On Wednesday night, the UB.com sponsored poker news show “Poker2Nite” made its Season 2 debut. Unlike the first cycle, which aired on Fox Sports Net, the second season appears on cable station Versus, which carries a bevy of National Hockey League (NHL) games. Several noticeable changes occurred for the Season 2 kickoff episode, including the launch of a new “Girls of Poker” segment with Dana Workman. Its first installment featured an interview with PocketFives.com member Lauren locoenlacabeza Kling.

Kling (pictured at left) finished 63rd in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic, cashing for $23,000. She was one of the final females to be bounced from the $10,000 buy-in Commerce Casino tournament and told Workman, “I don’t really care about being the Last Woman Standing. As long as I’m the last person standing, that’s all that matters. I play to win.” Kling also cashed in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event and the Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for a combined $9,000.
Kling is dating PocketFives.com member Mike SowersUNCC Sowers (pictured at right), who finished second in a PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) High-Roller tournament last year for a colossal $448,000. Last month, he took down the site’s Super Tuesday for $81,000 and, one week prior, won the PokerStars $200 rebuy for $53,000. On having a well versed poker player as a significant other, Kling explained to “Poker2Nite” viewers, “We help each other a ton. We discuss hands, go over any questions I have, and talk about the game a lot.”

Online, Kling finished second in the Main Event of the Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) in January for $163,000. In the middle of that month, she grabbed third in the Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday for $44,000. All told, Kling has amassed nearly $300,000 in tournaments tracked for the Online Poker Rankings since the beginning of 2010.

“Poker2Nite” also airs on SportsNet in Canada and The Poker Channel in Europe. Although it currently holds an 11:00pm ET time slot each Wednesday in the United States, the poker news show could move back depending on Versus’ coverage of the NHL playoffs. The league recently took a two-week break for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Scott Huff and Joe JoeSebok Sebok (pictured at left) host “Poker2Nite,” which runs for 30 minutes.

“Poker2Nite” debuted on Fox Sports Net last November and included an interview with ESPN WSOP analyst Lon McEachern. Its original run featured in-depth interviews with World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton, Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas, 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, prop bet master Gavin Smith, tournament director Matt Savage, and “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander. On February 10th, its season finale aired on Fox Sports Net, with no official announcement given on the franchise’s future until last week, when a post appearing on PokerRoad revealed that the show was moving to Versus.

UB.com continues to host the “Poker2Nite” Pro Challenge, which qualifies users to win WSOP prize packages. Each includes entry into the 2010 WSOP Main Event at the Rio, up to $4,000 to offset expenses, access to UB.com parties and events in Las Vegas, an evening with Huff and Sebok, and an exclusive training session with Hellmuth or top female pro Annie Duke.

Sebok boasted a beard on the Season 2 premiere and “Poker2Nite” officials leaked a video of in-studio guest Trishelle Cannatella storming off the set. However, the rampage turned out to be staged, as no such blowup occurred when the show aired.

Other changes from Season 1 to Season 2 include the disappearance of Workman’s “Weekly Misdeal,” which has been replaced by the “Girls of Poker” segment along with a new vignette called the “Online Roundup.” On-screen graphics covering the hosts’ and guests’ main points now air throughout every segment. Finally, “On the Clock” features guests being asked a series of fast-paced questions for one minute in a season-long contest to see who can get the most number correct.

Season 1 episodes are currently posted on the official website of UB.com. However, as of the time of writing, the Season 2 debut had not yet been posted. Check out UB.com’s “Poker2Nite” every Wednesday at 11:00pm ET on Versus.