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Cold Open: A New Host for Poker After Dark's 4th Season and NBC kicks off their National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Hello Poker Players this is Dana Ward with the Poker Report here on www.GamblersTelevision.com.

For the past seven years, Leeann Tweeden has been seen in the role of show host and sports reporter on the Fox Sports Network. She has covered everything from mainstream and extreme sports to news and entertainment, and has won a Sports Emmy. Now fans of NBC's Poker After Dark will be able to see Leeann interacting with pokers biggest stars, as she will be the host of Poker After Dark's 4th season.

Poker is not a new venture for Leeann. She was a co-host/exit interviewer on the Mansion Poker Dome Challenge on FSN in 2006, and was the host of the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which began airing on NBC on April 13. Poker After Dark Season 4 will begin airing on NBC in early July and will once again feature 10 episodes.

NBC began their National Heads-Up Poker Championship coverage last Saturday and it features some of poker’s biggest names. The world’s best players compete in a series of one on one Texas Holdem single elimination matches to crown pokers best Heads-Up player. Competing in this 64-player field are poker’s biggest stars including the “Poker Brat” Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu to name just a few. Also appearing are celebrity poker players Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Tilly and Don Cheadle. There are 5 more Saturday afternoon episodes scheduled on NBC at noon eastern with the final head to head match on May 18th. The total purse is $1.5 million dollars with the first place finisher banking $500,000. Be sure to check out our website at www.GamblersTelevision.com for results and the brackets for the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

This is Dana Ward of www.GamblersTelevision.com with the Poker Report. Good luck at the tables.