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What's the story with this show? It's obviously the foxsports show repackaged on NBC, right? I observe: Different announcers, different music, a "gallery" in the background, Mary Strong does a more in-depth interview with Mike Matasow's mother, and she's holding an NBC mic. The same, but different.

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The Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament airs on FSN, and is comprised of 24 players. The winner of PSIT III, Todd Brunson, won $400,000 for that victory. For those who don't know, the buy-in for PSIT III was $50,000 per player.

The final 8 qualifiers in PSIT III won a seat in the Poker Superstars Championship III that was aired last week and today. This event is filmed for NBC to be broadcast on Super Bowl Sunday, and is a $500,000 winner-take-all freeroll. This is why accumulating points and doing well in PSIT III is so important. NBC likes to have a small audience for the Championship, but there was no audience during the filming of PSIT III for FSN except for friends and immediate family, or other players not playing in a particular match.

I thought it was great that Matusow came back to win. He started his first two matches on PSIT III with 6th place finishes, or 0 points. Just to make the top 16 was a feat in itself, let alone to get into the final 8 and have a shot at the $500,000.

He started slowly because the night before his first match on PSIT III, he had won the 2005 Tournament of Champions and $1 million. He was not at all prepared for the structure the morning after his victory, but adapted quickly after 2 rounds and when the euphoria of winning the TOC wore off a little and he could focus on playing in the PSIT III.

The Poker Superstars Championship 3 was held immediately after PSIT III was completed, remarkable in that the results have been kept quiet now for over a year.