Have there been any new TV "household name" poker celebrities since 2008 era?
Helmuth, Brunson, Dwan, Negreanu, Ivey, TonyG, Matusow, Antonius, Ferguson, etc.
These are the names I know. And still see on YouTube.
These were legit personalities and a whole cast of characters. Serious personalities for box office draw.
But, this is pushing 20 years ago. They are probably all retired now.
Are there new names today?
Am I out of the loop, or has poker become stuck in time?
Are there new Poker TV shows like Poker After Dark 2008-2011 peak?
Back in the day when I started playing I could name shedloads of players off the top of my head. Poker is not on TV over here for along time now and I can't name one.
Doug Polk probably got as much exposure as possible going off how much poker has died down since 2009.
My non poker friends know who Negreanu is, and that's it.
Asked my ~70yo parents if they knew any poker players.
They only came up with Vicky Coren Mitchell, but she's fairly well know in the UK for a lot of other stuff other than poker.
Asked my ~70yo parents if they knew any poker players.
They only came up with Vicky Coren Mitchell, but she's fairly well know in the UK for a lot of other stuff other than poker.
yeah, she's more of a celebrity that is known to enjoy playing poker. like James Woods or Don Cheadle in the US.
I think she certainly takes it more seriously than most.
Coren Mitchell was the first woman to win an event on the European Poker Tour, the first player to win both a televised professional tournament (EPT London 2006) and a televised celebrity tournament (Celebrity Poker Club 2005), and the first player to win two European Poker Tour Main Events (EPT London 2006 and EPT Sanremo 2014).
Also, random crazy thing I saw on her Wiki:
In April 2012 she reported that she was terrified of flying, and in August 2012 she confirmed on Twitter that the therapist she had been seeing to address her fear had been killed in a plane crash.
Would explain a lack of WSOP/WPT results.
Love Victoria on Only connect, very good quiz but quite hard for a non-UK quizzer
There aren't new TV household name poker players because poker isn't on TV in households anymore. There is a big difference between millions watching TV final tables on cable TV compared to maybe a few thousand watching on YouTube/Twitch/Pokergo.
Poker on TV has gone the way of extreme sports from the late 90s/early 2000s. There will never be a skateboarder, snowboarder, BMXer, or freestyle motocross rider able to surpass the fame of Tony Hawk, Shaun White, Dave Mira, or Travis Pastrana or their
Nailed it. I went to the early Xgames a few times, and played some Tony Hawk video games 15-20 years ago, and I recognize all those names. Couldn't name a current competitor or more than 1 or 2 other past extreme athletes.
Some of Yokosawa's YouTube videos have upwards of 3-5M hits:
I don't claim to be plugged into Japanese pop culture, but it's fair to say his audience stretches far outside "poker nerds".
I agree in general though that poker fame is a lot narrower in 2025 than 2005.
Hopefully GG will market the WSOP better than CET/PokerGO/CBS have done. I think they left a lot of meat on the bone.
Never heard of this guy.
Only possible contender for new household name could be Jungleman. He has a memorable name, has been around for a long time, and is stealing some of Helmuth's shtick with the costumes, entrances, and forced personas which gets some WSOP coverage I'm sure. Tbh, I don't even watch WSOP or follow closely anymore myself so could be off here.
Great and way more people still know who PH is. Meanwhile newspapers are dead just bc someone reads an article of hers doesn't mean they would recognize her walking down the street.
.....maybe if Annie were viewed from behind, with a tramp stamp on display ?
