Season 6 of the World Poker Tour moved off of the Travel Channel and headed over to GSN, home of the beloved High Stakes Poker. One would hope this shift would breathe some life into what's become a fairly stale, inert series. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.
Aside from a couple of good tournaments and some scattered great plays, the most recent season of the WPT was an ignominious beginning -- and merciful ending -- to the show's brief stint on GSN. (Now it moves over to Fox Sports for Season 7, where we all hope it will improve).
To begin with, the production is becoming tiresome. The same set as always, the same swirling blue lights, the same canned applause, and the same commentators. About the only things they've changed in 6 years are losing the "how to play Texas Hold'Em" intro and the rotating cast of interchangeably bland hostesses.
Mike Sexton is a great ambassador for poker, a hell of a nice guy, and has even proven himself as a serviceable player. But when compared to the insights one gets from hearing analysis from Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, or even Phil Hellmuth, Sexton's poker knowledge feels shallow and reduced to pithy one-liners based on the occupation of the player. He often refuses to consider plays made due to stack sizes and blinds, showing a general lack of understanding of tournament strategy, and he dumbs down a lot of his analysis to what he thinks must be amateur viewers. ("He only has 4 'outs,' as we say..."). This likable, appeal-to-the-masses streak he has also hurts his commentary in that he simply won't criticize bad play enough. He's always trumpeting the great poker of the WPT, so it's against his nature to really tear into the godawful plays we see weekly. It's hard to imagine someone getting much better at poker listening to Sexton.
But compared to Vince Van Patten, Sexton is Howard Cosell. Van Patten is more and more worthless as the seasons go on, providing virtually nothing to the broadcast. The ratio of hits to misses on his jokes is staggeringly low, and when he starts talking poker you just want to cringe. Some of his most searing insight comes when he follows the wondercam rabbit-hunting a turn and river, then praises the player for making a "smart laydown" when he sees that the draw would not have come in. Fox Sports would be wise to shake up the announcing booth for the next season.
Luckily, Layla Kayleigh will not be returning as hostess. As the third woman in as many seasons to try to fill Shana Hiatt's notoriously popular shoes, Kayleigh failed to strike a chord. Here's to hoping that Kimberly Lansing -- the reporter who has shown some actual poker savvy and improvisational personality -- will replace Kayleigh as hostess next season.
Something the WPT can't do much about regarding its production is the actual tournament play itself, but Season 6 provided some extremely weak entertainment in terms of poker skill. The nadir of this was the Turks and Caicos tournament, won by a donkey of titanic proportions named Rhynie Campbell (the co-owner of the casino in which the tournament was played) after luckboxing beyond belief. Furthermore, the set of the Turks and Caicos show appeared to be a wooden bathroom in the middle of the jungle, cooled by creaky ceiling fans -- the kind of place you expect Haitian gangsters to take someone they need to whack.
The Legends of Poker final table had some brilliant play from Dan Harrington and David Pham, and the L.A. Poker Classic had Phil Ivey mowing down Hellmuth on his way to his first WPT victory, but these tournaments were the exception to the rule. Despite a revised final table blind structure, there still were too many times when the play was reduced to all-in shove-fests. Sexton did his best to pretend there was strategy in these moves, but when the average stack size is about 12 BBs (the worst offender was the Celebrity Invitational at Commerce, won by Van Nguyen), we're really just watching coins flip for 2 hours.
A few other things to nit-pick: while the graphics do a good job showing most of the cards folded preflop, they stumble when calculating pot size. If Ivey is sitting on 2 million in chips and he puts short-stack Hellmuth (sitting on 600,000 in chips) all in, the pot size should be 1.2 million because of the shorter effective stack. But the stats show the pot being over 2 million because of Ivey's shove. It's irritating because we often see impossible pot sizes. And we also don't get a good grasp of the changing stack sizes, because the chip counts aren't shown often enough -- and when they are, they disappear too fast, so I often need to pause my DVR just to remember who's got what. And since so many hands are edited out, it would be nice if they quickly re-capped the pots we missed that might have caused a major shift in chip counts.
TV poker has gone through some incredible changes in a short amount of time. With the poker boom only 5 years old so far, viewers have had to learn the game and adapt to the changing play due to the influx of young online stars and aggressive counter-strategies. Poker shows need to keep up with these quick shifts, and NBC's Poker After Dark and to a lesser extent GSN's High Stakes Poker are the only shows taking advantage of what viewers want to see. A great poker player once said, "The day you stop getting better at the game is the day you start getting worse." The WPT could stand to listen to that advice, since their stale format and lazy production is, by nature of not getting any better, clearly getting worse. For Season 6, WPT drops below average in my opinion and receives ** out of *****.
Feel free to post your comments below, whether you agree or disagree. See also the World Poker Tour Season 5 review.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Next Week's Poker on TV
Next week's World Series of Poker event is #2, $1,500 no-limit hold 'em. Chris Ferguson is the most famous player to make the final table. The others are James Akenhead, David Bach, Aaron Coulthard, Grant Hinkle, Melvin Jones, Mike Ngo, Joe Rutledge, and Theo Tran.
Poker After Dark tries another new format next week: heads-up. The players are Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Paul Wasicka, and Chris Ferguson.
Next week's World Poker Tour event is the Bay 101 Shooting Star. The players are Jennifer Harman, John Phan, Brandon Cantu, Steve Sung, Noah Jefferson, and Mike Baker.
Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.
Poker After Dark tries another new format next week: heads-up. The players are Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Paul Wasicka, and Chris Ferguson.
Next week's World Poker Tour event is the Bay 101 Shooting Star. The players are Jennifer Harman, John Phan, Brandon Cantu, Steve Sung, Noah Jefferson, and Mike Baker.
Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Hints Of What The World Poker Tour Will Become At Fox Sports
Steve Lipscomb and a Fox Sports executive dropped some tantalizing hints about changes to the World Poker Tour in an article by Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun. Lipscomb again stressed the suspense value of episodes of uncertain length. Haney also expanded the expected Sunday time slot to the 4-10 PM range. The most fascinating and promising parts of the article are towards the end, however:
Fox Sports has established itself as an innovator in the brief history of televised poker, showing live tournaments and...
The network will bring that risk-taking approach to its partnership with World Poker, said George Greenberg, FSN’s executive vice president of programming and production.
"With the World Poker Tour, there are so many ways to go with this using the technology of Fox Sports. If there’s a chance to do something, we’ll take the chance.
... I promise you, we’re going to activate this show.”
Lipscomb also hopes the FSN production of World Poker tournaments will yield fewer so-called “race” hands... and more analysis of the strategic aspects of tournament poker.
“Because of the nature of the audience at FSN as well as the edginess of the network, I believe we have the freedom to express some of the more interesting, gritty and sexy sides of poker,” Lipscomb said. “What we can do together is help the perception of poker as a sport, to completely legitimize it. It will look more and more like a sport, and that’s a great thing.”
See also WPT's Steve Lipscomb On The Fox Sports Deal and Fox Sports Net Picks Up World Poker Tour.
Fox Sports has established itself as an innovator in the brief history of televised poker, showing live tournaments and...
The network will bring that risk-taking approach to its partnership with World Poker, said George Greenberg, FSN’s executive vice president of programming and production.
"With the World Poker Tour, there are so many ways to go with this using the technology of Fox Sports. If there’s a chance to do something, we’ll take the chance.
... I promise you, we’re going to activate this show.”
Lipscomb also hopes the FSN production of World Poker tournaments will yield fewer so-called “race” hands... and more analysis of the strategic aspects of tournament poker.
“Because of the nature of the audience at FSN as well as the edginess of the network, I believe we have the freedom to express some of the more interesting, gritty and sexy sides of poker,” Lipscomb said. “What we can do together is help the perception of poker as a sport, to completely legitimize it. It will look more and more like a sport, and that’s a great thing.”
See also WPT's Steve Lipscomb On The Fox Sports Deal and Fox Sports Net Picks Up World Poker Tour.
Monday, July 21, 2008
High Stakes Poker Season Five Option Picked Up By GSN
GSN has picked up the option to air season five of High Stakes Poker. They aren't providing any additional information at this time, but I'll keep you informed of any developments.
See also Will High Stakes Poker Return To TV?, GSN Discussing Poker's Future On the Network, Reuters Article: "Poker shows face axe at GSN channel", and Mori Eskandani Talks About High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark.
Update: see our latest High Stakes Poker season 5 post.
Don't miss any poker on TV: sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed.
See also Will High Stakes Poker Return To TV?, GSN Discussing Poker's Future On the Network, Reuters Article: "Poker shows face axe at GSN channel", and Mori Eskandani Talks About High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark.
Update: see our latest High Stakes Poker season 5 post.
Don't miss any poker on TV: sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed.
Friday, July 18, 2008
WPT's Steve Lipscomb On The Fox Sports Deal
Raw Vegas has an interview with the WPT's Steve Lipscomb about the Fox Sports deal. Starting at about 1:50 is an interesting part including "The number of episodes that will come out of a particular event will really be dictated by the event."
Thursday, July 17, 2008
World Series Of Poker On Your TV Tuesday
Next week's World Poker Tour show is the WPT Celebrity Invitational from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The players are Bill Baxter, Van Nguyen (Men "The Master" Nguyen's wife), Ethan Ruby, Justin Marchand, and Elias Madias.
Next week Poker After Dark returns to the old tournament format. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Huck Seed will face off against three online poker superstars: Brian "sbrugby/aba20" Townsend, Andrew "good2cu" Robl, and Tom "durrrr" Dwan.
The 2008 World Series of Poker starts airing Tuesdays at 8-10 PM on ESPN. It will continue (see the full schedule) through November 11, when the final table of the Main Event will air shortly after having been played. The "November Nine" were decided on Tuesday and are on their four-month layoff now.
The first WSOP broadcast this year is Event 1, $10,000 pot-limit hold 'em. The final table is an amazing one, featuring Andy Bloch, Nenad Medic, Mike Sexton, Patrik Antonius, Phil Laak, Kathy Liebert, Mike "SowersUNCC" Sowers, Chris Bell, and Amit Makhija.
You'll notice that there are now buttons for subscribing to our feed and, more notably, comments on the right side of the blog. Given how extensively I use comments (and our readers provide some good ones as well), you may want to subscribe to the comments. For example, everyone should read the comments on What To Expect From This Year's WSOP Broadcasts: I used it as a compendium of notes about the effect of TV on the WSOP (you'll especially want to read about Hellmuth's special treatment if you haven't read that yet). On the downside, we have started to receive comment spam within the last few days, so I'm currently requiring a Google or OpenID account to post comments.
Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.
Next week Poker After Dark returns to the old tournament format. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Huck Seed will face off against three online poker superstars: Brian "sbrugby/aba20" Townsend, Andrew "good2cu" Robl, and Tom "durrrr" Dwan.
The 2008 World Series of Poker starts airing Tuesdays at 8-10 PM on ESPN. It will continue (see the full schedule) through November 11, when the final table of the Main Event will air shortly after having been played. The "November Nine" were decided on Tuesday and are on their four-month layoff now.
The first WSOP broadcast this year is Event 1, $10,000 pot-limit hold 'em. The final table is an amazing one, featuring Andy Bloch, Nenad Medic, Mike Sexton, Patrik Antonius, Phil Laak, Kathy Liebert, Mike "SowersUNCC" Sowers, Chris Bell, and Amit Makhija.
You'll notice that there are now buttons for subscribing to our feed and, more notably, comments on the right side of the blog. Given how extensively I use comments (and our readers provide some good ones as well), you may want to subscribe to the comments. For example, everyone should read the comments on What To Expect From This Year's WSOP Broadcasts: I used it as a compendium of notes about the effect of TV on the WSOP (you'll especially want to read about Hellmuth's special treatment if you haven't read that yet). On the downside, we have started to receive comment spam within the last few days, so I'm currently requiring a Google or OpenID account to post comments.
Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.
Fox Sports Net Picks Up World Poker Tour
Fox Sports Net and the World Poker Tour inked an agreement to air 26 one-hour season 7 WPT episodes (press release). The timeslot and dates will be announced later, but PokerNews.com is reporting that it will air in the 6-10 PM range on Sunday evenings. The Bellagio Cup, which will comprise the first two episodes of season 7, is being filmed today in Las Vegas.
See also our previous articles World Poker Tour Looking For A Broadcaster As GSN's Option Expires and Interview With World Poker Tour's Steve Lipscomb.
See also our previous articles World Poker Tour Looking For A Broadcaster As GSN's Option Expires and Interview With World Poker Tour's Steve Lipscomb.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Who Really Runs The World Series Of Poker?
It seems to me that the pecking order is:
1) Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey does what Phil Ivey wants:
They do whatever ESPN tells them to do. Unless Phil Ivey's around.
1) Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey does what Phil Ivey wants:
- See ESPN Fights Phil Ivey Over Logo, Loses.
- Update, 2009: Phil refused to be on ESPN's featured tables (the ones with hole-card cams) this year... so ESPN changed the featured tables.
- When there's an all-in, they stop the action and a WSOP supervisor asks an ESPN producer if they should wait for a camera. If ESPN isn't interested, they get on with play. See also Vicky Coren's eloquent opinion on this practice.
- ESPN is also believed to decide when play should stop for the night.
- Penalties may even get reversed for TV: short-stacked Phil Hellmuth was deep into the Main Event when he got a one-orbit penalty, which could have shortened his survival on a TV table. Somehow, it got overturned. Many people think it was because Phil Hellmuth does what Phil Hellmuth wants, but I wonder if it wasn't to maximize Phil Hellmuth's airtime late in the Main Event
They do whatever ESPN tells them to do. Unless Phil Ivey's around.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Lon McEachern And The WSOP
Casino City Times has an interesting article about WSOP announcer Lon McEachern. Amazingly, "When fans do stop McEachern and Chad to talk about the ESPN coverage, they are often disappointed to hear that the shows they watch every summer are not taped live."
Poker After Dark Returns To TV With A Cash Game
I Bet You's second season has ended.
Monday's World Poker Tour event is the LA Poker Classic. The players are Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Nam Le, Quinn Do, Woody Moore, and Scott Montgomery.
Poker After Dark returns Monday night for it's fourth season. It remains at 2:05 AM weekdays on NBC (see our poker on TV schedule for the details). The ten-week season consists of 7 of their usual shootout tournaments, 1 heads-up tournament, and two weeks of cash games. We posted the full weekly Poker After Dark schedule below.
The first week is a $200/400 NL Hold 'em cash game with a $100,000 to $250,000 buyin. It features online poker great Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Baxter, Allen Cunningham, billionaire Guy Laliberte, and David "Viffer" Peat. Read a preview of the first week and see the promotional video below.
See also our previous articles about the new season: Poker After Dark Season Four Details, Poker After Dark Films a Cash Game and Various Other Formats, and Leeann Tweeden Replaces Marianela Pereyra On Poker After Dark.
Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.
Monday's World Poker Tour event is the LA Poker Classic. The players are Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Nam Le, Quinn Do, Woody Moore, and Scott Montgomery.
Poker After Dark returns Monday night for it's fourth season. It remains at 2:05 AM weekdays on NBC (see our poker on TV schedule for the details). The ten-week season consists of 7 of their usual shootout tournaments, 1 heads-up tournament, and two weeks of cash games. We posted the full weekly Poker After Dark schedule below.
The first week is a $200/400 NL Hold 'em cash game with a $100,000 to $250,000 buyin. It features online poker great Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Baxter, Allen Cunningham, billionaire Guy Laliberte, and David "Viffer" Peat. Read a preview of the first week and see the promotional video below.
See also our previous articles about the new season: Poker After Dark Season Four Details, Poker After Dark Films a Cash Game and Various Other Formats, and Leeann Tweeden Replaces Marianela Pereyra On Poker After Dark.
Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Poker After Dark Season 4 Schedule
Week of July 14 - Cash game: Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Baxter, Allen Cunningham, Guy Laliberte, David "Viffer" Peat
Week of July 21 - Tournament: Brian Townsend, Doyle Brunson, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Johnny Chan, Huck Seed, Andrew "good2cu" Robl
Week of July 28 - Heads-up: Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Paul Wasicka, Chris Ferguson
Week of September 22 - Tournament: Mike Matusow, Phil Laak, Phil Hellmuth, David Williams, Clonie Gowen, Gavin Smith
Week of September 29 - Tournament: Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Sexton, Jennifer Harman, Gavin Smith, Paul Featherstone (online qualifier)
Week of October 6 - Tournament: Jay Heimowitz, Howard Lederer, Mickey Appleman, Dan Harrington, Steve Zolotow, Mike Shichtman
Week of October 13 - Cash game: Patrik Antonius, Dee Tiller, Howard Lederer, Doyle Brunson, Gabe Kaplan, Eli Elezra
Week of December 29 - Tournament: Andy Black, Lee Watkinson, Dewey Tomko, David Williams, Allen Cunningham, Mike Matusow
Week of January 5 - Tournament: Todd Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Gordon, Gabe Kaplan, Cory Zeidman, David Grey
Week of February 9 - Tournament: Brandon Adams, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Bill Chen, Jimmy Warren, David Sklansky
You can find player biographies and the lineups for rerun weeks on NBC's web site.
Week of July 21 - Tournament: Brian Townsend, Doyle Brunson, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Johnny Chan, Huck Seed, Andrew "good2cu" Robl
Week of July 28 - Heads-up: Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Paul Wasicka, Chris Ferguson
Week of September 22 - Tournament: Mike Matusow, Phil Laak, Phil Hellmuth, David Williams, Clonie Gowen, Gavin Smith
Week of September 29 - Tournament: Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Sexton, Jennifer Harman, Gavin Smith, Paul Featherstone (online qualifier)
Week of October 6 - Tournament: Jay Heimowitz, Howard Lederer, Mickey Appleman, Dan Harrington, Steve Zolotow, Mike Shichtman
Week of October 13 - Cash game: Patrik Antonius, Dee Tiller, Howard Lederer, Doyle Brunson, Gabe Kaplan, Eli Elezra
Week of December 29 - Tournament: Andy Black, Lee Watkinson, Dewey Tomko, David Williams, Allen Cunningham, Mike Matusow
Week of January 5 - Tournament: Todd Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Gordon, Gabe Kaplan, Cory Zeidman, David Grey
Week of February 9 - Tournament: Brandon Adams, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Bill Chen, Jimmy Warren, David Sklansky
You can find player biographies and the lineups for rerun weeks on NBC's web site.
Amanda Leatherman Replaces Kimberly Lansing As World Poker Tour Online Updates Hostess
Amanda Leatherman is replacing Kimberly Lansing as the World Poker Tour's online updates hostess. Her announcement video is on the front page of the World Poker Tour site now. She's done poker reporting for Poker Wire, PokerNews.com, and Poker Road, and will continue to work for the latter. "I'm a poker player and have been for quite a while now," Amanda said, "so I am very comfortable talking about hands and strategies. Plus I know a lot of the regulars on tour and it’ll be a lot of fun to talk with them on the webcam." That's her and boyfriend Joe Sebok (who cofounded Poker Road with dad Barry Greenstein) in the photo below.
The WPT's press release also says "In addition to welcoming a new Live Updates hostess, WPT is currently in discussions with candidates for the television hostess role." We'll soon find out if Kimberly Lansing will replace the departing Layla Kayleigh as hostess of the World Poker Tour.
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The WPT's press release also says "In addition to welcoming a new Live Updates hostess, WPT is currently in discussions with candidates for the television hostess role." We'll soon find out if Kimberly Lansing will replace the departing Layla Kayleigh as hostess of the World Poker Tour.
Don't miss any poker on TV: sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Interview With World Poker Tour's Steve Lipscomb
Pokerati recorded an interview with Steve Lipscomb at the World Series of Poker. Here's a summary:
WPT Enterprises has been laying people off. They'll be announcing something regarding a TV deal soon. The WPT needs to reinvent itself but won't be going away. They aren't limited to the US TV market: they have many broadcasters worldwide. They need to find a new way to make revenue, e.g. the WSOP makes money through owner Harrah's hotel/casinos. The real money is being made online, which WPT has been restricted from participating in. They're moving to getting sponsorships from the online poker rooms. Lipscomb would love to own the casino, like they do at the WSOP. The WPT exists in many markets. They're finding a new broadcaster in their first market, the US, but it isn't even their most important TV market any more. They can make more money in the online business internationally. The market won't allow the WPT to make money the way they used to (license fees for their shows). You have to pay to get on TV these days. They'll get the WPT on TV now by being sponsored by online sites, so they may have to revert to a restrictive logo policy (so that sponsors don't end up paying to advertise other sites).
The first event of season 7, the Bellagio Cup, is scheduled to be taped on July 17.
See also World Poker Tour Looking For A Broadcaster As GSN's Option Expires and WPT Extends GSN's Option To Air Season 7 Of World Poker Tour.
WPT Enterprises has been laying people off. They'll be announcing something regarding a TV deal soon. The WPT needs to reinvent itself but won't be going away. They aren't limited to the US TV market: they have many broadcasters worldwide. They need to find a new way to make revenue, e.g. the WSOP makes money through owner Harrah's hotel/casinos. The real money is being made online, which WPT has been restricted from participating in. They're moving to getting sponsorships from the online poker rooms. Lipscomb would love to own the casino, like they do at the WSOP. The WPT exists in many markets. They're finding a new broadcaster in their first market, the US, but it isn't even their most important TV market any more. They can make more money in the online business internationally. The market won't allow the WPT to make money the way they used to (license fees for their shows). You have to pay to get on TV these days. They'll get the WPT on TV now by being sponsored by online sites, so they may have to revert to a restrictive logo policy (so that sponsors don't end up paying to advertise other sites).
The first event of season 7, the Bellagio Cup, is scheduled to be taped on July 17.
See also World Poker Tour Looking For A Broadcaster As GSN's Option Expires and WPT Extends GSN's Option To Air Season 7 Of World Poker Tour.
ESPN Fights Phil Ivey Over Logo, Loses
Wicked Chops Poker reports:
Earlier today, Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey had what some may call a "heated exchange" with the ESPN crew.
Ivey left for the first break from the "side" feature table wearing Full Tilt and PPA patches. When he came back, he had a PokerRoad patch on. Because he was seated at a featured table, ESPN asked him to remove his PokerRoad patch for continuity reasons.
While we didn't hear Ivey's response in full, it went something like (with apologies to Kid Dynamite) "DYKWTFIA!!!" He ended up wearing the PokerRoad patch after the encounter, meaning that: Ivey > ESPN.
Earlier today, Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey had what some may call a "heated exchange" with the ESPN crew.
Ivey left for the first break from the "side" feature table wearing Full Tilt and PPA patches. When he came back, he had a PokerRoad patch on. Because he was seated at a featured table, ESPN asked him to remove his PokerRoad patch for continuity reasons.
While we didn't hear Ivey's response in full, it went something like (with apologies to Kid Dynamite) "DYKWTFIA!!!" He ended up wearing the PokerRoad patch after the encounter, meaning that: Ivey > ESPN.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Continental Poker Championship Shoots For TV
The Inaugural Continental Poker Championship will begin Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York. The Final Table will take place on Monday, July 28th and will be filmed in HD for television broadcast.
The CPC TV program will initially run on Time Warner Sports on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 on Channel 26 in New York. However, discussions are underway that will bring the CPC to a nationwide audience shortly thereafter.
The 2008 Main Event begins what will be a series of televised events throughout the year. This includes a once-a-year Main Event and several CPC Circuit Events that will take place at several casinos located across North America.
Note, however, that not all poker shows succeed in getting aired.
Source: Continental Poker Championship site.
The CPC TV program will initially run on Time Warner Sports on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 on Channel 26 in New York. However, discussions are underway that will bring the CPC to a nationwide audience shortly thereafter.
The 2008 Main Event begins what will be a series of televised events throughout the year. This includes a once-a-year Main Event and several CPC Circuit Events that will take place at several casinos located across North America.
Note, however, that not all poker shows succeed in getting aired.
Source: Continental Poker Championship site.
Friday, July 04, 2008
What To Expect From This Year's WSOP Broadcasts
This year's WSOP US Main Event is underway, and PokerNews.com reports:
A Constant Camera Presence
Good to see that ESPN hasn't forgotten that we watch poker shows for the sitcom stars.
A Constant Camera Presence
Over on Blue 36, there's been a boom mike hanging over the table the entire time. There's one celebrity there who, we're sure, is used to that kind of attention - it's Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame.
Good to see that ESPN hasn't forgotten that we watch poker shows for the sitcom stars.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Next Week's Poker on TV
Next week's World Poker Tour event is the Borgata Poker Classic, featuring Gavin Griffin, Lee Watkinson, David Tran, Noah Schwartz, Ervin Prifti, and Tom Hare.
The first episode of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau event is available in the usual places. It's a sister to the European Poker Tour, and the broadcasts look similar.
World Poker Tour Announces New "All-In" Version was a parody. As EmmJay said in the comments, "The fact that so many people fell for this proves that it's thought to be possible. And that's sad in itself."
Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.
The first episode of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau event is available in the usual places. It's a sister to the European Poker Tour, and the broadcasts look similar.
World Poker Tour Announces New "All-In" Version was a parody. As EmmJay said in the comments, "The fact that so many people fell for this proves that it's thought to be possible. And that's sad in itself."
Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes, sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed, and contact me with any suggestions or corrections.
ESPN To Air WSOP Europe
ESPN will air the second WSOP Europe, which starts in September, in the US and on the web:
For the first time... ESPN, the exclusive World Series of Poker telecaster, is scheduled to air eight original hours of coverage of the World Series of Poker Europe in the United States and distribute the tournament globally. ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband sports network, is scheduled to provide live coverage in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and Brazil.
Harrah’s Entertainment will distribute the World Series of Poker Europe programming in non-ESPN markets, which in 2007 totaled over 100 million households including U.K. host broadcaster Sky Sports.
Press Release
For the first time... ESPN, the exclusive World Series of Poker telecaster, is scheduled to air eight original hours of coverage of the World Series of Poker Europe in the United States and distribute the tournament globally. ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband sports network, is scheduled to provide live coverage in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and Brazil.
Harrah’s Entertainment will distribute the World Series of Poker Europe programming in non-ESPN markets, which in 2007 totaled over 100 million households including U.K. host broadcaster Sky Sports.
Press Release
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