FACE OFF: Celebrity vs. Pro – Who Will Walk Away With $1 Million?

Want to see five celebrity amateur players face off against five poker legends? Ten will enter, but only one will walk away with the million! This thrilling action will take place at the new Super High Roller Celebrity Challenge poker tournament. Although the event takes place behind closed doors at ARIA in Las Vegas on June 27 and 28, we’ll be able to watch it on NBCSN three Wednesdays in a row, beginning July 29th.

The new Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout is being produced by Poker Central®, the world’s only 24/7 PokerTM TV network. This exciting new TV channel is set to launch on October 1st through a groundbreaking mix of traditional TV and non-traditional, digital venues worldwide.

“These Hollywood celebrities are about to face off in the hardest game of their life, for more than they’ve ever played for before, against some of the world’s best players,” said Clint Stinchcomb, CEO of Poker Central. “This exciting, high pressure poker will be riveting to watch.”

About the Celebrity Players

Hank Azaria

With four Emmys and a Screen Actors Guild Award to his name, Hank Azaria is a famous actor, comedian and producer who starred in movies such as The Birdcage, Grosse Point Blank, Godzilla, Mystery Men, America’s Sweethearts, Shattered Glass, Along Came Polly, Run Fatboy Run, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and The Smurfs. Although Azaria had recurring roles on the TV shows Mad About You and Friends, Azaria is most popular on TV for the dozens of characters that he’s brought to life in The Simpsons since its first year on TV in 1989.

Throughout his acting career, Azaria tries to never miss his regular poker game with the guys, and he credits his passion for poker in helping him in business negotiations. Azaria likes to use his love of poker to raise money, especially for the Geffen Playhouse and Determined to Succeed, a charity that helps low-income students with year-round academic and enrichment support that led their first batch of kids to 100 percent college enrollment after high school graduation.

Don Cheadle

No other Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee has had a bigger impact on poker – or the role it can play in social change. Don Cheadle is a critically-acclaimed actor whose extensive movie career includes a mix of films such as Crash and Hotel Rwanda, which landed him an Academy Award nomination, and blockbusters like Boogie Nights, Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen, Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3.

After filming Hotel Rwanda, Cheadle became personally interested in the plight and human suffering in Darfur. Along with poker champ Annie Duke and their friend Norman Epstein, Cheadle founded Ante Up for Africa, a non-profit that raised funds through a poker tournament. Hoping to raise $30,000 during the first tournament, the event raised $700,000. Additional tournaments have raised a total of $3 million, which was used to provide life-saving assistance for the long-suffering people of Darfur.

Brad Garrett

Brad Garrett won three Emmys and a SAG Award for his role as Robert Barone on the iconic television series Everybody Loves Raymond. Garrett’s trademark voice has been heard in over 30 animated features, including Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, and Tangled. Garrett’s film credits Include David Chase’s Not Fade Away, Music And Lyrics, Suicide Kings and Sweet And Lowdown. Garrett’s 30-year stand-up career includes appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and opening for Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. in the 80s in Las Vegas. Garrett has recently opened his own comedy club at the MGM Grand, performing to sold-out audiences, and his autobiography When The Balls Drop was just released last month.

Garrett still enjoys playing poker with Ray Romano and other friends such as Jason Alexander, Cheryl Hines, and Teri Hatcher. Garrett, too, uses poker to raise funds for his nonprofit, the Maximum Hope Foundation, which helps children with life-limiting illnesses. Garrett is hosting his next poker tournament for Maximum Hope Foundation on September 19th in Las Vegas.

Norm Macdonald

Named one of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time by Comedy Central, Norm Macdonald is a TV and movie actor who’s starred in movies like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, The Animal, Dr. Dolittle, Dr. Dolittle 2 and Dr. Dolittle 3. On TV, Macdonald is best known for his five seasons on Saturday Night Live, which included anchoring Weekend Update for three years. Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom Roseanne and made appearances on The Drew Carey Show and News Radio. He also starred in his own show The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001. He is a noted talk show guest of both David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. Macdonald is a lifelong fan of poker, teaching himself card games while growing up in Quebec. Macdonald hosted a cash game poker television program called High Stakes Poker in 2011 and usually follows up a stand-up comedy routine in Las Vegas with a night at the tables.

Kevin Pollak

Kevin Pollak is a TV and movie star known for his roles in blockbuster films like A Few Good Men, Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, The Usual Suspects, Casino, The Whole Nine Yards, and The Whole Ten Yards. Pollak has appeared in more than 60 films and TV shows like Vamped Out and Entourage. Pollak also has his own internet talk show called Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show, which features interviews with fellow actors like Dana Carvey, Matthew Perry, and Jon Hamm. In addition to his acting skills, Pollak is known for his stand-up comedy, including his famous impersonations of actors like William Shatner, Alan Arkin, Christopher Walken, Walter Matthau, and Robert De Niro.

An avid poker player, Pollak likes to host games at his home with other Hollywood celebrities and also hosted a poker TV show, Celebrity Poker Showdown. He placed in 134th in the 2012 WSOP main event, walking away with $52,718.

About the Professional Players

Doyle Brunson

At age 81, Doyle Bronson has been playing professional poker for more than 50 years. He virtually invented the phenomenon that is Texas Hold´em. He reshaped the image of poker as a game for cowboys to a game for world leaders and top executives. A winner of ten World Series of Poker bracelets, including two back-to-back main event championships, Brunson was the leader of the Texas Rounders, a group of men who, in the words of The History Channel, “cleaned Texas dry” playing high-stakes poker in the 1950s and ´60s. His play became so famous that he became one of Las Vegas’s earliest tourist attractions, as audiences would gather in awe to watch him play.

Antonio Esfandiari

Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari is known for his rock star lifestyle, humor, and giving nature, as well as his amazing skill at the table. Best known for winning the largest cash prize in the history of tournament poker – $18,346,673 – Esfandiari has $26 million in lifetime poker winnings to his name, and has been ranked as one of the biggest tournament winners in all of poker. A former magician turned poker player, Esfandiari has won two WPT championships and three WSOP bracelets and is one of the elite hat trick players – players who have won $1 million or more in three or more tournaments, including the 2013 WSOP and the WPT in 2004 and 2010. Calm and cheerful at the table, Esfandiari maintains a quirky, self-deprecating sense of humor, a love of family, and a love of helping others that has catapulted him from popular to beloved.

Phil Hellmuth, Jr.

$18,282,014 in lifetime poker winnings. 300 cashes. 200 final tables. Seventh on poker’s all time money list. A record 14 WSOP bracelets. A record 53 WSOP final tables. The all-time WSOP leader in cashes. Poker Hall of Fame inductee in 2007. The youngest WSOP main event winner in history when he won the title at the age of 24 in 1989. The only player to ever win the WSOP main event in Vegas and also in Europe. In a poker career that spans three decades, the unstoppable king of poker, Phil Hellmuth Jr., is world famous for his great poker skills and big personality. Nicknamed “Poker Brat” for his tableside temper tantrums, Hellmuth is one of the best live tournament poker players of all time and one the most well-known, with his fame reaching well beyond those who follow poker. A mix of prankster and businessman, Hellmuth has turned poker playing into a media career that includes a best-selling book, software, online poker games and apps, his own clothing line, and multiple television and movie offers.

Daniel Negreanu

Ranked #1 on poker’s all-time money list and #1 in popularity, Daniel Negreanu is the winningest tournament player in the history of poker. With a professional poker career spanning 20 years and nearly $30 million in winnings, the iconic Negreanu is so popular that his name is synonymous with poker itself. With 6 million-dollar cashes to his name, including an $8 million score in the 2014 Big One for One Drop, Negreanu’s fun-loving personality and easy-going attitude make him a fan favorite. Negreanu’s incredibly successful play, combined with his outspoken nature and love of the game, have also made him one of the leading ambassadors of the poker world.

Vanessa Selbst

Vanessa Selbst is the highest-earning female poker player of all time with more than $10.5 million in total winnings. Selbst has been playing poker for more than ten years, starting out online before moving to tournament play. The only woman to win three bracelets in open WSOP events, Selbst’s best year was 2010, when she won nearly $3 million, earning her sixth place on the 2010 money list. When not playing poker, Selbst works tirelessly, using her degree from Yale Law School, to fight for social justice through her foundation called Venture Justice. ♠

TV Schedule
Wednesday, July 29
9 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET
Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout
Episode 1, Episode 2
NBC Sports Network

11 p.m. – 1 am ET
Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout
Episode 1, Episode 2
NBC Sports Network

Wednesday, August 5
7 p.m. – 9 p.m. ET
Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout
Episode 1, Episode 2
NBC Sports Network

9 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET
Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout
Episode 3, Episode 4
NBC Sports Network

11 p.m. – 3 am ET
Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4
NBC Sports Network

Wednesday, August 12
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. ET
Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout
Episode 3, Episode 4
NBC Sports Network

9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. ET
Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout
Episode 5, Episode 6
NBC Sports Network

11:00 p.m. – 3:00 am ET
Super High Roller Celebrity Shootout
Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6
NBC Sports Network