A brand new week of NBC’s “Poker After Dark” premieres on Monday. In fact, the new cycle, a $150,000 Cash Game, is so big that it will span two weeks. The blinds will be $300/$600 with an ante of $100 and the game features a rock solid lineup of pros.
Two players will make their “Poker After Dark” debuts during the $150,000 Cash Game. Former hockey pro and dual bracelet Greg Mueller, dubbed “FBT” in poker circles, will take to the “Poker After Dark” suite for the first time. Mueller won the World Championship of Limit Hold’em during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $460,000. Seventeen events later, he captured another piece of hardware in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout for another $195,000.
Also making his “Poker After Dark” debut is Olivier Busquet, who won the 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open. During the tournament, he overcame a sizable 20:1 chip deficit heads-up to take home nearly a million dollars. The East Coast event, which sported a rather affordable $3,500 buy-in, attracted over a thousand players.
What can you expect to see when the cards hit the air on Monday night at 2:05am ET? A preview sent out by NBC on Sunday explains, “This game has plenty of action, along with its share of bad beats and suckouts which result in several rebuys. Viewers will see a variation of the seven/deuce prop bet and for a period of time the players agree to show one card if they win an uncontested pot.”
Also competing in the $150,000 Cash Game are David “Viffer” Peat and Eli Elezra. Both are regulars on televised ring games like GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” and NBC claims that this week marks the sixth time each “has appeared in this format.” Peat has been a professional poker player for over a decade and enjoys playing as high as $400/$800. Elezra has a WSOP bracelet and a WPT title to his credit along with lifetime tournament earnings of $2 million.
Joining Mueller, Busquet, Peat, and Elezra on his week’s all-new “Poker After Dark” are Howard Lederer and Phil Laak. Lederer has two WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles. He also ranks 36th on poker’s all-time money list with $6.4 million according to the Hendon Mob.
Laak broke poker’s endurance record last year at the Bellagio by playing for 115 straight hours, or nearly five days. He banked $6,700 in earnings when all was said and done and donated half of his profits to Camp Sunshine. He’s also the front man for the Cake Poker Network site Unabomber Poker.
The $150,000 Cash Game marks the only new “Poker After Dark” installment until the week of April 4th, when a $50,000 Sit and Go will air that features Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Melanie Weisner, Doyle Brunson, Annette Obrestad, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan.
Starting on April 11th, Pot Limit Omaha will make its debut on the NBC poker franchise in a two-week special that includes Brandon Adams, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, Dwan, Brian Hastings, and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond.
“Poker After Dark” airs on Monday to Friday nights at 2:05am ET on NBC. On Saturday nights, look for “Director’s Cut” episodes beginning at 1:00am ET following “Saturday Night Live.”
Leeann Tweeden serves as the hostess of “Poker After Dark” and conducts interviews from the floor, while Ali Nejad provides commentary from the booth. Full Tilt Poker sponsors the show.
