The Alternative Final Table

As the November Nine sit down to play on Sunday night, CBS Sports Network will premiere their new poker show – appropriately named ‘The Final Table’ – which will see Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari, among others, analyzing the U.S. tournament scene and results.

The shows new website states:

"The Final Table is a poker show with a twist that brings together live commentary on the felt, fun comedy segments, and a fresh new studio element that offers both analytical insight and shock value."

Hellmuth naturally agrees:

"The Final Table is some of the most fun I’ve had in poker," Hellmuth revealed in a press release from producers of the show Rush Street Productions. "The viewer will enjoy seeing both the action at the table and the interaction between the commentators."

Joining the ‘Poker Brat’; and ‘the Magician’ will be comedian and commentator Joe Stapleton, along with Maria Ho and David Tuchman – all regulars on the US televised poker circuit.

Rush Street Productions’ President Todd Anderson said of the show:

"The Final Table presents poker in a truly unique way. We’ve been trying to evolve the poker TV experience and continue to do so with a new and highly entertaining tournament series."

While Hellmuth, Esfandiari and Stapleton man the studio, Ho and Tuchman will be on the playing floor as the ‘Final Table’ visits locations such as the Seminole Hard Rock poker open.

Ho became the first-ever female commentator on poker back 2012 and has since become a highly-accomplished pro also, as well as competing in the highest-rated season of “The Amazing Race” on TV.

She is a semi-regular on the world circuit, min. cashing at the ongoing Malta Open, then taking up commentator duties in the booth for the final table there.

Tuchman has been ad-libbing his way through poker events since he began commentating for Live at the Bike in 2005 and revealed a couple of years back that:

"As far as jobs go, I am the luckiest guy in the world… I love it. I love my job.”

Referencing the other ‘final table’ which kicks off Sunday evening, Tuchman tweeted:

Apologies to the WSOP FT for the ratings hit, but me @phil_hellmuth & @MagicAntonio’s new show premieres that night. https://t.co/xWToWscTKn

— Joe Stapleton (@Stapes) October 28, 2016

The related show by the same production team - Poker Night in America – is one of the best efforts of recent times and is currently in its 4th season, about to start taping its Fall series early in November.

The Final Table will debut new episodes nation-wide on CBS Sports Network every Monday night at 10:00pm EST (7:00pm PST), to an audience of 96 million homes.