So PokerStars have been rolling out this new weird TV show called Shark Cage. The premise of this, if you somehow haven’t seen it past midnight on Channel 4, is that there are a series of sit ‘n’ go’s with the winner of each progressing to a grand final where there is a winner take all prize of a cool $1,000,000.

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The line-up from the show in the Bahamas. The online qualifiers are running every day from now until June 9 at 09:05, 12:05 & 15:05 ET. Each one has $1,500 in added cash, and the top 20 players in each will have a chance to audition for Shark Cage. The love for gambling of all forms in the UK led quickly to creating Pokerstars Shark Cage Final a huge online presence. Many of the traditional betting shops opened up websites, accepting deposits online and Pokerstars Shark Cage Final opening the door for players to play real money games including poker, casino, and bingo. The Shark Cage is an interesting show which tried to introduce a novel idea to appeal to broader audience. The concept was relatively successful. The shark cage element is certainly entertaining, but it doesn’t have much to do with poker, really.

Then there’s the added weird bonus of an actual shark cage. Unfortunately no sharks in the case of Bill Perkins, but a hovering rotating cage where players get sent if they mess up. The shark cage comes into play on the river when if a player folds to a bluff, or if a bluffer gets their bluff called, they get sent to the cage for an orbit.

Players who make a river bet are forced to signal their action, either ‘bluff’ or ‘value’. In the early episodes this was done with a button underneath the table, later it was done by sliding a card forward with the players’ bet.

It makes for great television and some really painful needles. Some, like Shannon Elizabeth, take it terribly. Others better.

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For those who are yet to see it, all the episodes are available on Youtube.

Without spoilers, here is what you can expect from the TV show:

Rugby World Cup winner Mike Tindall drinking beer

Shark Cage Poker Wikipedia Jake

Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen in the shark cage.

But is it good for poker? A local poker club I attend has already suggested that they want to have a game one night where they try something like this, but all the players are already regulars and it won’t be attracting anyone new. It makes for great television of course, and is amateur friendly with the the addition of an online qualifier.

But lets not forget some of these online qualifiers are damn good players. One has a SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker) watch, and another is a former chess grand master. These players sitting down are not representative of your Average Joe tuning in to Channel 4 in the early hours with their pack of Wotsits.

There is a fine line between this show being a great success or just another average poker show. Newbies to the game may see it on TV or on the internet and think: “oh wow Shannon Elizabeth, Jason Alexander, Mike Tindall, get me into this poker game.” Or they might think “oh so it’s just rich people and celebrities battling for a million dollars, I am never going to be able to get involved in that.”

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Time will tell what it does for the poker world, but one thing is for certain is that it is a quirky concept and Pokerstars should be applauded for their ingenuity.

PokerStars has launched a series of online tournaments which will allow players to qualify for a brand new poker show called The Shark Cage. The TV Show will feature a winner take all first place prize of a cool $1,000,000.

The Shark Cage will be a series of eight heats which will take place at various EPT stops throughout 2014. The culmination of the series will be a winner take all final table. Each of the heats will comprise of the biggest names in online poker as well as the one lucky online qualifier.

The first two heats of The Shark Cage will take place and be filmed at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure which is set to take place in January 2014.

Players will be able to earn a ticket to a qualifying tournament by simply depositing on PokerStars with one of the bonus codes below.

Qualifiers

All of the qualifying tournaments will have a $5,000 added cash prize and the top 50 players from each of the six qualifiers will get their chance to audition for The Shark Cage TV show. To audition players will simply need to record a video audition in English and upload it to youtube and email it to sharkcage@pokerstars.com no later than 23.59 ET on December 8.

Members of Team PokerStars will then judge the entries and then the top finalists will conduct a phone interview. The winners will be announced on December the 17th.

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Players that are looking for more details, should go to http://psta.rs/1ejSS7E.