Late Night Poker is a British television series that helped popularize poker in the 2000s. It used "under the table" cameras that enabled the viewer to see each player's cards. The show originally ran for six series between 1999 and 2002. After a couple of spin-off series, Late Night Poker Ace and Late Night Poker Masters, it returned in 2008. Late Night Poker 2011 The series returned to Channel 4 for its 10th series in 2011. Sponsored by Gala Coral Group, 32 players competed for the $150,000 first prize. Commentary on the series was provided by two of the UK's top poker professionals, Victoria Coren and James Akenhead. Some of the top players in action were Luke Schwartz, Roberto Romanello, Vanessa Selbst, Jake Cody, James Bord and Liv Boeree. The field contained five former Late Night Poker champions, Dave Ulliott (also known as Devilfish), Simon Trumper, Padraig Parkinson, Peter Costa and John Duthie. The series was broadcast on Tuesday nights after midnight from 3 October – 6 December 2011. History Back in 1999, the Cardiff-based television production company Presentable approached Channel 4 with the idea of producing a series in the form of a poker tournament. At the time, poker had never been shown on UK TV. Channel 4 commissioned the series and Late Night Poker was born. The first series aired in July 1999 and very quickly built a cult audience. Viewers were captivated by the dark, smoky, intimate studio atmosphere and the quirky characters of the professional poker players sat around the table. The variation of poker they were playing was No Limit Texas Hold'Em, a variation relatively unknown in the UK at the time. The first series was won by Dave Ulliott who became the UK's first poker celebrity. Other players who became regulars on the series included Series 2 winner, Simon Trumper, Surinder Sunar, Liam Flood, Dave Colclough, Kourosh and the 4 players known collectively as the Hendon Mob, Joe Beevers, Barny Boatman, Ross Boatman and Ram Vaswani. A celebrity version of the show was produced on 12 October 2000, featuring (in finishing order from 1st to 7th place) Anthony Holden, Al Alvarez, Martin Amis, Victoria Coren, Patrick Marber, Stephen Fry and Ricky Gervais. This led into the creation of spin-off series Celebrity Poker Club on Challenge in 2003. Late Night Poker ran for six series from 1999 until 2002. A couple of spin-off series, Late