umbrage at the slightest provocation. No wonder you got banned from the Betfair forum.

As for the idea itself - contestants putting up their own money is a complete non-starter. If I was to use £1000 of my own money in a gambling competition, then it's up to me exactly what I bet on, and how much. If you want to control what bets are made, let me use your money to do it with.

You are also on a hiding to nothing anyway. If I were a shrewdie (which I may, or may not, be) I would use my £1000, as instructed, then simply wait until we were partway through the filming before demanding that I get my £1000 back, else I walk away. The cost of abandoning/restarting filming would be way more than £1000, so the production company would cough up. I would therefore end up playing with the production company's money anyway, as I should have been all along.

gmoneyAK, you mentioned the programme that Sky did which had a guy who sold everything he had to put a bet on a spin of the roulette wheel in Las Vegas. If you genuinely think that guy was ever in any danger of losing everything he had, then you have a lot to learn about how TV works.

Excellent post.  ;iagree;
The main problem you will find is the kind of plebs that will say yes to this program are exactally the kind of people you wouldn't want to film.
As for you sending the bottom 3 players on their way while taking their money I'd like to see you film that. "but it's my money I won it." "sorry mate hand it over" "Bog off" exit left.
In theory then all of them could win say about 10k a piece and you would say sorry to the 3 with 9kish on your way boys and give us the 9k??????? wtf!!!!

yeah even if they have 1.4 million each....

Robert picked up the point about pokerden, but for a gameshow. Why not try the format of entry that Millionaire do, when you have to phone a premium line to have a shot at entering. If you get through, then put the £1000 up for them, then there would be no problem in taking the money off them. Hence recouping some costs of original "put up" by yourselves.
Makes it a lot more attractive if you put the money up, but you really have already profited by premium phone line.

Do they pick 1 horse, 1 dog, 1 poker touny etc or would it be over a week? If over a week then they should be able to specialise in one form of gambing as Tank said.

They could always take the option of buying their original stake back off you if they are in profit but about to get eliminated.
 

i've read the idea and i've read everyone's opinion of the idea - one quick question i want to ask is. Is the show to be broadcast on normal terrestrial TV or is going to be for a specialist channel like "thepokerchannel" or "challengetv"?

If it's a gameshow meant for normal terrestrial TV i cant see anything that encourages people to go out gambling on as many things as possible being approved for showing on air.

If its for the specialist channels then will it be as popular as programmes already being shown on there. I dont know if its just me but its very rare i watch any of these channels anymore as most of the programs are just either (1) constant repeats or (2) completely rubbish. (some of the ideas are good but the program is badly made or the ideas are just too unrealistic in the first place).

Too many people and program makers appear to be jumping on the poker (and therefore gambling) bandwagon at the moment and its just leading to too many poor quality programmes that no-one is watching.

There's only one program on gambling worth watching and thats Poker425 on channel 425 every night at 11pm!!

*hears sound of promotional crate of bananas being shipped*

I am deeply shocked and saddened that you could think that my closing line was just an attempt to get a crate of bananas shipped to

Treehouse 6
Vine Lane
Jungleville
The Jungle
JU5 4GL

And to think we played together in a sit and go at the blonde bash and this was the impression i gave :'(

I thought your coconut Tv only picked up council telly or have your monkey butlers managed to install a satalite dish?

i appreciate all comments good or negative as public opinion is what counts, cos if no one watches it then its a rubbish tv programme. The thing that annoyed me was criticising my spelling not the idea. Just to point out its not my idea, its just my job to do all the possible research and find he flaws. Thankyou for all the feedback and i sont mind if the idea gets S!%t all over cos if no one likes the idea it wont get made.

The £1000 seems to be a sticking point for most and will probably not work if the members here represent a wide view point of the "gambler" types.

I just thought someone would gamble their own money different than someone elses. If someone gave me 1k i would stick it all on one dog without hesitation but i would not do that with my own 1k.

Thankyou anyway and i have to say i have taken on board all thoughts. I especially like tanks idea of having contestants each with their own speciality and have passed all the feed back to production. thankyou

You'll get plenty willing to stump up the £1,000. People will do anything to be on TV.

The criticism of your spelling and the presentation of your post was perfectly valid. You are asking us for help and trying to sell an idea but you can't be arsed to prepare your post properly or even correct the typo in the title. Why should we take you seriously?

Despite this, it seems that you have got some useful feedback from the good people at blonde. Good luck.

 

I have to say i am sick and tired of people being criticised for spelling/grammar etc. on this forum.
Is this the new passtime?
This has always been a warm, friendly, inviting place to be, but how the hell do people (especially new members) feel about posting when they are terrified of being ridiculed??
Pack it in folks, it ain't funny.

Don't you mean that it isn't funny...?

No

It's spelt pastime  :D

I actually realised that as i hit post but couldn't be arsed to change it :D

if you are told that you will lose the £1000 even if you win the bet unless your winnings are big enough people will gamble differently

there is no way you can turn gambling into a game show without getting people to behave differently than they usaully would

I agree  :goodpost: so long as you know what message they are trying to get accross, what does it matter if the spelling is correct!!

This guy posted in a proffessional capacity, on behalf of his employer. He was also asking for our help. The least he can do is run a spell check and correct his typos.

I was trying to be helpful, I did not ridicule anyone, nor was I trying to be funny.

I do understand your point, but the forum is much easier for everyone to read if a minimum of effort is applied to writing posts.

Did someone mention mention gambling gameshow??
 :)up
Well here I am the gambling gameshow legend  ;) and I will try not to mention Casino Casino too much. From my own experience I can back up Ironsides comment, in that I was gambling with pretend money and made large speculative bets that i would never do if it was my money.
I would imagine the punters will be trying for longer odds and you could end up with very few wins and maybe one flukey win taking home the money. I probably fall in to the category of going on any show within reason to get on the telly, but too be honest i wouldn't gamble £1000 of my own to do this.

The premium rate phone idea is probably sound as it spreads the cost and you are more likely to get a wider range rather than just pro/semi pro punters, or those with more money. Another idea would be to run a poker tournament with a nominal buy in with the winners going on the show, obviously need enough entering to cover the money needed. Along the same lines as many other poker shows. This also gives the TV Company the opportunity to have a sponsorship tie in with one of the online poker/casino companies.
Anyway an interesting post and responses, good luck with the show.

i do put in the minimium of effort

Wardonkey, I was not having a go at anyone in particular, it was not really about this thread, this has been going on over the past couple of weeks, and as always Red Dog has managed to put the whole in perspective far better than I ever could

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=6852.0