Poker After Dark Returning to NBC

The next session of Poker After Dark boasts some familiar faces (photo courtesy of NBC)

So you’re sitting at home late at night playing some online poker, and you suddenly think to yourself: “self, this is fun, but it would be even more fun if I could watch Phil Helmuth lose a hundred grand of his own money.” If that’s your dream, you’re in luck – the cards are about to be dealt on a new session of NBC’s Poker After Dark starting Monday. And while I can’t guarantee Helmuth will actually lose all that money, just the possibility that it could happen makes it worth tuning in.

The late night favorite returns with some familiar faces, and a couple new ones. Besides Helmuth, some of the players who will battle it out over the next couple weeks include: Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu. Oh, and Patrik Antonius will take a break from his multi-million dollar poker ping-pong matches with Isuldur1 to sit in on a few games.

The minimum buy-in for this week’s session, which is being called “Railbird Heaven” is $100,000, with a max of $250,000. Sources from the show are saying that viewers will be in for a week of huge pots, lots of the usual trash-talking, and even more prop bets and side action.

Episodes will air on NBC each week-night, starting at 2:05 am on Monday, with the “Director’s Cut” episode airing after Saturday Night Live. I’m not sure what exactly “Director’s Cut” means in this context, but given the list of players this time around, I’m really, really hoping there’s no suggestive scenes or explicit nudity.