Taking a Gamble for New Orleans

This program is chock full of folk from varying backgrounds and foregrounds, who may be apt to say things that many would find inappropriate for a family game of "Go Fish." But, thankfully, not as totally inappropriate as one would likely find in a casino poker game. Ask if someone has any jacks at your own risk. You've been warned.

Time again for one of my guilty pleasures, Celebrity Poker Showdown on Bravo. A fun and funny way to watch the game, even if you don't know how to play poker. Celebrities (even those that don't know how to play poker) play Texas Hold 'Em for their favorite charities.

Old games constantly run on Bravo, so you can catch up with the season in a flash (the season is six episodes long).

Three changes this year, two for the better:

1) Along with host Dave Foley (great humorist from News Radio) is a new poker expert, Phil Helmuth (hasn't found his rythym like the last guy. But he might just do, eventually).

2) The theme is New Orleans, where the game is taped -- and thus all charities have to be helping the victims of the past year of hurricanes in some way or another. So we won't have to scratch our heads over Penn coming in supporting a non-profit whose only function is to try and prove that all religion is bad; instead we get religious based (such as Habitat for Humanity, Mazon) and non-religious based (such as UNICEF and Direct Relief International) charities that are doing the odd thing of actually trying to help people.

3) They have added a listing of numbers after each charity is featured, so those of us at home can call in and support the charity as well as the celebrity and the show. You can also click on the players at the website to get a description of their charity, and get to a link to the charity itself.

So there are some charitible reasons to justify a guilty pleasure. My favorite kind.

Just my thoughts,

Sean