Irish production company Straywave Media’s latest documentary ‘Being Sam Holden’ is to be broadcast on Setanta Sports Ireland on 2 May as well as a number of international sports channels, including The Poker Channel in the UK and Sky 204.
The fly-on-the-wall poker documentary captures events at the World Series of Poker held in Las Vegas last November. It shows the extraordinary success of 22 year-old forensic science student Sam Holden, as he pits himself against some of the word’s best professional poker players and walks away more than €600,000 richer ($800k). UK-based Holden won his riches during the Main Event Final Table.
Setanta Sports Ireland will air the documentary on Wednesday 2 May, while international broadcasters in Australia, Africa and Setanta Sports' Asian network will air it in May and June. It will be broadcast on The Poker Channel and Sky 204 next month.
The cult-world of online poker is also looked at in the 26 minute-long documentary, showing the influence social media has on the sport and the young breed of talent finding themselves attracted to the game.
The show will also air interviews with Irish poker players Eoghan O’Dea, who triumphed with €1.2m ($1.6m) at the final table, and Donnacha O’Dea, who previously played at the final table. Irish European tour winner and grand final winner of Late Night Poker series 5 Padraig Parkinson also shares his skills.
Jimmy Costello directed and produced the documentary, with Emma Roche taking on the role on first assistant director, both for Straywave Media. Straywave previously brought popular reality show ‘Fade Street’ to our screens, as well as ‘Brian and Pippa Getting Married’, both of which aired in RTÉ Two last year.
