Jeffrey Platt (born June 4, 1986) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

sports commentator In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

and professional

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

player mostly known as being a member of the

PokerGO PokerGO is an over-the-top content platform based in Las Vegas, Nevada. PokerGO was launched in 2017 as a subscription-based streaming service, offering poker-centric online streaming. The content offered on PokerGO includes poker tournaments ...

break desk, and a sideline reporter for live tournaments such as the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best ...

Poker Masters The Poker Masters is a series of high-stakes poker tournaments. Created in 2017, it takes place at ARIA Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and online at partypoker. Final tables are streamed on PokerGO, and the player who accumulates the mo ...

, and

U.S. Poker Open The U.S. Poker Open is a series of high-stakes poker tournaments. Created in 2018, it takes place at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and all final tables are streamed live on PokerGO. In addition to the Main Event, the player who ...

. He is the host of several shows and podcasts for

and

PokerNews PokerNews is a website dedicated to providing poker industry news, live tournament coverage, strategy, player interviews and videos, podcasts, and information on bonuses and freeroll tournaments available at online poker rooms. It is run by iBus ...

, including '' No Gamble, No Future''.

Early life and education

Platt was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, and attended

Plano West High School Plano West Senior High School (commonly known as West, Plano West, or PWSH) is a public high school in Plano, Texas serving high school juniors and seniors. Plano West is named after its geographic location within West Plano. The school is part ...

. Platt attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

and graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism.

Career

Platt worked as a sports anchor and reporter at

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate WJTV in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, after graduation before returning to Dallas, Texas, to work for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

covering the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

. Platt then joined Spectrum News San Antonio covering the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

before finding his way into poker through his connections with Poker PROductions in 2018 which included working as a

reporter and hosting the PokerNews Podcast. A partnership between

Facebook Watch Facebook Watch (currently rebranding to Facebook Video) is a video on demand service operated by American company Meta Platforms (previously named Facebook, Inc.). The company announced the service in August 2017 and it was available to all U.S. ...

Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

, and

would see the debut of '' Friday Night Poker'' in September 2018 with Platt being joined by Brent Hanks to do play-by-play commentary, while Amanda Leatherman provided updates from the floor. The 13-week season gave fans the unique opportunity to engage in real-time with the hosts while watching the $5/$10 No-Limit Hold’em cash game with an ever-changing mix of players that included

Daniel Negreanu Daniel Negreanu (; born July 26, 1974) is a Canadian professional poker player who has won seven World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. In 2014, independent poker ranking service Global Poker ...

Antonio Esfandiari Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari (; born December 8, 1978, as Amir Esfandiary), is a professional poker player and former professional magician, known for his elaborate chip tricks. Esfandiari was the face of the now-defunct poker site, Ultim ...

Mike Matusow Michael Matusow (born April 30, 1968) is an American professional poker player residing in Henderson, Nevada. Matusow's nickname of "the Mouth" reflects his reputation for trash-talking at the poker table. Matusow began playing poker seriously ...

Jennifer Harman Jennifer C. Harman (born November 29, 1964) is an American professional poker player. She has won two World Series of Poker bracelets in open events, one of only four women to have done so . Career Harman won her first World Series of Poker br ...

Bryn Kenney Bryn Kenney (born November 1, 1986) is an American professional poker player from Long Beach, New York. Poker career Kenney played '' Magic: The Gathering'' competitively before transitioning to poker. His first major live cash was in 2007 at t ...

Frank Kassela Frank R. Kassela (born February 26, 1968) is an American professional poker player from Germantown, Tennessee now residing in Las Vegas, who is a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner. He won two bracelets at the 2010 World Series o ...

Jennifer Tilly Jennifer Tilly (born Jennifer Ellen Chan; September 16, 1958) is an American-Canadian actress and professional poker player. Known for her distinctive breathy voice and comedic timing, she is the recipient of a Saturn Award, and a GLAAD Award, ...

Chris Moorman } Chris Moorman, (born 12 July 1985) is a British professional poker player. , he is the all-time leader in career online poker tournament earnings crossing the $14 million mark. Career He was among the leaders in the World Series of Poker#Playe ...

Randall Emmett Randall Ives Emmett (born March 25, 1971) is an American film producer and television personality. He is the chairman and co-founder of production company Emmett/Furla Oasis Films. Emmett is best known for pioneering the geezer teaser, a genre ...

Eli Elezra Eliahu Ilan Elezra (; born 24 November 1960, in Jerusalem) is an Israeli professional poker player and businessman, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada. With five WSOP bracelets and a WPT win in the post Moneymaker era, he is one of the most succes ...

, and

Phil Hellmuth Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. (born July 16, 1964) is an American professional poker player who has won a record seventeen World Series of Poker bracelets, the majority in no-limit hold'em. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Se ...

. In November 2019, Platt debuted his first show on

. ''The Big Blind'' was a blend of trivia and poker strategy with Platt hosting three contestants who answered poker-related questions but under a unique format that following a limit hold’em betting structure. Guests included

Chris Moneymaker Christopher Bryan Moneymaker (born November 21, 1975) is an American poker player who won the Main Event at the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP). His 2003 win is said to have revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a wor ...

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

Norman Chad Norman Chad (born 1958) is an American sportswriter and television poker commentator. Biography Chad grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, the son of Seymour and Cuban-born Perla Chad. Chad attended Northwood High School before graduating from t ...

Alex Jacob Alex Jacob (born October 27, 1984) is an American former professional poker player and game show contestant. Jacob is perhaps best known in poker for winning the 2006 main event at the United States Poker Championship, a no-limit Texas hold 'e ...

Ben Yu Ben Yu (born January 8, 1986) is an American professional poker player, commentator, and writer. He has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and appeared at 15 World Series of Poker final tables. Yu, who grew up in Los Angeles, California, a ...

, Matt Berkey,

Prahlad Friedman Prahlad S. Friedman (born May 20, 1978) is an American professional poker player and rapper from Los Angeles, California. He has played under the screen names "Spirit Rock" on Full Tilt Poker, "Mahatma" on Ultimate Bet, "Zweig" on Prima Networ ...

, and Scott Vener. The winner of Season 1 was Chad who won $15,000 in prize money. In March 2020,

announced that Platt would host ''The Championship Run'' that would walk the audience through momentous hands that led to the eventual victory of notable players’ marquee wins. The Championship Run covered wins from the

Super High Roller Bowl The Super High Roller Bowl is a recurring high stakes No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha poker tournament that takes place at venues across the world. The first edition of the event was held in July 2015 and featured a $500,000 buy-in, drawin ...

, and

. In January 2021, Platt began co-hosting ''No Gamble, No Future'' with Brent Hanks. The show airs live on Tuesdays across PokerGO’s

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, and

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

channels. Guests so far have included

Nick Schulman Nick Schulman (born September 18, 1984, in New York City) is an American professional poker player and commentator. Early life Schulman grew up in New York City, and began playing pool at the famous Amsterdam Billiards. He was mentored by seve ...

, and

. In July 2022, No Gamble, No Future was announced as PokerGO's newest show that would provide cash game-focused entertainment. The show would be filmed at the PokerGO Studio with Platt and Hanks hosting. The season would run for 20 episodes on Tuesday evenings on PokerGO.

Poker career

Platt began playing poker in 2008, and at the

2014 World Series of Poker The 2014 World Series of Poker is the 45th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Paradise, Nevada, USA, between May 27 – July 14, 2014. There were 65 bracelet events, culminating in the $10,000 ...

he would breakout with a 203rd-place finish in the Main Event for $44,728. At the

2015 World Series of Poker The 2015 World Series of Poker is the 46th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was held from May 27 – July 14 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Paradise, Nevada. There were 68 bracelet events, culminating in the $10,000 No Limit Hold'e ...

, Platt finished 60th in the Main Event for $113,764. In August 2019, Platt made his ''

Poker After Dark ''Poker After Dark'' is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007.

'' debut during Season 10 on Open Seat week playing $25/$50 No-Limit Hold’em. In October 2019, Platt appeared on Showbound! week where he played in a $5,000 buy-in sit-n-go and finished in seventh-place. In October 2021, Platt finished in fourth-place in Event #43: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Double Stack at the

2021 World Series of Poker The 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was the 52nd edition of the event. It took place from September 30 – November 23 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. A full schedule of 88 live events (plus 11 online events) was he ...

for $160,662. In September 2022, Platt won the $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em MSPT Venetian for $100,804. In October 2022, Platt won his first WSOP-Circuit Online ring in the $215 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max for $18,689. As of January 2023, his live tournament winnings exceed $605,000.

Personal life

Platt currently lives in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, and is a passionate fan of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

and an avid

fan.

References

External links

Hendon Mob profileWSOP profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Platt, Jeff Poker commentators Living people 1986 births USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni Mass media people from Dallas World Series of Poker Circuit event winners American poker players