BY TOM SOMACH

The first match of new professional team poker league the U.S. Poker League (USPL) was won by Cincinnati.

The match, officially called the U.S. Poker Bowl, was held at the Palms hotel and casino in Las Vegas last weekend and featured teams representing 25 U.S. cities.

Each team consisted of six professional poker players.

The Cincinnati team, now called the Cincinnati Full House but originally called the Cincinnati Royals until PokerHelper.com reported that Cincinnati Royals was the name of a former NBA team, was led by Scotty Nguyen.

Nguyen is a Vietnam-born poker pro who lifetime has earned $7 million in poker tournament winnings and won four World Series of Poker (WSOP) championship gold bracelets.

For the big win, Team Cincy collected a total prize of $600,000.

Split six ways among the team members, Nguyen and his teammates each collected a cool $100,000 for their efforts.

The U.S. Poker Bowl was videotaped by Fox Sports and will be shown on television some time in early 2008, according to USPL officials.

For more information about the USPL, visits its website at www.uspokerbowl.com.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)