The Third Season of Degree Poker Championship Premieres on TSN

Canada
‘s most watched Poker tournament
returns to the airwaves for a third season, as TSN presents the Degree Poker
Championship (DPC), beginning tomorrow (September 18). The TSN original
production will air in seven, one-hour prime time episodes on TSN, TSN HD and
TSN Broadband. The annual Texas Hold ‘Em
event features Canadians from across the country going ‘all in’ for the grand
prize lump sum payout of $100,000, a paid seat at the 2007 World Series of
Poker, and a chance to win an additional $1 million (all figures Canadian).

TSN’s
Michael Landsberg hosts the Degree Poker Championship (DPC) again this year,
alongside card-by-card commentator Devin Armstrong, who makes his DPC broadcast
debut. The

Toronto
native has had tremendous success as a poker player himself, amassing more than
$160,000 (CDN) in career winnings. In 2005, he placed 6th in the World
Series of Poker limit Hold ‘Em event, taking home $72,000 (USD).

Held this
past June at Casino Rama, a world-class casino-resort located 90 minutes north
of

Toronto, the
Degree Poker Championship featured a select group of 72 contestants, each of
whom competed in one of two preliminary rounds for a limited number of seats in
the tournament’s televised playoff and championship rounds.

Each of
the first six episodes feature a table of six players, with the winner of each
table moving on to the final championship round (seventh episode).

In effort
to bring the TV audience closer to the action than ever before, this year’s
broadcast also features added production elements, including a ‘dealer cam’
that allows viewers to see the next card that would have been played, and heart
rate monitors to help viewers gauge players’ emotions. To further educate
viewers about the game of poker, this season’s episodes also mark the debut of
the Winning Hand info bar, which illustrates how a player won his/her hand (two
of a kind, full house, straight, etc.). A split screen will also be
utilized for the first time during the final episode to capture ‘heads up’
moments, where two players face each other down.

Also new
to the show this year is the return of a past Degree Poker champion and five
other finalists from the previous two tournaments, as last year’s winner, Jim
Rich of

Sarnia,
ON, looks to defend his title. By
offering the chance of a repeat champion, the new format creates a more intense
atmosphere at the tables.

Last
year’s Degree Poker Championship was the most watched poker tournament in

Canada,
attracting a national average audience of 126,000 viewers per premiere
telecast. The show attracted an impressive 247,000 viewers per episode
when the premiere and two encore broadcasts were taken into account.

The Degree
Poker Championship broadcast schedule for TSN and TSN HD is as follows:

Tuesday, Sept. 18 8 p.m.
ET and 9 p.m. ET Episodes #1 and #2

Wednesday, Sept. 19 8 p.m. ET and 9 p.m.
ET Episodes #3 and #4

Thursday, Sept. 20 8 p.m. ET and 9
p.m. ET Episodes #5 and #6

Saturday, Sept. 22 7 p.m. ET
Championship

TSN & TSN HD will also televise encore broadcasts of all seven episodes in Western
Prime time:

Wednesday, Sept. 26 9 p.m. PT and 10 p.m. PT
Episodes #1 and #2

Thursday, Sept. 27 9 p.m. PT and 10 p.m. PT Episodes #3 and #4

Thursday, Oct. 4 9 p.m. PT and 10 p.m. PT Episodes #5 and #6

Friday, Oct. 5 9 p.m. PT
Championship

All seven episodes will be available on-demand on TSN Broadband at www.TSN.ca.

A general overview of the tournament, photos from previous years, poker strategy tips and
trivia, and Degree Men product information are also available on the Degree Poker
Championship’s designated website at www.degreepoker.com.

TSN has been televising poker since 1998 and viewers can watch more than 150 hours of
poker coverage on the network in 2007, including the 2007 World Series of Poker,
beginning October 4.

TSN Events owns the Degree Poker Championship broadcast, which is managed in conjunction
with Segal Communications acting on behalf of Unilever, Degree Men’s parent
company. TSN retained the services of WhistleStop Productions to handle
TV production for the event.