Late Night Poker has been back on our screens, with the shows filmed down in Cardiff. This time around the producers had no trouble finding players willing to get the TV exposure, but back in 1999 it was a different story.

When Welsh TV production company, Presentable Productions, first attempted to recruit 49 players for a ‘televised’ poker event, the concept had never been done before. It was new ground!

It wasn’t as easy as you would have thought to get players to appear on TV. These days, TV exposure is seen as a route to fame and lucrative sponsorship deals, but in 1999 ‘poker faces’ only really cropped up on Crimewatch.

The show also pioneered the ‘hole- cam’ technology that allowed viewers to see the players’ hole cards, and this idea horrified many players.