Season Two of Best Damn Poker Show Debuts January 12th

For poker fans, the beginning of 2009 has been a whirlwind of television shows debuting one after the other.  The seventh season of the World Poker Tour launched last Sunday on Fox Sports Net.  The fifth season of “Poker After Dark” began airing on NBC and in March the Game Show Network’s “High Stakes Poker” will debut its fifth season as well.  Now, poker fans have one more debut to add to their viewing schedule.  The Best Damn Poker Show will debut on Monday, January 12, 2009 with the first of expected seven new episodes.
 
The series will air on Fox Sports Net and is being sponsored by Ultimate Bet.  Two of the online poker room’s most well known players will take part, Annie Duke and 11 time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Phil Hellmuth.  The show kicks off with 24 hopefuls battling it out and unlucky contestants sent home each week.  Hellmuth and Duke compete to see who ”can better teach the game of Texas Hold’em, transforming ordinary poker players into champions capable of competing on the world stage,” according to a press release issued by Ultimate Bet parent company Tokwiro on Tuesday.
 
Duke is a 2004 World Series of Poker bracelet winner, taking down a $2,000 buy in Omaha High Low Eight or Better tournament.  She also was the winner of the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, taking home a cool $2 million.  In addition to her Best Damn Poker show duties, Duke will be appearing in the upcoming edition of ”The Celebrity Apprentice”, also on NBC.
 
Hellmuth has 69 career money finishes at the World Series of Poker with eleven of them being for bracelets.  He also held the title of being the youngest World Series of Poker Main Event winner at age 24 for 20 years until that record was broken this year by Danish player, Peter Eastgate who is 22 years old.
 
The season two cast will range in age from 58 year old artist and musician Jon Hair to 22 year old student Tony Wind.  All players submitted videos that explained why they would be the best candidate for the Best Damn Poker Show.  Ultimate Bet reps also traveled to Las Vegas and chose players amongst the crowd at the 2008 World Series of Poker.