The Director's Cut of Poker After Dark - Saturday nights on NBC

By Dan Gati

Poker After Dark is now entering its seventh week of original programming, and while there may have been a few growing pains in the beginning, the show appears to have hit its stride.

One aspect of Poker After Dark that hasn't changed since its inception is the Director's Cut, the Saturday night show that recaps the week of play and features an interview with the winner at the end of the show. The Director's Cut also incorporates the players' thoughts and opinions on the biggest hands of the week.

So what's so good about the Director's Cut? Aside from the music that plays in the background of every show, viewers get some insight as to why a pro made a particular play and what the thought process was behind that play. Sometimes, the decisions are easy -- a player is down to a few precious chips and the only move is all-in. Other times, like in this hand in last week's show, there is a deep analysis that only a pro like Howard Lederer can provide.

What's on tap for future Director's Cut shows? There will be even more insight from the players as the producers have pledged to ask more directed questions and get more detailed answers. There will also be more hands included in the show so viewers will get a better sense of exactly what happened during the week.

In the meantime, if you can't watch the entire week of Poker After Dark, and you don't have the time to watch all the episodes on the NBC Sports.com/poker website, you should definitely tune in on Saturday nights to catch the Director's Cut. You'll definitely like it, and you might even learn something.