'Poker After Dark' Releases Season Four Preview

Fresh off the April 18th wrap of filming for the upcoming season's episodes, the popular program "Poker After Dark" has released the highlights for the fourth season of the series, which will consist of ten new episodes that will air beginning this July.

20 new player will make their "PAD" debuts this season, joining many of the game's biggest names on the popular late-night show. This year, "Poker After Dark" will experiment with its base format far more than in the first three seasons, offering viewers several different combinations of players and stakes.

One new twist in Season Four is a double elimination heads-up battle featuring all four winners to date of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship: Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Paul Wasicka, and Chris Ferguson. Each of the four will put up $50,000 and compete for a winner-take-all $200,000 prize.

The allure of high-stakes cash games will also be reflected in the upcoming season, as "Poker After Dark" will air two full weeks of a $200/400 NL cash game stuffed with plenty of big names. One week of the cash-game matchup features Howard Lederer, Dee Tiller, Gabe Kaplan, Patrik Antonius, Doyle Brunson, and Eli Elezra, while the other showcases Guy Laliberte, Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, Allen Cunningham, Mike Baxter, and Antonio Esfandiari.

The "Dream Match" format featuring an online qualifier (Paul Featherstone) against five established pros is scheduled to return, while two distinctive, themed matchups in the Season Four schedule are "Brilliant Minds" and "The Mayfair Club". The first features poker players noted for their mathematical acumen, such as Bill Chen, Chris Ferguson and Andy Bloch, while the second reaches back to a storied NYC poker club that was the birthplace of several of poker's most legendary pros. That episode includes Howard Lederer, Dan Harrington, Mickey Appleman, Jay Heimowitz, Steve Zolotow, and Mike Shichtman.

Several other episodes feature prominent players and unique themes as well. Among the other players who will appear on this summer's new episodes are Tom "durrr" Dwan, Brian "sbrugby" Townsend, Johnny Chan, Huck Seed, Andrew "good2cu" Robl, Phil Gordon, Gabe Kaplan, Cory Zeidman, Todd Brunson, David Grey, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman, Gavin Smith, Mike Sexton, David Williams, Clonie Gowen, Phil Laak, Brandon Adams, Jimmy Warren, David Sklansky, Andy Black, Lee Watkinson, Dewey Tomko, and Allen Cunningham.