Although The Poker Show with Jesse May has been off the air for quite some time, it returned to its former glory on June 30th thanks to new sponsorship coming from Party Poker, a site that remains one of the major players within the online poker industry. Guest appearances were made by Tony Guoga, Kara Scott and Mike Sexton, the latter two of course being well known as names associated with the Party Poker brand name.

Shows will continue to be produced as Party Poker appears to be fully behind this particular television construction. They will be broadcast live on Mondays and Thursdays with the corresponding podcasts being available through iTunes or the main Party Poker blog on Wednesdays and Sundays. Right now, this show which is in its 4th season will be expected to run through September 29th at which point Party Poker will evaluate how it’s done and then make a decision on continuing it into season 5.

In order to celebrate their sponsorship of this show and also to drum up more interest and get more people to watch it, Party Poker will be offered online poker tournaments with buy-ins of $5 + $1. These tournaments will take place after the first eight shows (on the live day as opposed to the podcast day). Each tournament will allow just the winner to advance to a freeroll tournament taking place on August 1st.

The winner of that freeroll will get a prize package worth around GBP 5000 that not only includes a seat at the WPT Poker Classic (taking place August 30th to September 4th), but also includes additional accommodations and spending money to give the player some help in getting to and from the tournament when it actually does take place.

Overall, Party Poker does seem to be quite enthusiastic about The Poker Show with Jesse May, although right now that seems to be more about the novelty and the promotions than anything else. Only time will tell if that attitude remains, especially if the ratings turn out to be lower than were initially expected.