Night Poker Ace and Late Night Poker Masters were aired between 2005 and 2007. In 2008, Late Night Poker returned for its 7th series and continued annually until 2011. Crew An integral part of the series were the tournament referee and dealers. From the very start of Late Night Poker, experienced referee, Austrian Thomas Kremser has presided over the action. In the early series, he was accompanied by dealers Marina Kremser and Peter Schmid, and, later on, Stevie Pollak, who replaced Schmid. The commentary on Late Night Poker has at times created as much interest as the action on the table. In the first few series, the commentators were Jesse May and Nic Szeremeta. Jesse actually appeared in the first series as a player under the pseudonym "Mickey Dane". Other commentators in the series have included Barny Boatman, Lucy Rokach, Victoria Coren, Gary Jones and Richard Orford. For the 10th series, the commentators were Victoria Coren and James Akenhead. Format In the 10th series, there were four heats of eight players with the players finishing 1st and 2nd in each heat qualifying for the final. The winners of each heat started the final with 50,000 in chips, while the runners-up started with 30,000 in chips. Each of the heats and final was shown across 2x 60-minute programmes - 10 programmes in total. Most of the previous series of Late Night Poker consisted of 9 programmes - 7 heats, one semi-final, and the final. Each heat had seven players. The seven winners of the heats progressed straight to the final, and the runners-up went to the semi-final, where one additional player progresses, for a final table of 8 players. (NB: The first series featured five heats, with the players finishing 1st and 2nd in each progressing to the final. The players who qualified by finishing first in their heat started the final with twice as many chips as the heat runners-up.) Although the precise sums of money involved have varied, the typical buy-in has been in the region of £1,500, with a first prize of between £40,000 and £60,000. In recent years, the buy-in had considerably increased. In the 10th series, the buy-in was $10,000 creating a prize pot of $320,000 with the winner banking $150,000. Under-the-table cameras Late Night Poker'''s success is largely attributable to its "under-the-table" cameras (later known as hole cams) which allowed the viewers and commentators to