Audition for the Raw Deal at the WPT

Posted by icemonkey9 on Aug 20, 2010 in Insider stories | 1 comment

As part of a story I am doing for PND, I covered the try-outs for the open audition for the new "Raw Deal" segment that the World Poker Tour is casting.  The idea is that they are going to find the "Simon Cowell" of poker and put them on for 45 seconds an episode.  I'm not 100% convinced the concept is refined down to where it should be but covering the auditions was very interesting.

First, I was honored that they asked me to try-out.  In a happy magical world if I got the part, it would have no interference with my duties at PND so that's a huge positive.  Plus, it actually pays and is great exposure on Fox Sports New which is awesome.  Anyways, my audition went well even though I went in blind when most of the people trying out got a printout of the script and hand before they went in. But alas, I killed it and did really well, in my humble opinion.  Will I get a call back? Who knows, but I had a lot of fun doing it.

The most shocking thing were the names of the people that showed up.  There were a good mix of people off the street and random poker players that just wanted to interact with the industry and meet some famous folks.  Fair enough.  Others were actors (aka waiters) trying to get a break that didn't know diddily about poker which Vince Van Patten told me on-camera were "clunkers" in their auditions.  But then ... well ... some people showed up that shocked me.

First was Joe Sebok.  His show on Fox Sports "Poker2Nite" just got cancelled so I guess he's going for more exposure (or to keep what he had).  He's well liked in the industry so to be honest, I figure him to be the odds-on-favorite to get it.  I'm just surprised someone of his level would want a gig like this and compete at an open audition.

The next to surprise me was Clonie Gowan.  I mean, pure shock at that name and I just said "WOW" when I saw her.  Maria Ho was there to support a few friends and since she and I are good acquaintances we commented how we were both surprised to see Clonie come out of ... well ... apparently thin air since nobody had seen her in forever.  Since she's a big name, people love her and she has this awesome MILF vibe, she has to be considered a favorite too.

Another name that showed up that was surprising was Ali Nejad.  Ali is a really funny guy and someone I think would do well in this part.  People like him but he's always been a super straight man on the mic and this would let him spread his wings and show off a great sense of humor.  Again, given how much time he gets on NBC I was surprised that he threw his name in the hat for this gig, but hey, I guess it's a way for him to branch out from what he's doing now.

Apparently there were a few other names but I missed them as they came early in the day.  The folks at the WPT are starting to be back in the radar and that's good news for them because it was radio silence for two years.  I'm not 100,000% convinced that this Raw Deal thing could work, but it could with the right person, the right takes, and the right amount of comedy.  Of course, the wrong person would just come across as a First Class A-Hole and it could get ugly quick and scrapped rather quickly. But kudos to the WPT for letting their fans interact so intimately and giving anyone with a dream a legit shot at a pretty cool opportunity.