NBC's “Poker After Dark” will be back on the screens with another season featuring some of the most respected poker players in the world. The fifth season of “Poker After Dark” was recently recorded at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, resulting in a series of new and exciting episodes scheduled to begin airing in 2009.  The new season will present fourteen new players, including online players Taylor "Green Plastic" Caby, Cole "CTS" South, David "Raptor" Benefield, and Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies,  actors  Don Cheadle, Jason Alexander and baseball celebrity Orel Hershiser as well as the online qualifier Arnold Thimons. The remaining players are John Phan, Kenny Tran, Bob Safai, Max Pescatori, Dario Minieri, and the Russian pro and 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event runner up, Ivan Demidov.

A total of six $20,000 buy-in winner take all tournaments were recorded for the PAD Season 5, including a special tournament featuring Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Phil Hellmuth and wisely titled  "The Magnificent Six". PAD will also feature an episode titled "USA vs. Italy" in where Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and Erick Lindgren will represent Team USA while Marco Traniello and 2008 WSOP bracelet winners Max Pescatori and Dario Minieri will play for Italy.

Once again, Poker After Dark Season Five will also present a series of "International Week" matches featuring a multicultural lineup, including "Yukon" Brad Booth from Canada, David Benyamine from France, Alan Cunningham from the U.S, John Juanda from Indonesia, John "The Razor" Phan from Vietnam, and Ivan Demidov from Russia.

The 44 year-old amateur Arnold Thimons from Greensburg, Pensilvannia will have the chance to show the audience what he’s made of in a special "Dream Match". The amateur player will battle against Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Mike Matusow, Johnny Chan, and Daniel Negreanu in a special table in where the first place will get a $120,000 prize. PAD will also include an episode titled "Sit-N-Talk" featuring Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, Jennifer Harman, David Grey, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Jean-Robert Bellande, and Vanessa Rousso.

The Cash action will feature another "Nets vs. Vets" in where three new pros (Taylor Caby, Cole South, and David Benefield) will play against three experienced veterans (Doyle Brunson, Gabe Kaplan, and Eli Elezra) in a series of cash games in live settings. The show will dedicate two weeks to "The Hellmuth Bash" in where Hellmuth will play against Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Kenny "Sick Call" Tran, and high-stakes recreational player Bob Safai. Two more weeks will be devoted to in "Railbird Heaven," where Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and David "Viffer" Peat will take part in a live game. The remaining two weeks of cash game action will feature Eli Elezra, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, and the newcomer Ilari Sahamies of Finland.

Besides the new episodes, the final three matches that were filmed during Season 4 will now kickoff Season 5 beginning on December 29^th, bringing the number of new episodes that will be shown in 2009 to a minimum of sixteen. Poker After Dark Season 5 will be hosted by Leeann Tweeden while Ali Nejad will be in charge of providing the show’s commentaries.