Matt Berkey is bringing the Only Friends Podcast back after more than 18 months off the air ā and he doesn't think anyone has filled the gap it left behind.
The popular poker podcast returns on Monday, November 9, with Berkey and his familiar cast ready to tackle the controversies and scandals that have always made the show essential viewing.
āI thought that when we stepped away, that it was an opportunity for somebody to pick up the reins,ā says Berkey. āBut I just don't really feel like that void has been filled.ā
Berkey also reveals that a legal battle involving his company was one of the reasons the show disappeared. With that dispute now settled, he says he has full ownership again and the freedom to bring the podcast back on his own terms.
So what can fans expect from the new Only Friends? We caught up with Berkey to find out.Ā
Why Berkey decided to bring Only Friends back
Why bring Only Friends back now?
I mean, obviously the community hasn't exactly been silent since we disappeared. There's been plenty of things to talk about.
Thereās been a full-on superuser scandal like we saw with Pot Ripper. And thereās a bot farm on a couple of the overseas poker sites. There are a litany of other things going on right now. We'll talk about them.
One of the big reasons we stepped away was that the company was going through a legal battle, which finally got settled over the summer.
I have full ownership again and free rein to do as I see fit. Bringing back the podcast was at the top of my list, regardless of what upside there may be.
What did fans tell you they missed most about the show?
Mostly, I believe it's the camaraderie, it's the sense of community, and a certain sense of belonging, you know?
Even if our audience wasn't that big compared to some other content creators, if you look at the vlogging sphere or bigger platforms like Daniel (Negreanu) or Doug (Polk). Brad Owen is a good example.
These guys are capturing the eyeballs of maybe 50% to 70% of poker enthusiasts. And I use that term loosely, like that includes casuals. Our Only Friends Podcast might get a lot more of the, let's say, āride or diesā and the serious weekend warriors who put in a few hundred hours a year at the felt.
Jeff Platt and Nikki Limo are among the familiar faces Berkey expects to welcome back.
Familiar faces, a new set and four shows a week
Will the format be the same? Who's coming back, and how often will the show air?
It'll be very similar to the show that it was before. It will be four days a week instead of five, just because of my playing schedule. It will have a similar cast. It'll be a lot of Landon, Melissa, and me. Conrad and Jesse aren't in Vegas anymore, so they'll do more call-in type of stuff.
We'll have a lot of special guests along the way. Hopefully we're going to get Sam Laskowitz, and I'm sure Nikki Limo, Brent Hanks, and Jeff Platt will be part of it. It will be all those guys who spent some time on our mics throughout the years.
What will be different?
I hope it'll be a bit different in the sense that we have so much more available to us now with the advent of AI.
Thereās been so much enthusiasm about the show since we went off air. I think everyone who's part of this will be able to do so much more. We can run so many different packages, we can create graphics, and we can really amplify the show in a more professional way than we were able to in the past, when we were a skeleton crew of three all learning on the fly.
You've moved out of the old condo in Vegas. Will the new set look different?
The set is different. It's a simplified version. It'll always be a work in progress. We're always going to be making tweaks and exploring how to make it more aesthetic.
The new Only Friends set is simpler, but Berkey promises the same familiar format.'We need reminders, now and again'
What are you most looking forward to talking about?
Only Friends is a daily watering hole of sorts, so there will always be topical things to get into.
I was combing through the old highlights recently to make some teaser videos. And you know, it wasn't really the scandals and the stories that were most interesting to me. It was more of just shooting the shit and the funny moments that popped up throughout.
I look forward to that stuff the most, even though it's the least predictable. Itās been a year and a half since we've been on air, and a lot has happened. A lot's already been forgotten, which is kind of both nice and not great for our industry. We need reminders, now and again.
The industry has forgotten about it now, but two people got banned at the WSOP for playing heads-up in a bracelet event and orchestrating their own version of a chop. Granted, a third party was involved and incentivized them to chop it up a specific way.Ā
Nevertheless, these things came and went with little more than a Twitter conversation among peers. We plan to spend a little bit more time on those things, and dive a little bit deeper into them.
The Only Friends PodcastĀ returns this coming Monday, November 9, at 11am PT, with new episodes airing Monday through Thursday. FollowĀ Only Friends PodcastĀ on X.
