BY TOM SOMACH

A professional poker league, something akin to the National Football League or the National Basketball Association, will begin play later this month with teams representing 25 U.S. cities.

According to league organizers, each team will be made up of six top poker pros and all the action will take place in Las Vegas.

Officially, the new league is known as the U.S. Poker League (USPL) , while the actual competition in Vegas is being called the Poker Bowl, organizers said.

Competition is scheduled to begin on Oct. 20, 2007, with the action to be televised on Fox Sports in early 2008, organizers said.

According to a press release issued by the USPL, team rosters have already been put together, and many well-known poker professionals will be participating in the league.

Among them: Lee Watkinson will play for Seattle, T.J. Cloutier will play for Dallas, Donnie “Marky Mark” Wahlberg and Paul Darden Jr. will play for Boston, Clonie Gowen, Michael Binger and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson will play for Houston, Phil “Unabomber” Laak, girlfriend Jen Tilly, Mike Matusow, Danny Masterson and Antonio Esfandiari will play for Las Vegas and Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, Todd “Son of Doyle” Brunson, Paul Wasicka, Chad Brown and Vanessa Rousso will play for Denver.

The names of the teams will be the Cleveland Crows, Cincinnati Full House, Detroit Wheels, Minnesota Young Guns, Chicago Sharks, Denver High Rollers, Las Vegas Rat Pack, Phoenix Pharoahs, Seattle Sentinels, St. Louis Cards, Boston Diamonds, New Jersey X-Factors, New York Rounders, Philadelphia Phish, Pittsburgh Stealers, Atlanta Bluffers, Dallas Kowboys, Houston Wranglers, Miami Miracles, Tennessee Tilt, Los Angeles Loose Cannons, Oakland Razors, Orange County Outlaws, San Diego Players and San Francisco Kings.

For more information about the league, visit the USPL website at www.uspokerbowl.com.

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