Even more semi-pokery TV … Shaquille O’Neal is in town, doing some filming at Planet Hollywood for his new Shaq Vs. program, which debuts tomorrow at 9pm ET/PT on ABC.

The concept is that Shaq takes on the best in the world at their own game(s). He’s got some sort of swimming contest set up with Michael Phelps, a tennis match vs. Serena Williams, boxing vs. Oscar de la Hoya, and he’s been taunting David Beckham on twitter claiming the (once) great soccerer can’t bend one past him in goal.

While the entire show seems to be athletic-based — there’s no challenge to Elton John for some dueling pianos, e.g. — poker seems to have slipped in there. (Props to Disney sibling ESPN?) According to @Phil_Hellmuth, he, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, and Erick Lindgren are on set right now filming an episode that we can only presume is Shaq trying to beat the best at Texas Hold’em.

Not sure about the format, but gotta think Lindgren’s got the edge after all his experience on Face the Ace.

Though at the moment I’m a tad gun-shy about reporting things that have no official confirmation yet, I know good info from a good source when I hear it … and since none of the principals from PokerNews (who is sponsoring the event) are within shouting distance, my cell phone battery is near-dead, and Nevada Gaming Commission officials are done til morning … fuggit, I’l run with the notion that this boxing match between pro-ess Liv Boeree and PokerNews vid-chick Melissa Castello may or may not happen.

Competitive boxing, of course, is highly regulated in Nevada — and when you mix a prize into the fight, apparently a whole new set of laws and licensing procedures come into play.

I suppose it’s plausible they could restructure it with just a matter of pride at stake … but we’ll see. Anyone wanna make some online wagers about the outcome?

Hmm, I spent some comment time below advocating for more-live poker … but upon reading this story in the New York Times about the end of the poker boom (by J-school classmate Steve Freiss), I learned something new that kinda gets in the way of the vision I was pimping:

ESPN plans to edit a two-hour show about the final two days of play, which will be broadcast on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern time. (Nevada law prohibits broadcasting live gambling events in progress.)

OK, crap … laws. Not sure how that applies to boxing and MMA fights (which are shown relatively live and can still be bet on) … but regardless, it seems LIVE and ESPN do not work well together with poker. I guess that leaves us the internet (or maybe satellite?)?

One other interesting thing to note about the story above: It ran in the Fashion & Style section — not sports, not business, not even entertainment and TV. I guess we can only hope that poker outlasts the popularity of Ed Hardy T-shirts.