Television and film star Kevin Nealon, most well-known as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” will host the US Game Show Network’s new poker show, “Poker Royale: The WPPA Championship”. The show premiers Tuesday December 7th at 9PM EST/PT.
Nealon will provide witty commentary for the show’s six episodes, which chronicle a no-limit hold’em tournament featuring several members of the World Poker Players Association, or WPPA. 2003 World Series of Poker champion Chris Moneymaker will appear, along with Carlos Mortensen, Kathy Liebert and Paul Wolfe. The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas hosted the event.
Poker is not a foreign subject to the fifty-one year old comedian. Nealon bested five other players on the October 24th episode of Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker Showdown,” and advanced to that show’s Tournament 4 Championship, which airs December 31st. He will face, among others, basketball star Dennis Rodman and former “Friends” cast member Matthew Perry.
Nealon has starred in over twenty-five films and shares the distinction of being the longest serving cast member on Saturday Night Live, having appeared for nine of the shows twenty-nine years. His film credits include “Anger Management,””Happy Gilmore” and “Eight Crazy Nights”. He currently acts as the voice of OCD Ken on Comedy Central’s “Crank Yankers”.
Televised poker event from Middletown, Ohio?
Regional TV station “TV Middletown” could be the latest organization to jump on the Texas Holdem poker bandwagon.
Station board member and volunteer Leonard Robinson said he is likely to go before Middletown City Council next month and propose televising a poker tournament from “TV Middletown” as a fund-raiser.
“We need to come up with some cash fast,” Robinson says after the City Council cut the station’s funding by one-third, in order to balance Middletown’s $27 million general fund budget, for 2005.
The city’s total spending was cut about $7 million from the 2004 general fund budget, including TV Middletown’s budget, from about $150,000 to about $100,500.
Robinson said station leadership is considering several options to increase long-term funding and contributions, including the poker tournament.
TV Middletown is funded through the city by its franchise agreement with Time Warner Cable.
A televised Texas Holdem 1xbet mobile tournament could feature the same close-up and hidden camera angles that have made celebrity and professional poker games a hit on channels ranging from ESPN to the Travel Channel, Robinson said.
Robinson said details about how the tournament will work and who will play need to be finalized, but he hopes to have a proposal for council at one of its December meetings.
Poker tournaments and casino events have become popular and lucrative fund-raisers for many organizations, including schools, church groups and sports teams.