''Joker Poker'' was a late night Australian poker program on Network Ten which aired in 2005 and 2006. The 2005 edition was hosted by

Adam Spencer Adam Barrington Spencer (born 29 January 1969) is an Australian comedian, media personality and former radio presenter. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search ''Raw Comedy'' in 1996. Soon thereafter, he began ...

, with the second and final edition hosted by

Mike Goldman Michael Goldman (born 7 November 1972), is an Australian actor, television and radio host and voice over. He has appeared in television roles, mini-series and films like Young Rock, The Wilds and A Place to Call Home. He is the son of televisio ...

. Both were co-hosted by

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

poker pro Lee Nelson and Australian model Laura Weston acted as hostess. The show was produced by Australian Production Company Freehand Productions. The show featured Australian comedians playing no-limit Texas hold'em poker. Four comedians compete in each episode on behalf of their chosen charity. It was recorded in the

high roller A high roller, also referred to as a whale or cheetah, is a gambler who consistently wagers large amounts of money. High rollers often receive lavish " comps" from casinos to lure them onto the gambling floors, such as free private jet transfer ...

s' room of Sydney's

Star City Casino The Star Sydney (formerly Star City Casino and prior to that, Sydney Harbour Casino) in Pyrmont, Sydney, is the second largest casino in Australia after Melbourne's Crown Casino. Overlooking Darling Harbour, The Star, owned by Star Entertainm ...

for the first season and in a studio at

Fox Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

in Sydney for the second. The weekly winner donates $5,000 to charity, while the overall winner donates $25,000. A

version also aired in 2007.

Season one

''Joker Poker'' was the first locally produced poker program to go to air in Australia. Hosted by Adam Spencer and Lee Nelson, it featured 40 local comedians during the course of the inaugural season. It aired on Saturday nights at 10:30pm. The first season was won by comedian Andy Lee. The final players were Andy Lee, Doctor Turf, Simon Kennedy and Jackie Loeb.

Charities

Star City Casino provided the $100,000 prize pool that was distributed by the winners of each round and the two final tables to the following charities: *The Westmead Hospital *The Heart Foundation *Prince of Wales Foundation *Canteen *The Australian Red Cross *Barnardos Australia *The Mirrabel Foundation *The Fred Hollows Foundation *The Aids Trust of Australia *Amnesty International

Season two

''Joker Poker'' returned in 2006, with Lee Nelson being joined by Mike Goldman in place of Spencer. The second and final season consisted of 12 late night ''Joker Poker'' shows (airing on Wednesday nights at 11:15pm), ''Sporting Joker Poker'' and ''Lee Nelson Invitational'' specials, and four ''Celebrity Joker Poker'' specials (airing Tuesday nights at 9.30pm).

Contestants

Charities

Wild Turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally d ...

provided the $140,000 prize pool that was distributed by the winners of each round and the two final tables to the following charities: *Clown Doctors *Amnesty International *Matthew Talbot *Variety Club *Surf Life Saving Association *Motor Neurone Disease *Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne - specifically the Genetics Department *Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne *Trisha & The Reach Broadridge Fund *Kids Help Line *Bonnie Babes Foundation *Challenge Kids with Cancer

New Zealand version

The

version of the show was hosted by Brooke Howard-Smith and co-hosted by Lee Nelson. The two editions of the New Zealand version of ''Joker Poker'' (consisting of 12 episodes) began screening on TV3 Sunday nights at 10:30pm from 10 February 2007. The series was repeated on C4 with great results,{{Citation needed, date=September 2009 airing on the following Wednesday nights at 8:30pm beginning 13 February 2007. Sponsors for the New Zealand were

Pokerstars.net PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android (operating system), Andro ...

, Sky City Casino and

Contestants

Season one

*Episode 1: Jamie Linehan, Angus MacDonald, Ali Williams,

Ben Boyce Ben Boyce is a New Zealand television and radio personality and comedian best known as the host of TV shows '' Pulp Sport'', '' WANNA-BEn'' and ''Jono and Ben'' on TV3. Biography Boyce is a graduate of the New Zealand Broadcasting School at ...

*Episode 2: Craig Parker, Mark Ferguson, Che Fu, Pam Corkery *Episode 3: Tim Shadbolt, Raybon Kan, Aja Rock, Steve Devine *Episode 4: Peter Urlich, Hayley Holt, Elizabeth Gray, Monty Betham *Episode 5: John Afoa, Daniel Braid, George Pisi, Jeremy Corbett

Season two

*Episode 1: Amber Peebles, Dave Gibson, Nick Dwyer, Jamie Carroll *Episode 2: Dai Henwood, Teuila Blakely, Jessie Gurunathan, Phil Bostwick *Episode 3: Mark Williams, Dallas Tamaira, Mu (Chris Faiumu), Devin Abrams *Episode 4: Anna Scarlett, Temepara George, Sione Faumuina, Joe Cotton *Episode 5: Mikey Havoc, Simon Doull, Will Wallace, Chris Belbin

Charities

*NZ Breast Cancer Foundation *Kidz First Children's Hospital * Starship Children's Hospital *Starship Foundation *Special Olympics NZ *SPCA

External links

Freehand TVOfficial New Zealand Site
Network 10 original programming Australian non-fiction television series Poker television shows 2005 Australian television series debuts 2006 Australian television series endings 2000s Australian game shows Television shows set in New South Wales