Casino News

Online qualifier gets to play with 5 of his favorite players

(PRWEB) December 28, 2007 -- NBC's Poker After Dark kicks off Season 3 with a match that is sure to have everyone buzzing. Not only are 5 of the world's best players featured in Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu and Mike Matusow, but they were specifically invited to play against amateur player Ken Light, who won his seat in this match via a freeroll at FullTiltPoker.net. A 28-year-old graduate student at Rutgers University, Ken will do his best to make amateur and online players everywhere proud as he takes on these legendary five for the $120,000 winner-take-all first place prize.

The odds Ken had to overcome to play in this match were staggering. All he had to do was win a designated PAD single-table sit & go to advance into the second round, where he then faced 360 players in a multi-table tournament. By finishing in the top nine, he was entered into the final round, along with 1394 other players who had done the same thing. But he defeated them all, and sat stunned for about 3 hours afterwards at his home in Pennington, NJ.

Faced with a decision of who to match Ken up against, the show's producers interviewed him over the phone and asked him who his favorite players were. It was from this list that they came up with the idea of inviting the players who were Ken's personal favorites. The pros were happy to oblige, and the Dream Match was conceived.

This match also marks the debut of Marianela, the program's new host. Now known as the "Poker Princess," viewers are in for a real treat. See if you don't agree that she will soon become a household name in the poker community for her witty personality, improvisation, expertise in conducting interviews and her flair for having fun in front of the cameras.

So, will Phil or Mikey finally win a match? Will Scotty prevail in his first PAD appearance, or will Jennifer or Daniel join only three other players who have won two PAD titles? Will "The Brat" complain that Ken doesn't even know how to spell poker, or will the amateur prevail and complete the Cinderella story? This match is very entertaining, and has a final hand never before seen on PAD, so be sure to tune in!

Negreanu, Daniel: (Seat 1)

###