The 2008 edition of Poker After Dark will have a few new faces from previous years. Gavin Smith is one player who will make multiple appearances in Season 3. David Oppenheim is another newbie to the show. One of the best younger players will also be on the show this season. David Williams is slated for the week of March 24 and should make his presence felt at these highly-skilled single-player sit and go tournaments.

Hoyt Corkins will also make an appearance on the April 14 episode against Doyle Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Chau Giang, Andy Bloch, and Gabe Kaplan. Hoyt has done well since coming out of tournament poker retirement the last couple of years.

The show will also get a new hostess. Gone is the lovely Shana Hiatt and in her place is model/actress Marianela Pereyra. Marianela also does commentary for the WSOP and hails from Argentina.

Hold’em was created in the town of Robson, Texas, sometime in the mid-20th century. It was introduced to Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texas poker players which included Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim.

The only place that you could find hold’em action in the late ’60s and early ’70s was at the Golden Nugget. When Tom Moore held the first poker tournament at the Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention in 1969, Jack Binion bought the rights for the tournament the next year, and the World Series of Poker was born.

The game slowly grew in popularity over the years until Chris Moneymaker won the main event at the WSOP in 2003. The story of the amateur winning $2.5 million, and the ability for players to play online, launched the game to levels of popularity the old Texas pros could never have imagined.

The first WSOP Europe begins this week on September 6th at the LCI Leicester Casino. The events will be played at three different venues; the LCI Leicester Square, The Sportsman Casino and the Fifty.

The WSOP at LCI Leicester Casino consists of a three-day 2500-pound H.O.R.S.E tournament. They’ll also host some of the $10,000 main event players until the number shrinks down to a number the Fifty can handle for the later stages of the tournament.

The WSOP at the Sportsman Casino has the 5000-pound Pot Limit Omaha Championship. They will also share in the main event action until numbers reduce. The Fifty hosts the main event including the final table starting on September 10th.

Many top pros have pre-registered and the industry is looking to expand successfully into the fast-growing European poker market. Notable competitors include Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Gus Hanson, Doyle Brunson, Eric Seidel and Phil Hellmuth.