| Ali Nejad | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 25, 1978 |
| Occupation | Television poker commentator |
Ali "Oliver" Nejad (born February 25, 1978) is an Iranian-American television poker commentator, who is best known as the off-screen announcer on NBC's Poker After Dark and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.[1] He is also a commentator on ESPN's Pro-Am Poker Equalizer series, and has also been a co-commentator with Chad Brown on an episode of the Ultimate Poker Challenge and with Daniel Negreanu on the PCA 2009 episodes. He played on Poker After Dark and was the first player knocked out when Gabe Kaplan flopped a set of 10's while Nejad flopped a set of 4's. He finished 2nd in a week of poker analysts at the end of season 3 of the program. He is also a member of Full Tilt Poker. He is also the host of Poker Road Radio which is part of pokerroad.com
Nejad hosted a show and reported for a local NBC affiliate while still in high school.[2] Nejad dropped out of Berkeley to pursue playing poker full-time. He worked as a dealer and prop player before becoming a successful high limit player.[2] But despite his success in the poker world, Nejad still had the broadcasting itch. In 2002 he hosted an MTV pilot that was not picked up.[2]
In 2003, at the PartyPoker Million Tournament, he met Mori Eskandani, then the Tournament Director of Poker Superstars and future producer for the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and Poker After Dark.[1] Eskandani hired Nejad as the Master of Ceremonies for the Poker Superstars event in 2004. In the February 7, 2008 episode of Poker Road Radio, Joe Sebok announced that Ali was the host of Poker Road Radio. His tenure began at the WPT Commerce event starting on February 26, 2008. His tenure ended right before the start of the 2009 WSOP.
Nejad is one of the poker players who believes he was a victim of the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal.[3]