Poker on TV Update, January 22, 2010

The EPT Deauville streams live on PokerStars.tv at 6 AM Sunday (TV table) and Monday (final table).

If you haven't caught the new season of the World Poker Tour yet, its official premiere is Sunday night at 11 PM on Fox Sports Net. Check out the WPT's Channel Finder to verify when it's airing in your area. The first tournament shown this season is the Bellagio Cup V. Details are in our last update.

The next new show will be the WSOP Europe on January 31.

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

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Poker on TV Update: World Poker Tour Premieres This Week

World Poker Tour season 8 starts airing this coming week in certain areas of the country. Although the official premiere date is Sunday, January 24 at 11 PM, Fox Sports Net is a collection of regional networks which can run the show whenever they want. Some of them, including my affiliate, are starting the new season on Monday the 18th. WPT's Channel Finder is a good way to find out when it's airing in your area. The first tournament shown this season will be the Bellagio Cup V. Erik Seidel, Justin "Boosted J" Smith, Alec "traheho" Torelli, Alexandre Gomes, Faraz "The-Toilet" Jaka, and Christoffer Sonesson made the TV table. I've heard of all but the last of them, so it's an impressive TV table.

Poker After Dark will be in rerun until March 15.

This week's newsbites:

• Two more unnamed NAPT stops will be added to the three already announced.
  
• Kara Scott signed to represent Party Poker and will be hosting their TV shows. I hope this doesn't mean that we won't see her on American shows after her work on the upcoming High Stakes Poker season 6 and WSOP Europe airs.
  

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

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Poker on TV Update: New PAD, $Million Cash Game S4, PCA Live Streams

Next week's Poker After Dark is a tourney, "Nicknames," featuring Annette Obrestad, Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, Phil Laak, and Phil Hellmuth.

The Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game season 4 is airing in the UK and becoming available for downloading or streaming. The production quality is much worse than HSP or PAD (e.g. poor onscreen graphics), but it's a big game ($300/600 blinds) with great players that features the biggest pot in TV poker history. 

As mentioned previously, the PCA live streams are underway. The Main Event is one of the biggest tournaments in the world, and its final table streams Monday at noon on PokerStars.tv.

The Windy City Poker Championship is coming to Bright House Sports Network in Florida and Cox Cable's CST.

This week's newsbites:

• Someone talked to Sam Farha about why he no longer plays on High Stakes Poker: ... now that people can see his hole cards and figure out how he plays, the game has gotten harder. So, as he put it (and I quote) "It's bad for my game to be on TV."
•  Hellmuth and Negreanu say that ESPN is filming the PCA. It could be a mistaken assumption based on the same production company that does the WSOP filming the PCA, but it looks likely to me right now that ESPN will be the NAPT's broadcast partner.
  
• We've written many times about how cash games are more popular with viewers than tournaments. The latest poll on 2+2 shows the widest margin I've seen so far: 91% prefer watching cash games vs. 9% for tournaments.
  

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

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PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Launches

PokerStars announced the long-rumored (see our September 2008 article) North American Poker Tour (NAPT). The initial stops are the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (underway now), the Venetian in February, and Mohegan Sun in April. Two more events will be announced later. Joanna Krupa will be the hostess. Television production company 441 (the same group that produces ESPN's WSOP coverage) will be producing the NAPT series. PokerStars's Jeffrey Haas says "We do have a first tier broadcast partner that will hopefully be announced in the next two weeks."

This is PokerStars's 9th tournament series (see the list). Their European Poker Tour is the world's leading poker tour, having long ago passed out the World Poker Tour.

Below are an interview with and picture of hostess Krupa. 

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PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Live Streams Start Today

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is one of the biggest tournaments in the world, with the Main Event paying $1 million or more to the top four places. PokerStars.tv is streaming several events this year, and three of the events (Main Event, Charity, and High Roller) are being filmed for later airing on TV.

The streaming schedule:

• Friday, Jan. 8 at 6 PM: PokerStars Charity Event
• Sunday, Jan. 10 at noon: PCA Main Event – TV Table
• Monday, Jan. 11 at noon: PCA Main Event – Final Table
• Wednesday, Jan. 13 at noon: World Cup of Poker Final (with hole cards)
  
• Thursday, Jan. 14 at noon: PCA High Roller – Final Table

All the events are streaming at PokerStars.tv.

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WSOP Europe TV Schedule

The Caesars Cup and WSOP Europe begin airing January 31 on ESPN2. The Caesars Cup is a made-for-TV poker show with an odd format which pits America against Europe. It was shot during the WSOP Europe. The WSOP Europe Main Event has one of the toughest fields in poker and it had a terrific final table. Kara Scott will be the WSOP Europe sideline reporter.

Caesars Cup:

• Sunday, January 31st: 11:00 PM
• Monday, February 1st: 12:00 AM

WSOP Europe Main Event:

• Sunday, February 7th: 10:00 PM
• Sunday, February 7th: 11:00 PM
• Monday, February 8th: 12:00 AM
• Sunday, February 14th: 11:00 PM
• Monday, February 15th: 12:00 AM
• Monday, February 15th: 1:00 AM
• Sunday, February 28th: 9:00 PM
• Sunday, February 28th: 10:00 PM

All times are on ESPN2.

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World Poker Tour Season 8 Schedule

World Poker Tour season 8's official air time is 11 PM Sunday nights on Fox Sports Net, but in some markets it airs earlier in the week. You can use WPT's Channel Finder to find times on your local Fox Sports Net affiliate. The schedule, with links to TV table previews, is below:

1/24/2010 Bellagio Cup V – Part 1
1/31/2010 Bellagio Cup V – Part 2
2/7/2010 Bellagio Cup V – Part 3
2/14/2010 Legends of Poker – Part 1
2/21/2010 Legends of Poker – Part 2
2/28/2010 Borgata Poker Open – Part 1
3/7/2010 Borgata Poker Open – Part 2
3/14/2010 Festa Al Lago – Part 1
3/21/2010 Festa Al Lago – Part 2
3/28/2010 World Poker Finals – Part 1
4/4/2010 World Poker Finals – Part 2
4/11/2010 World Poker Finals – Part 3
4/18/2010 Bellagio 5 Diamond – Part 1
4/25/2010 Bellagio 5 Diamond – Part 2
5/2/2010 Southern Poker Championship – Part1
5/9/2010 Southern Poker Championship – Part 2
5/16/2010 LA Poker Classic – Part 1
5/23/2010 LA Poker Classic – Part 2
5/30/2010 Celebrity Invitational – Part 1
6/6/2010 Celebrity Invitational – Part 2
6/13/2010 Bay 101 Shooting Star - Part 1
6/21/2010 Bay 101 Shooting Star - Part 2
6/27/2010 Hollywood Poker Open – Part 1
7/4/2010 Hollywood Poker Open – Part 2
7/11/2010 WPT Championship – Part 1
7/18/2010 WPT Championship – Part 2

Episodes will be one hour long and in HD. Full Tilt Poker will continue as the WPT's sponsor this season. 

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