Poker in the News

Bravo launches its fifth season of "Celebrity Poker Showdown" on Jan. 5th. The season premiere will feature Ray Romano and Brad Garrett (from "Everybody Loves Raymond"), Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling, Catherine O'Hara, and Sara Rue.

This season, episodes will air on Tuesdays--- there are a total of 6 episodes in a season, with each winner from the first 5 weeks meeting in a final "showdown". All the prize money is donated to charities picked by the individual celebrities-- this season's sponsor will be Cadillac.

I think that it's fitting that Cadillac will sponsor the show--- No Limit Hold'em is often called the "cadillac of poker".

This season's mixture of new and veteran players features Jason Alexander, Nicolas Gonzales, Allison Janney, Chris Kattan and Mary McCormack (all in Week Two), Lacey Chabert, Bonnie Hunt, J.K. Simmons, Robert Wagner and Scott Wolf (in Week Three), Brandi Chastain, Camryn Manheim, Colin Quinn, Tom Verica and Kevin Weisman (in Week Four) and Heather Graham, Jesse Metcalfe, Andrea Parker, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Fred Willard.

Dave Foley will be back as host, joined by expert poker commentator Phil Gordon.

Schilling, Romano latest poker stars