it's interesting to note that in addition to the obvious absence of
phil gordon, josh malina and andrew hill newman are mentioned nowhere
in the release.
i'm officially excited about, like, five of the players. out of 25
people, only five really do it for me. and i'm probably being pretty
liberal regarding what qualifies as "doing it" for me in the first
place. oh well. it's dave...and that's why god invented tivo.
IT'S TIME TO HOLD 'EM OR FOLD 'EM AS BRAVO'S 'CELEBRITY POKER SHOWDOWN'
KICKS-OFF AN ALL NEW ONLINE POKER TOURNAMENT ON BRAVOTV.COM
Published: May 24, 2006
IT'S TIME TO HOLD 'EM OR FOLD 'EM AS BRAVO'S 'CELEBRITY POKER SHOWDOWN'
KICKS-OFF AN ALL NEW ONLINE POKER TOURNAMENT ON BRAVOTV.COM
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, EXPERT ADVICE AND EXCLUSIVE TIPS WILL BE
PROVIDED THROUGH SMS TEXT MESSAGES FROM POKER CHAMP AND NEW HOST PHIL
HELLMUTH
SEASON PREMIERE AND ONLINE POKER TOURNAMENT LAUNCH ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 31
AT 9:00 - 11:00 PM, ET/PT
NEW YORK - May 25, 2006 - BravoTV.com antes up for another online poker
tournament this summer, kicking off with the new season premiere of the
Bravo original series "Celebrity Poker Showdown." This year's online
tournament grand prize winner will receive a non-speaking walk-on role
on the NBC hit series "Las Vegas," including round trip airfare and
hotel accommodations in Los Angeles for two. Filmed entirely in New
Orleans, this new season of "Celebrity Poker Showdown" will donate the
million-dollar jackpot to Hurricane Katrina Charities in sup****t of the
rebuilding effort. The online tournament will launch with the new
season premiere on May 31 at 9:00 pm ET/PT.
Bravo also gives its viewers a unique behind-the-scenes experience with
the new SMS text message feature that allows viewers to receive
exclusive poker tips and advice from new host and nine-time World
Series of Poker winner Phil Hellmuth. Audience members can register via
phone by text messaging "CP" to the number "62288." They will then
receive up to five in-show text messages each week for six weeks from
Phil Hellmuth. A one-time charge of $2.99 will be charged to
subscribers for this service. Messages will be sent on Wednesdays
during the premiere of each episode.
"Bravo is paving the way for tech-savvy viewers to connect in new and
innovative ways to our programming," said Frances Berwick, SVP
Programming and Production. "This op****tunity for viewers to watch a
hand of poker play out on the screen while simultaneously learning the
inside tricks to win the hand on their phones makes them a part of the
game, and brings them that much closer to the action."
The first BravoTV.com online poker tournament was a runaway hit after
its launch in October of last year, setting new Bravo records of over
80 million "Celebrity Poker Showdown" page views and over 120,000
registered players. This new online tournament will stretch from May 31
to July 30, where qualifying rounds of Texas Hold 'Em will be played on
BravoTV.com daily, potentially advancing hundreds of winners to the
final round where they will duke it out for the grand prize. Entrants
of the "Celebrity Poker Showdown Online Tournament" must be legal
residents, must physically reside in the continental United States and
be 21 years of age or older as of the date of entry.
The celebrity line-up of players for the season eight tournament are:
Game 1 - Premieres Wednesday, May 31st at 9:00pm, ET/PT
Bryan Cranston, Jamie Bamber, Jason Alexander, Susie Essman and Kevin
Sorbo
Game 2 - Premieres Wednesday, June 7th at 9:00pm, ET/PT
Greg Behrendt, Andrea Martin, Kim Coles, Michael Ian Black and Jorge
Garcia
Game 3 - Premieres Wednesday, June 14th at 9:00pm, ET/PT
Fred Savage, Jennifer Tilly, Brett Butler, online tournament winner Ida
Siconolfi and Doug E. Doug
Game 4 - Premieres Wednesday, June 21st at 9:00pm, ET/PT
Mario Cantone, Jenna Fischer, Rocco Dispirito, Jordan Peele and
Keegan-Michael Key
Game 5 - Premieres Wednesday, Jun 28th at 9:00pm, ET/PT
Christopher Meloni, Joy Behar, Andy Dick, Macy Gray and Robin Tunney
The Champion****p Game - Premieres Wednesday, July 5th at 9:00pm/et
Bravo will be partnering with Harrah's Entertainment to make Harrah's
the new official casino of "Celebrity Poker Showdown." For the all-new
season, "Celebrity Poker Showdown" will be filmed at Harrah's New
Orleans. The land-based casino closed shortly before Hurricane Katrina
made landfall near the city on August 29. The building sustained storm
damage, and was used by first responders as a base of operations in the
days following the storm. Repairs to the facility have been completed
and the casino re-opened on February 17.
Filmed in front of a live audience, each episode of "Celebrity Poker
Showdown" features five celebrities competing against each other for
the chance to win thousands to donate to the charity of their choice.
Each week, a new group of celebrities meet at the table to go head to
head until only one remains. The winner from each week's game will
advance to the champion****p sixth game. To date, "Celebrity Poker
Showdown" has given away $2,450,000 to charities around the world. All
celebrities will be playing for charities benefiting victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
"Celebrity Poker Showdown" is hosted by comedian/actor Dave Foley
joined by expert poker commentator Phil Hellmuth. With nine World
Series of Poker victories and more than fifty tournament titles under
his belt, Hellmuth's poker legacy is secure. His laundry list of
achievements began in 1989 at the tender age of 24 with his first World
Series of Poker Main Event title, the youngest person to ever
accomplish the feat, a record that stills stands to this day.
"Celebrity Poker Showdown" is produced by Picture This Television in
association with Bravo. Marcia Mul=E9 and Bryan Scott are the executive
producers. The million dollar prize pool is donated by PartyPoker.net
and Southern Comfort is the official sponsor of the "loser's lounge"
for "Celebrity Poker Showdown."
Bravo is the cable network that plugs people into arts, entertainment
and pop culture with original programming, acclaimed drama series,
movies, comedy and music specials, and by showing a whole different
side of celebrities. Currently available in more than 80 million homes,
Bravo is known for breaking exciting new personalities, shaking up the
way we look at style, media, fame and Hollywood, pulling back the
curtain on the creative process and making influential and inventive
original programming. Its critically acclaimed and award-winning
original programming includes "Blow Out", "Kathy Griffin: My Life on
the D-List", "Inside the Actors Studio," "Celebrity Poker Showdown," as
well as the 2004 Emmy winner for Outstanding Reality Program, "Queer
Eye" and the Emmy-nominated hit competition series, "Project Runway."
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