Bravo Network has announced that nine-time World Series of Poker champion Phil Hellmuth will take over the commentary chair that has been vacated by longtime co-host Phil Gordon on Celebrity Poker Showdown.

This alone should add a new texture to the program and we’ll see how patient this Phil is with some of the plays (or lack thereof) made by the celebrity participants. Dave Foley will remain to hold down the celebrity host seat in the Losers’ Lounge.

“Phil Hellmuth is ‘must see’ TV,” said Hellmuth’s agent, Brian Balsbaugh, of Poker Royalty, LLC. “Whatever your opinion of ‘The Poker Brat,’ you simply cannot change the channel when he is on the screen. I can’t wait to hear him describe the action with Dave Foley on the new season of Celebrity Poker Showdown.

For the new season of Celebrity Poker Showdown, Bravo have decided to take the series in a new direction, by supporting the people of New Orleans who have been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina last year.

The players who will be participating in the event have yet to be announced as well as what the charities focused on the Katrina recovery will be. It may be a very special season of “Celebrity Poker Showdown” as the program attempts to provide poker entertainment to the masses and aid the recovery effort from the most devastating storm in American history.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 24th, 2006 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Land-Based Casino Poker, Poker Players, Poker Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.