WSOP Europe Premieres Sunday

The WSOP Europe Main Event starts airing Sunday. It runs from 10 PM - midnight Sundays on ESPN2. Alternatively, you can watch the first four episodes on ESPN opposite the Super Bowl (6 to 10 PM), then wait two weeks for the next episode (see the weekly schedule). See the comments of our WSOP Europe post for ESPN's preview of the first 4 episodes and reports of improvements to the broadcast this year (though some people who've already seen it in Europe report that it retains the hallmark of ESPN broadcasts: a focus on non-poker content).

Next week's WPT episode is the Borgata Poker Open, featuring Mark Seif, Vivek Rajkumar, Dan Heimiller, Andrew Knee, Jason Strochak, and Sang Kim.

If you missed Best Damn Poker Show this week, it should be back again next week.

This week's newsbites:

• There was some huge action at the Aussie Millions Cash Game taping.
  
• PokerStars added yet another regional tour, this one for Australia and New Zealand.
• The WPT actually shelled out to have Mike and Vince at a recent WPT taping, rather than doing all their work in post-production.
  
• the Poker Bay is back... again... with a new server.
  
• Yes, this site changed its look again. I quickly started to dislike the previous style. We're back to an improved, in my opinion, version of the original format. It may not be beautiful, but I think it's more functional than the previous style.

Place your Super Bowl bets at Bodog, the best place to bet sports and play poker from the same account. - Advertorial by Poker On TV

Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes.

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WSOP Europe TV Schedule

The 2008 WSOP Europe TV schedule:

• February 1, 10-12 PM, ESPN2, Main Event episodes 1 and 2
• February 8, 10-12 PM, ESPN2, Main Event episodes 3 and 4
• February 15, 10-12 PM, ESPN2, Main Event episodes 5 and 6
• February 22: no shows
• March 1, 10-12 PM, ESPN2, Main Event episodes 7 and 8
  

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PokerStars Pulls Sponsored Players From Poker After Dark

PokerStars recently prohibited their sponsored players from playing on Poker After Dark, due to it's sponsorship by Full Tilt Poker. Overseas markets receive a more branded version of Poker After Dark than we do in the US. PokerStars's most prominent sponsored players are Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, and most of the recent WSOP Main Event winners.

This is certainly harmful to the poker players, poker on TV, and the poker economy in general. Imagine if it were taken to its logical conclusion: no famous player could play in the WSOP since it's sponsored by Everest Poker. Phil Hellmuth would fade into oblivion since his sponsor, UltimateBet, rarely runs its own shows. Fan favorite Daniel Negreanu would become unknown in his adopted home, the United States, since his sponsor PokerStars has most of its TV presence overseas. As poker TV stars faded, TV ratings would decline and fewer people would play online and live poker. As you can see, the online poker sites would be cutting their own throats if they were to implement these policies. Admittedly, I don't see them taking it as far as in the examples above; but if they take it part of the way there they will do part of the damage. Free trade results in the greatest prosperity for all, whether in poker celebrities or economics.

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Bodog Poker Review And Users' Guide

Bodog Poker is the best online poker room for many people because it's so profitable. It's profitability derives from:

• They have the worst players of the top five US-friendly sites. You may be able to double or triple your earn rate, or play one to two limits higher, by playing at Bodog rather than one of the larger, tighter sites.
  
• They have the best first deposit and reload bonuses. Their first deposit bonus is 110% up to $500 and they offer monthly 100% up to $500 reload bonuses.
  
• There are large overlays on many of their guaranteed tournaments (meaning they pay out more than the sum of the buyins).

Bodog's customer service is also among the best. They respond to emails within 15 minutes and also offer customer service by phone, which is unique among poker rooms. I think you get the best results by calling them on the phone, so do that for anything important like deposit or withdrawal advice.

Bodog's software is considered to be below average, but there aren't any problems so serious that it would keep you from playing there. For serious players the four-table limit is a weakness, but there's nothing preventing you from playing another poker room at the same time. Bodog doesn't write hand histories to your hard drive, so if you want to use a hand history database (e.g. Holdem Manager) you'll need to buy a hand grabber program (it's more than worth it to any serious player). Bodog has enough traffic for most players playing up to about $200 NL Hold 'em.

Bodog is most famous as a sportsbook, and you can bet on sports or play their casino games from the same account. Bodog doesn't use US-based payment processors so they're not susceptible to the occasional processor problems that plague other poker rooms. Their payouts are as fast (checks in a few days) and reliable as any poker room.

Insider hints:

• Visa and VirtualPin are the recommended deposit methods. Checks are the standard payout method. Call Bodog if you have any deposit or payout questions.
• Poker Table Ratings is a free website that's useful for selecting the most profitable tables, finding the biggest winners and losers, looking up individual opponents, and being alerted when selected players are online.
• Bodog Hand Grabber doesn't include cards your opponent mucked at showdown in its hand histories, but you can look them up by hand number in Bodog's software. While you're playing you just have to double-click the last hand link (a single click doesn't work reliably).
• There is a free AutoHotkey script that can help with bet sizing and a few other things.

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2009 WSOP Schedule Announced

The 2009 WSOP schedule has been announced. The 4-month delay until the Main Event final table has been retained. The major changes are the addition of a $40,000-buyin NLHE 40th anniversary tournament and the removal of rebuy tournaments. It runs from May 26 to July 15 and they're up to 57 events (soon, everyone will have a bracelet). Check out the 2009 WSOP schedule.

Edit: see also the 2009 WSOP TV schedule and Final Table Viewers' Guide.

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New Look And Miscellaneous Notes

There's no live stream of the EPT Deauville, but they'll put a 3 1/2 hour highlights show, with hole cards, on PokerStars.tv Saturday evening.

If you're looking for more poker to watch, try the European Cash Game stream. It's better than most European cash game broadcasts.

Do you like the new or old look of the site (and there was a third one that we tried for a few days)? There's a poll in the left sidebar, and you can leave any comments below.

This week's newsbites:

• The Continental Poker Championship live stream had a lot of technical problems.
  
• Yes, the Poker Bay is down again. You can bemoan the situation here.
  

Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes.

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Montel Williams Producing Poker TV Show

Talk show host Montel Williams is trying to produce a poker show, International Team Poker League:

The show, starting with satellite tournaments in March and to be televised from November this year, will combine fast-paced No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em (NLTH) games with ‘reality TV’ style segments about the players.

In a similar format to familiar talent shows, the series will begin with a selection process through regular NLTH satellite tournaments in both land-based casinos and online poker sites. Entrants play to win entry into a three-day Draft Pool Seeding Tournament at a Las Vegas host casino at which the leading players will be selected into six teams, before fighting it out to build chip stacks for the final one-day SuperTable team event. The six winners will become the ITPL Team for the season, and will be filmed as they live the Poker lifestyle, play the Pros and possibly find celebrity for themselves.

Source: press release.

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Continental Poker Championship Live Stream, Million Dollar Cash Game

The Continental Poker Championship airs live over the internet with hole cards on Monday. The PPV costs $14.95.

The next World Poker Tour episode is the Legends of Poker. John Phan is the most famous player at the TV table.

Season two of the Million Dollar Cash Game (review) is airing on Fox Sports Net. It's an old show, but it's the first time it has aired on US TV. In my area it runs at midnight Saturday, but you always need to check a programming guide for shows on Fox Sports Net.

This week's newsbites:

• Two more reports from the High Stakes Poker season 5 taping: Barry Greenstein did a fascinating video blog and Mike Matusow says he wasn't bankrolled to play it; and
  
• The Eastern Poker Tour will be broadcast regionally for a second year.

Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes.

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The Poker Bay Is Back

The Poker Bay is up again, with the following message:

As you may have noticed we have been off the grid for a while. Our server had a serious breakdown and due to all the holiday madness going on t was hell to get it fixed. But now we are back on track.

There might still be some errors that we arent aware of yet.

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Best Damn Poker Show Returns

Best Damn Poker Show returns for a second season on Monday. It's a reality show featuring UltimateBet pros Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke coaching competing teams. 24 amateur contestants compete, including poker hottie Christina Lindley. 7 episodes will air Mondays at 9 PM, with reruns at 11 PM and 12:30 AM, on Fox Sports Net. As always with Fox Sports Net, check your local listings for the time on your affiliate. You can also check out:

• our coverage of the taping drama and review of season one,
  
• the show's page on UltimateBet (turn down your volume first; they promise extra scenes from the show), and
• the press release.

The next World Poker Tour episode continues the Bellagio Cup coverage. Poker After Dark is in rerun again for a few weeks.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure continues on PokerStars.tv.

This week's newsbites:

• Poker News Daily added their piece to the "EPT is surpassing WPT" opus;
  
• they used mobile hole card cams at the WSOP Europe to film hands that weren't at the featured tables;
  
• the WPT films three more ClubWPT episodes this weekend, which are the last of season one;
• Phil Hellmuth reveals how he did on the Poker After Dark cash games and why he didn't play High Stakes Poker; and
  
• Annie Duke is on the next Apprentice, Donald Trump's reality TV show, which starts March 1.
  

Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes.

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Continental Poker Championship: Live PPV With Hole Cards

Continental Poker Championship is a series of tournaments that will be streamed live over the internet, with hole cards. They intend to produce about 12 shows in 2009, covering tournaments at Turning Stone in New York and a Detroit casino that hasn't yet been named. The broadcasts will cover the final six players of the tournaments, and Tom Schneider and Continental Poker Championship founder Eric Ulis will provide commentary.

The first event is the $1500 No Limit Hold 'Em Main Event of Turning Stone’s Winter Poker Meltdown. It will air at noon on January 19. The pay-per-view will cost you $14.95 at their site. In the future they plan on moving to an annual subscription model.

Continental Poker Championship previously filmed an event at Turning Stone which is being editing into a two-hour show that they hope will air on New York TV this spring.

See also: press release.

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National Heads-Up Poker Championship Schedule

NBC announced the National Heads-Up Poker Championship schedule.

Event:
March 5: GoDaddy.com Draw Party (at PURE in Caesars Palace)
March 6-8: National Heads-Up Poker Championship (Caesars Palace)

Television coverage:
April 12: Noon - 2PM ET
April 19: Noon - 1PM ET
April 26: Noon - 2PM ET
May 3: Noon - 2PM ET
May 10: Noon - 2PM ET
May 17: Noon - 3PM ET

A chart of the brackets (warning: contains results) is on NBC's web site. The list of qualifiers (criteria) and invitees (press release), with new players in bold:
1. David Benyamine
2. Andy Bloch
3. Chad Brown
4. Doyle Brunson
5. Johnny Chan
6. Don Cheadle
7. Glen Chorny
8. Allen Cunningham
9. Hevad Khan (replacing Ivan Demidov)
10. Annie Duke
11. Tom Dwan
12. Peter Eastgate
13. Eli Elezra
14. Antonio Esfandiari
15. Sam Farha
16. Chris Ferguson
17. Scott Fischman
18. David Oppenheim (replacing Layne Flack)
19. Ted Forrest
20. Brad Garrett
21. Jamie Gold
22. Clonie Gowen
23. Barry Greenstein
24. Gavin Griffin
25. Bertrand Grospellier
26. Joe Hachem
27. Gus Hansen
28. Jennifer Harman
29. Phil Hellmuth
30. Orel Hershiser
31. Jeffrey Ishbia (Caesars qualifier)
32. Phil Ivey
33. John Juanda
34. Gabe Kaplan
35. Phil Laak
36. Howard Lederer
37. Erick Lindgren
38. Jonathan Little
39. Mike Matusow
40. Dario Minieri
41. Chris Moneymaker
42. Daniel Negreanu
43. Scotty Nguyen
44. David Pham
45. John Phan
46. Greg Raymer
47. Vanessa Rousso
48. Ilari Sahamies
49. Huck Seed
50. Vanessa Selbst
51. Erik Seidel
52. Mike Sexton
53. Gavin Smith
54. Jennifer Tilly
55. J.C. Tran
56. Kenny Tran
57. Paul Wasicka
58. David Williams
59. Jerry Yang
60. Leon Yanovski (online qualifier)
61. Caesars qualifier
62. Online qualifier
63. Online qualifier
64. Online qualifier

Prize pool:
Places 9-16: $25,000
Places 5-8: $75,000
Places 3-4: $125,000
2nd place: $250,000
1st place: $500,000
The prize pool totals $1,500,000, $220,000 more than the buyins (64 x $20,000).

See also our previous coverage of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

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World Poker Tour Back, Streaming Poker With Hole Cards

The World Poker Tour returns to TV with season 7 on Fox Sports Net. Fox Sports Net is a collection of regional channels, so you'll need to search a programming guide to find the day and time it airs in your area, which may change from week to week. This week's time for each channel is in the comments below.

The World Cup of Poker will be streamed live over the internet with hole cards on Tuesday. That's just one of the four days of programming from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) that will be streamed on PokerStars.tv. The full schedule is:

• World Cup of Poker V, Tuesday, Jan 6 at 1 PM;
  
• PCA $25k High Roller event, Thursday, Jan 8, at noon;
  
• PCA Main Event TV table, Friday, Jan 9, at noon; and
  
• PCA Main Event final table, Saturday, Jan 10, at noon.
  

Next week's Poker After Dark is a tournament featuring Todd Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Gordon, Gabe Kaplan, Cory Zeidman, and David Grey.

This week's newsbites:

• the Poker Bay is having technical problems but its operator says it will be back soon;
  
• Doyle provided another update on his High Stakes Poker play;
  
• Phil Hellmuth wrote about a couple of hands he played on the upcoming season of Poker After Dark; and
  
• We corrected our WSOP Europe broadcast schedule. Poker PROductions, which produces HSP and PAD, is doing this year's WSOPE shows.
  

Check our poker on TV schedule for the list of shows regularly running new episodes.

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PokerStars Caribbean Adventure To Air On GSN

GSN will air eight episodes of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure starting May 31. Last year's event aired as a single special in the US. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a European Poker Tour event, is one of the largest tournaments of the year. Last year's event boasted a $2 million first prize, and this year's buyin has been increased from $8,000 to $10,000. The tournament starts playing Monday, with streaming coverage online.

Sources: PokerPages, CardPlayer.

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