ONETIME FLORIDA KEYS NINE BALL CHAMP BLAIR THEIN COMBINES THE ACTION PACKED WORLDS OF POOL, POKER AND MIXED MARTIAL ARTS (MMA) TO CREATE THE NEXT SUPER HIT REALITY SHOW “POOL POKER & PAIN”
By Jonathan Widran
There’s really no way to sugar coat it--Blair Thein’s extraordinary concept for the next super hit reality TV show begins and ends with balls.
The onetime Florida Keys Nine Ball champion began playing pool at age eight, was hustling games by 14 and for years has been a master of the martial arts of submission fighting and Muay Thai. At one point, he was renowned as one of the toughest pool players in the world and he was in so many fights he earned the nickname “Bruce Lee Blair.”
Now he’s making sports and entertainment history combining three of the world’s most dynamic, action packed sports on “Pool, Poker & Pain,” a show featuring multi-talented athletes showing what they’ve got at the billiards table, the poker table and—to blow off pent-up steam and maybe take revenge on those who just beat them—Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) combat in a cage he dubs the “Circle of Pain.”
The only reality show to date that features the high stakes energy of the pool room environment, “Pool, Poker & Pain”—produced by Thein’s company Team Believe Promotions--will have 16-20 multi-talented athlete contestants gathering in Florida and boarding Thein’s decked out, sponsorship rich “Hustle Bus,” which will cruise across the country hitting famous pool rooms, casinos and famous MMA gyms. They will end up in Las Vegas by the fourth or fifth episode, living in a mansion where they will have crash course training in all three disciplines with some of the world’s top coaches. The gaming and combat action takes place at a large nearby facility called the “Pool, Poker & Pain” compound. Two contestants at a time will go straight from the pool table to the poker table and then into the cage.
“While sometimes there is only one winner on reality competition shows,” he says, “we’re going to have more than one, with a lot of highs and lows. Growing up in Florida, my dad, brothers, sisters and I lived for a time in a green school bus, so doing a show that partly takes place in the ‘Hustle Bus’ is like coming full circle in my life.”
In his quest to further develop “Pool, Poker & Pain” and bring it to television, Thein cultivated key partnerships with two prominent creative and marketing forces, Brand In Entertainment and Emmy winning (and multiple Emmy nominated) cinematographer Doug Stanley of Ridgeline Entertainment.
Brand In Entertainment (BIE) brings over 35 years of mainstream advertising experience, along with an impressive roster of clients who appreciate the effectiveness of brand integration. CEO Rolfe Auerbach says, “Brand-in Entertainment believes that the opportunity to profoundly change the nature of three sports – Poker, Pool and Martial Arts – in one project – opens the door to a vast array of viewers and ultimately to new buyers for the clients who integrate their products and services into ‘Pool, Poker & Pain.’ Once involved in this manner, these clients will become part of the series plotline – and cannot be TiVo’d out. Additional spot advertising they buy in the series will serve to enhance their efforts to reach their consumer.”
“Pool, Poker & Pain” Executive Producer Doug Stanley’s keen eye has been a huge part of the success of “Deadliest Catch,” the popular Discovery Channel documentary/reality series about life aboard fishing vessels in the Bering sea during crab fishing season. The six year old show currently airs in over 150 countries.
Thein first met Stanley when he was a guest speaker for “The Perfect Pitch,” an event hosted by TV industry veterans Mark and Jeannie Simon in which they teach creative people how to pitch TV show concepts. Appropriately enough, The Simons’ company is called “Sell Your TV Concept Now.”
“I was a fan of Doug’s show,” says Thein, “in which crab fishermen captured the attention of the world. Even before the event, I decided to write to him and tell him about my ‘Pool, Poker & Pain’ concept, and he called me immediately to talk about it. I was already working with Brand In. Doug called me immediately and has since been an integral part of developing the show. His expertise in production and character development has been invaluable.
“The reason I went after Doug is because I was always impressed with the toughness of his production crew in capturing the lives of the fishermen on Deadliest Catch,” he adds. “I didn’t want a typical Hollywood union crew working on my show. I’m very hardcore and am willing to put in 12-16 hour workdays. The show has a lot of dynamics and needs guys that are tough to help create and capture every second of the action.”
Thein believes that Stanley’s nuts and bolts TV talents, combined with his own promotion skills will make “Pool, Poker & Pain” the next super hit reality show. He also gives special thanks to
www.insidepoolmag.com,
www.nycgrind.com, family, friends and the PPP team for helping him bring his vision to this point.
Now about those other “balls”…For Thein, creating and developing “Pool, Poker & Pain” has been a labor of love with a deep learning curve over the past seven years. Believing that the final step of making this incredible reality series a weekly TV reality is a matter of timing, luck and guts, he is seeking a network and top brand sponsors that believe in the show—plus “one lucky aggressive investor with some balls that wants to be involved on the ground floor of this worldwide sports explosion.”
He’s not shy about going after the as yet undiscovered man who will make the difference: a young millionaire, perhaps from the dot com world, who is willing to invest $10 million for 25% ownership of the show. He’s also going after athlete celebs and team CEOs from the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and NASCAR. Part of the concept he is selling is his larger international vision for Season 2 of Pool, Poker and Pain, which will pit Team USA vs. Team Asia. There are also multiple branding opportunities available for sponsors.
Soon after Thein began telling his fellow pool players about his concept for “Pool, Poker & Pain,” Billiards Magazine did a feature article on him called “Pool Player Looking for a Fight.” While he was still making a comfortable living as a pool player, the former Navy man and asset protection investigator knew he had a powerful idea that could open doors to a career in reality TV.
“It was a personal crisis time in my life,” he says, “and I wanted to focus my energies into something creative and positive. I went to one of the country’s biggest tournaments, the Valley Forge Super Billard Expo, and brought handmade posters about my original concept, which didn’t involve poker. I called it the ‘Ultimate Billiard Extreme Challenge’ and would combine pool and MMA. I had a reputation in that community for pool and fighting people when they were sore losers and wanted to rip me off. I put up these posters everywhere and got a huge buzz going about my idea. I met a lot of people there who were showing interest as possible contestants.
From the beginning, Thein knew he had the makings of a hit reality show that would shock the world, and like the street fighter he is, he has been willing to plow through any setback that came his way. Looking back, he can see that various junctures when he thought he was ready to roll were ultimately not the right time. But now, in 2011, he’s ready to go the distance and win big.
“That original concept and what is now ‘Pool, Poker & Pain’ have a strong emphasis on gambling and allow players to creatively and definitively settle those grudge matches that usually arise during or after a game of pool or poker,” adds Thein. “Our contestants will have a legitimate chance to win big money while achieving redemption for their losses by having the opportunity to go into the cage and kick some ass! It’s been an interesting road securing our contestants. We need skilled pool and poker players who are willing to fight. There are big UFC fighters who have contacted me but they can’t play pool very well. ‘Pool, Poker & Pain’ is creating a new breed of multi-talented athlete. Superstar or sucker, the time for talk is over. Get in the cage, guys. It’s action time.”
