He felt satisfied in salvaging this lineup. “I’d be screwed,” he said, “if I didn’t have a show.” The credibility of the brand depended on his ability to deliver. Almost all the advertising for the show arose from word of mouth, and Feldman spent nearly two years trying to hustle advertising. The game had nearly collapsed earlier in the week, after three players dropped out and replacements were hard to find. Feldman assembled the seven players at the table, some considered the best in the city, others flown in from Las Vegas: Adelstein, a man described on another show as “the kingpin” of high-stakes poker in Los Angeles Berkey, the volatile pro from Las Vegas Prahlad Friedman, a fixture of ESPN’s poker coverage in the 2000s Art Papazyan, the reigning World Poker Tour player of the year Nick Vertucci, an Orange County real estate investor who played often on the stream Andy Tsai, another regular and Ralph Wong, a former basketball analyst turned cryptocurrency investor.

The lineup needed to be juicy enough to entice risk-adverse professional players and collegial enough to bring in deep-pocketed amateurs.