The World Series of Golf airs on CBS at 2 PM Saturday and Sunday. It's a golf competition featuring poker-style betting and some professional poker players. I thought last year's show was pretty bad.
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.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
New This Week: The River
The River (previous article) is hosted at the WinStar Casino on the Texas-Oklahoma border. There will be a $3 million tournament in August, and they're televising qualifiers now. It's syndicated to various channels, so you should search a programming guide for the time in your area. Note that The River may be called World Championship Poker on some channels. The show has already started airing in some areas. I haven't seen it yet, but it's reportedly very bad.
Next week's WPT event is part one of the World Poker Open, from Tunica, Mississippi. It's the second of two two-part shows this season. The first one was notably good. The players are Freddy Deeb, Hoyt Corkins, Men "The Master" Nguyen, John Spadavecchia, Brett Faustman, and Gabe Costner.
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's WPT event is part one of the World Poker Open, from Tunica, Mississippi. It's the second of two two-part shows this season. The first one was notably good. The players are Freddy Deeb, Hoyt Corkins, Men "The Master" Nguyen, John Spadavecchia, Brett Faustman, and Gabe Costner.
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.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
World Poker Tour Announces New "All-In" Version
Excerpts from Serious Sports News Network:
World Poker Tour Enterprises... has announced a new series of events designed to revive the sagging ratings for poker shows.
WPT President Steve Lipscomb made the announcement today.... "we’ve now created a new wrinkle to the classic American card game. We call it the All-In Poker Tour."
"With our new All-In Tour, it’s ‘all-in, all the time.’"
"I understand why some players would be upset at the changes.... What they fail to understand is that TV poker is now less about poker and more about TV," Lipscomb said, responding to the players’ concerns.
"Nobody wants to hear about strategy and pot-odds and hand analysis. If TV viewers wanted to think, they’d watch ‘Jeopardy’. What we want is the ‘Deal or No Deal’ audience. More cards, more luck and more action, less of that strategerization and thinky-type stuff."
World Poker Tour Enterprises... has announced a new series of events designed to revive the sagging ratings for poker shows.
WPT President Steve Lipscomb made the announcement today.... "we’ve now created a new wrinkle to the classic American card game. We call it the All-In Poker Tour."
"With our new All-In Tour, it’s ‘all-in, all the time.’"
"I understand why some players would be upset at the changes.... What they fail to understand is that TV poker is now less about poker and more about TV," Lipscomb said, responding to the players’ concerns.
"Nobody wants to hear about strategy and pot-odds and hand analysis. If TV viewers wanted to think, they’d watch ‘Jeopardy’. What we want is the ‘Deal or No Deal’ audience. More cards, more luck and more action, less of that strategerization and thinky-type stuff."
Monday, June 16, 2008
WSOP Live Streams Available To Everyone
The WSOP live streams are available to everyone at WSOPbwin.com. See also the schedule of streamed WSOP events. You may want to combine this with PokerNews.com's text coverage.
A remarkable final table is being streamed as I write this. Event 28, the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha with rebuys, features the following players: John Juanda, Phil Hellmuth, David Benyamine, Kirill Gerasimov, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Daniel Negreanu, Brian "tsarrast" Rast, Adam Hourani, and Johnny Chan.
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A remarkable final table is being streamed as I write this. Event 28, the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha with rebuys, features the following players: John Juanda, Phil Hellmuth, David Benyamine, Kirill Gerasimov, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Daniel Negreanu, Brian "tsarrast" Rast, Adam Hourani, and Johnny Chan.
Don't miss any poker on TV: sign up for our weekly newsletter or subscribe to our feed.
Friday, June 13, 2008
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Airs Sunday
Sunday at 9 PM GSN is airing the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Yes that's a European Poker Tour (and former WPT) event, but they've made a special version for the US market, hosted by Daniel Negreanu and A.J. Benza. David "The Dragon" Pham and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier are among the famous players you'll see. Alternatively, the longer original EPT show is available (see below).
Next week's WPT episode is the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic. This is a major: the buyin is $15,000 and first prize is $2.5 million. The players are Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Ryan Daut, Jordan Rich, Eugene Katchalov, Kenneth Rosen, and Ted Kearly.
European Poker Tour season 4 torrents are available now. The Grand Final in Monte Carlo is the second-biggest tournament in the world by prize pool. Only San Remo is missing, and the London torrents are reportedly imperfect.
You can read the latest rumors about High Stakes Poker's possible return in the comments of Will High Stakes Poker Return To TV?
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's WPT episode is the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic. This is a major: the buyin is $15,000 and first prize is $2.5 million. The players are Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Ryan Daut, Jordan Rich, Eugene Katchalov, Kenneth Rosen, and Ted Kearly.
European Poker Tour season 4 torrents are available now. The Grand Final in Monte Carlo is the second-biggest tournament in the world by prize pool. Only San Remo is missing, and the London torrents are reportedly imperfect.
You can read the latest rumors about High Stakes Poker's possible return in the comments of Will High Stakes Poker Return To TV?
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, June 09, 2008
World Poker Tour Looking For A Broadcaster As GSN's Option Expires
GSN's option to air season seven of the World Poker Tour expired Saturday. WPT issued a press release titled WPT Enterprises Opens Discussions for Season VII Television Broadcast Rights:
We are currently in discussions with a number of U.S. broadcasters regarding Season VII events. My hope is that this will make it possible for us to broaden and diversify our broadcast footprint in the United States. It is always difficult to change the fundamental structure of how you do business in a market, but in the long run, this could be very good news for the WPT and even better news for poker.
Twice now, the World Poker Tour television show has performed remarkably well on a U.S. cable network, only to fall prey to changes in programming direction and network management. We are now aggressively pursuing our strategic options.
GSN has been paying $300,000 per WPT episode, approximately equal to WPT Enterprises's production cost, an amount which is believed to exceed the advertising revenue from the show.
See also WPT Extends GSN's Option To Air Season 7 Of World Poker Tour, Reuters Article: "Poker shows face axe at GSN channel", and Why Travel Channel Dropped the World Poker Tour.
GSN CEO David Goldhill said, “The World Poker Tour has been a great partner and the show continues to perform strongly on our network. We are continuing discussions with WPTE regarding how we may be able to work together – including perhaps broadcasting parts of Season VII.”
WPTE is currently in discussions with several major networks to broadcast programming from its landmark seventh season, which kicks off July 11 at the prestigious Bellagio in Las Vegas and runs through April 2009.
“We have enjoyed watching the show and our numbers grow on GSN. Our hope is that we can find ways to collaborate with the network long into the future,” said Steve Lipscomb, WPT Founder, President and CEO. “This may allow us the first opportunity to explore diversifying content on multiple networks like most sports leagues. We have already begun those discussions and look forward to making another season of the best and most widely distributed poker programming in the world to our dedicated viewers and fans.”
We are currently in discussions with a number of U.S. broadcasters regarding Season VII events. My hope is that this will make it possible for us to broaden and diversify our broadcast footprint in the United States. It is always difficult to change the fundamental structure of how you do business in a market, but in the long run, this could be very good news for the WPT and even better news for poker.
Twice now, the World Poker Tour television show has performed remarkably well on a U.S. cable network, only to fall prey to changes in programming direction and network management. We are now aggressively pursuing our strategic options.
GSN has been paying $300,000 per WPT episode, approximately equal to WPT Enterprises's production cost, an amount which is believed to exceed the advertising revenue from the show.
See also WPT Extends GSN's Option To Air Season 7 Of World Poker Tour, Reuters Article: "Poker shows face axe at GSN channel", and Why Travel Channel Dropped the World Poker Tour.
Reuters Article: "Poker shows face axe at GSN channel"
Reuters is running a story on GSN's poker shows. Some highlights:
... since the exit of president and CEO Rich Cronin last year and installation of former Universal Television group head David Goldhill, more than a dozen GSN staffers have left the channel and some speculate that the poker shows may be next to get the axe.
According to GSN, such reports are premature. Various options are still being weighed, a spokesman said, and no decision has yet been made. The network was supposed to make a call on "WPT" by Saturday, but the network and WPT are expected to release a joint statement Monday to assure shareholders of WPT Enterprises that that the parties are still in talks.
Among adults 18 to 49, the one-hour "High Stakes" is GSN's top-rated show (averaging 117,000 viewers in the demo). The recent fourth-season was its best yet, jumping 20% in the demo. The two-hour "WPT" is averaging sixth in its current debut season on the network (111,000).
... since the exit of president and CEO Rich Cronin last year and installation of former Universal Television group head David Goldhill, more than a dozen GSN staffers have left the channel and some speculate that the poker shows may be next to get the axe.
According to GSN, such reports are premature. Various options are still being weighed, a spokesman said, and no decision has yet been made. The network was supposed to make a call on "WPT" by Saturday, but the network and WPT are expected to release a joint statement Monday to assure shareholders of WPT Enterprises that that the parties are still in talks.
Among adults 18 to 49, the one-hour "High Stakes" is GSN's top-rated show (averaging 117,000 viewers in the demo). The recent fourth-season was its best yet, jumping 20% in the demo. The two-hour "WPT" is averaging sixth in its current debut season on the network (111,000).
Among total viewers, the shows are less successful on GSN, a network that tends to skew older: "WPT" ranks seventh (averaging 349,000 viewers) and "High Stakes" is 28th (306,000).
"These networks took a chance for poker and put it in the mainstream," said Poker Prods. CEO Mori Eskandani. "If they decide with the new CEO and their new direction that poker is not really working, that it has no cross promotional value, then I respect that."
See also WPT Extends GSN's Option To Air Season 7 Of World Poker Tour, GSN Discussing Poker's Future On the Network, Will High Stakes Poker Return To TV?, and Why Travel Channel Dropped the World Poker Tour.Friday, June 06, 2008
Next Week on TV: WPT's World Poker Finals
Next week's WPT episode is the World Poker Finals from Foxwoods. The players are Nenad Medic, Nick Schulman, Tom Dwan (one of the best online poker players in the world, better known by his screenname durrrr), Mark Weitzman, Michael Vela, and Mike White.
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.
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, June 04, 2008
World Series of Poker Live Broadcasts Start Friday
24 of the World Series of Poker's events will be be broadcast over the internet at ESPN360.com without hole cards, on a one-hour delay. ESPN360 is offered through certain ISPs. They're starting with Event 7 on Friday. The schedule is here.
GSN Discussing Poker's Future On the Network
In an interview with PokerNews.com, Mori Eskandani mentioned GSN's ongoing discussions about the future of poker on the channel:
Amanda Leatherman: What about High Stakes Poker? Everyone's asking: did it get picked up? What's happening?
Mori Eskandani: I just had, just yesterday, a conversation with GSN and they have several meetings and they still haven't determined just exactly what direction they're going to take poker. So it's poker in general, it's not just High Stakes Poker. If they decide that poker is going to live on GSN, I have no doubt in my mind there's going to be plenty of High Stakes. So, we have to wait.
See also WPT Extends GSN's Option To Air Season 7 Of World Poker Tour and Will High Stakes Poker Return To TV?
Amanda Leatherman: What about High Stakes Poker? Everyone's asking: did it get picked up? What's happening?
Mori Eskandani: I just had, just yesterday, a conversation with GSN and they have several meetings and they still haven't determined just exactly what direction they're going to take poker. So it's poker in general, it's not just High Stakes Poker. If they decide that poker is going to live on GSN, I have no doubt in my mind there's going to be plenty of High Stakes. So, we have to wait.
See also WPT Extends GSN's Option To Air Season 7 Of World Poker Tour and Will High Stakes Poker Return To TV?
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