Players announced for "Celebrity Poker Showdown 2" on Bravo

[Cubswin]

In case anyone cares....

FIFTY STARS OF FILM, TELEVISION, MUSIC AND SPORTS LAY THEIR CARDS ON THE TABLE IN THE SECOND SEASON OF BRAVO’S ‘CELEBRITY POKER SHOWDOWN’ HOSTED BY DAVE FOLEY

MATTHEW PERRY, JAMES WOODS, SEAN ASTIN, DAVE NAVARRO, JENNIE GARTH, ANGIE DICKINSON, JEFF GORDON, WANDA SYKES, JEROME BETTIS, STAR JONES, JON FAVREAU, MENA SUVARI, TRAVIS TRITT, MAURA TIERNEY AND JASON BATEMAN AMONG THE STARS CONTENDING FOR A HALF-MILLION DOLLARS FOR CHARITY

EXPANDED TWO-HOUR TWELVE EPISODE SEASON FEATURING TWO TOURNAMENTS PREMIERES THURSDAY, MAY 27TH AT 9PM

NEW YORK -– April 29, 2004 –- Beginning Thursday, May 27th (9:00-11:00 pm ET), Bravo's hit original series "Celebrity Poker Showdown" will return with an all new expanded series featuring fifty stars competing in two tournaments. Each tournament will consist of six two-hour episodes. The new season will be hosted by Dave Foley ("Will & Grace," "The Kids in the Hall.") with expert commentary from poker pro Phil Gordon.

Filmed recently before a live audience at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, each episode of "Celebrity Poker Showdown" will feature five celebrities competing against each other for a piece of the $250,000 prize pool in a game of No Limit Texas Hold'em poker for the charity of their choice. Each week a new crop of stars will take to the table to challenge their peers. The winner from each week's game will go on to compete in the championship final sixth episode – and then a new tournament will begin all over again with twenty five new celebrities. Viewers will have the inside track on the hands the different players are holding via hidden cameras. They will also be able to hear from the eliminated players, who will watch the remainder of their respective matches from the 'Loser's Lounge,' via closed circuit television.

The players for the first tournament beginning are:

Game 1 – Premieres Thursday, May 27
Wanda Sykes, Jerome Bettis, Mena Suvari, Travis Tritt, Rosario Dawson

Game 2 – Premieres Thursday, June 3
James Woods, Mo Gaffney, Danny Masterson, Dule' Hill, Timothy Busfield

Game 3 – Premieres Thursday, June 10
Norm MacDonald, Star Jones, Adam Rodriguez, Jeremy Sisto, Michael Ian Black

Game 4 – Premieres Thursday, June 17
Matthew Perry, Lauren Graham, Sean Astin, Chris Masterson, Sara Rue

Game 5 – Premieres Thursday, June 24
Andy Richter, Jon Favreau, Tom Everett Scott, James Blake, Maura Tierney

The Championship Game – Premieres Thursday, July 1

The players for the second tournament are:

Game 1 – Premieres Thursday, July 8
Dave Navarro, Jennie Garth, Richard Kind, Willie Garson, Jerry O'Connell

Game 2 – Premieres Thursday, July 15
Angie Dickinson, Jeff Gordon, Kathy Griffin, Penn Gillette, Ron Livingston

Game 3 – Premieres Thursday, July 22
David Cross, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Judy Greer, Peter Facinelli

Game 4 – Premieres Thursday, July 29
Kathy Najimy, Bobby Flay, Michael Badalucco, Steve Harris, Mimi Rogers

Game 5 – Premieres Thursday, August 5
Hank Azaria, Seth Myers, Amy Poehler, Jeffrey Ross, Gail O'Grady

The Championship Game – Premieres Thursday, August 12

All players are guaranteed at least $5,000 in prize money. Just for making it to the finals, fifth place will win $7,500, fourth place will win $10,000, third place will win $12,500 and second place will walk away with $20,000 for their charity. The "Celebrity Poker Showdown" champions will each walk away with $100,000 for the charity of their choice.

"Celebrity Poker Showdown" is hosted by comedian/actor Dave Foley joined by expert poker commentator Phil Gordon. Gordon is a world class poker player who has won $1,150,000 in poker tournaments in the last two years including a fourth place finish in the 2001 World Series of Poker, a first place finish in the World Poker Tour: Aruba (professional division) in 2002 and most recently a first place finish at the World Poker Tour: Bay 101 Shooting Stars Tournament earlier this month.

The inaugural season of "Celebrity Poker Showdown" garnered spectacular ratings for Bravo, with the finale – which crowned Nicole Sullivan ("The King of Queens") champion – generating 1.7 million total viewers, more than one million viewers 25-54 and a 1.66 household rating.

"Celebrity Poker Showdown" is produced by Picture This Television in association with Bravo. Marcia Mulé and Bryan Scott, Andrew Hill Newman and Joshua Malina are the executive producers. Frances Berwick, Amy Introcaso-Davis and Shari Levine are the executive producers for Bravo. Cingular Wireless is the official sponsor of "Celebrity Poker Showdown."

[GuitarMarc]

Rosario Dawson and Mena Suvari on the first episode - that's pretty hot. Guess I'll be tuning into that one.

[Gallopin Gael]

[ QUOTE ]
Game 2 – Premieres Thursday, June 3
Timothy Busfield

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, nepotism is a beautiful thing.

[Boris]

who the hell are these people? I can't recognize half of the names. must not take much to become a celebrity these days.

[toots]

Obviously, this is for small values of "celebrity."

Probably a bunch of people who didn't qualify for Celebrity Mole or The Surreal Life.

[JerseyTom]

I think shows like this are good for the game. Casual poker fans and fans of the particular "celebrities" (I too didn't recognize some of the names...) will watch and the whole thing helps charities anyway. And if it helps bring new players to the tables who are willing to mimic Willie Garson and push all-in on the flop with nothing but 4 clubs when they're not particularly short-stacked, then all the better...

That said, I think 2 hours per episode is too long. Even some WPT final tables haven't had enough compelling play for a full 2 hours (the recent Paris and Borgata episodes come to mind).

You won't see solid poker in these games. As a matter of fact, the stars that know how to and try to play solid poker rarely win. Even among the top professionals, 5-handed tournament poker when everyone has equal stacks is pretty much a crapshoot...

[Brain]

They credited Dave Foley with "Will & Grace" and not "NewsRadio"? That's silly.

[MicroBob]

"They credited Dave Foley with "Will & Grace" and not "NewsRadio"? That's silly. "

yes, but Kids in the Hall is his most important credit.


i know who mena suvari is but who's rosario dawson??

i actually know who almost half of these celebrities are and i even like some of them.
almost makes me wish i had Bravo so that i cold check out this silly show.

i have only seen one episode when i was visiting relatives who get Bravo and i wasn't terribly impressed....but a few friends of mine have asked me about the show and they seemed to enjoy it even though they don't play poker.

[Gallopin Gael]

[ QUOTE ]
i know who mena suvari is but who's rosario dawson??

[/ QUOTE ]

Rosario Dawson (http://imdb.com/name/nm0206257/)

MIB II the biggest thing that she's done.

Unless you count that episode of Punk'd /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[MicroBob]

yeah...should have looked her up on my own.

i saw her in 25th hour...(and also in Kids although it's been awhile since i saw that film so i only vaguely remember her).

haven't had the privelge of MIB-2 (nor do i intend to).

i'm not really blown by away by either her or Suvari....but that's just me i guess.

[MicroBob]

actually...i had to look up suvari also...because i got her mixed up with Mira Sorvino (who i wouldn't mind seeing on celeb-poker...if i got bravo). i cant believe sorvino is actually older than me!! who knew??

sorvino i get mixed up with Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black and Basquiat) for some reason...who i get mixed up with someone whose name i cant remember.


i'm pretty confused with my celebs i guess.

[JustPlayingSmart]

Another Rosario Dawson flick is the Rundown. I thought it was gonna suck, but it's actually pretty cool. The Rock is suprisingly not bad (I haven't seen the Scorpion King to know if this is a trend), and the opening scene is pretty awesome.