The TV show “Shaq Vs.” opened to very strong ratings since many people loved tuning in to watch Shaquille O’Neal take on the world’s top athletes in their respective sports. Some of the people he has already challenged include US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, US Olympic volleyball players Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, boxer Oscar De La Hoya, St. Louis Cardinals baseball player Albert Pujols, and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
The first season is already done, but rumor has it that ABC will be airing a second season which will include Shaquille’s attempt to take down some of the top poker players in the world. The news of Shaq’s venture into the poker world broke from professional poker player Phil Hellmuth’s Twitter account. According to Hellmuth, Shaq is trying to beat him, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, and Erik Lindgren in a game of Texas Hold’em. Shaq may have his hands full with this group since they’ve all been playing poker for years, and have won numerous World Series of Poker bracelets among the four of them. Phil Hellmuth alone holds a record 11 WSOP gold bracelets, and is widely considered to be the world’s best texas hold em tournament player. Chris Ferguson has 5 bracelets including one that came when he took first place in the coveted WSOP Main Event. Matusow and Lindgren have combined to win 4 bracelets in their career in addition to numerous other tournament titles. In short, this may be Shaq’s toughest challenge yet since he is known far more for his athletic ability than for his poker skills. Still, it will be fun to see Shaquille take on the top poker players in the world because we’ll get to see how he handles the pressure of playing big-time poker. Shaq will showcase his poker abilities in season 2 of “Shaq Vs.”





The lights went out, the courts darkened and a media day already like no other in Cavaliers history was cancelled after just two hours.


