It’s back! Starting on Monday, April 18th, the PokerStars-backed North American Poker Tour, or NAPT, will return to ESPN2. Action from NAPT stops in the Bahamas, Los Angeles, and Mohegan Sun will air, with the action wrapping up on May 16th.
However, it won’t be regular the announcers Lon McEachern and Norman Chad calling the action. The duo, which appeared on ESPN’s most recent coverage of the NAPT and are the regular hosts for the World Series of Poker (WSOP), will instead take a hiatus. In their stead, James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton will provide commentary. Along with Chris Rose, Stapleton is the host of the PokerStars-backed “Big Game,” which airs on Fox in late nights.
Poker News Daily can confirm that McEachern and Chad will return to broadcast the 2011 WSOP on ESPN.
Each Monday, action from the NAPT circuit will air sometime between 9:00pm ET and Midnight ET on ESPN2; a complete schedule appears at the bottom of this article. The first tournament that will air is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller, whose final table will be beamed into households around the United States.
The Super High Roller event featured a massive $100,000 buy-in and saw a field of 38 players turn out. Its nine-man final table was stacked with poker talent, including eventual winner and new Team PokerStars Pro member Eugene Katchalov. Others at the finale included Daniel Negreanu, Bryn Kenney, Nick Schulman, Humberto Brenes, Sandor Demjan, Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, James “Andy McLEOD” Obst, and Durrrr Challenge contestant Dan “jungleman12” Cates. Talk about a tough lineup!
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Bounty Shootout is next in line. The $5,250 buy-in tournament attracted 216 runners and saw Andrew Chen come away with the title. Online poker pro Shaun Deeb headlined the final group, which in addition to Chen included Scott Baumstein, Marko Neumann, and William Pilossoph. Three hours of coverage of the Bounty Shootout will air on ESPN2, one hour on Monday, April 18th and two hours on Monday, April 25th.
Here is the full schedule of events for the NAPT on ESPN2. The telecast will also be shown on ESPN3.com:
Monday, April 18th at 10:00pm ET
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller Final Table
Monday, April 18th at 11:00pm ET
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Bounty Shootout
Monday April 25th at 10:00pm ET
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Bounty Shootout
Monday April 25th at 11:00pm ET
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Bounty Shootout Final Table
Monday, May 2nd at 10:00pm ET
Los Angeles Bounty Shootout
Monday, May 2nd at 11:00pm ET
Los Angeles Bounty Shootout
Monday, May 9th at 9:00pm ET
Los Angeles Bounty Shootout
Monday, May 9th at 10:00pm ET
Los Angeles Bounty Shootout Final Table
Monday, May 9th at 11:00pm ET
Mohegan Sun Bounty Shootout
Monday, May 16th at 9:00pm ET
Mohegan Sun Bounty Shootout
Monday, May 16th at 10:00pm ET
Mohegan Sun Bounty Shootout Final Table
Monday, May 16th at 11:00pm ET
Mohegan Sun Main Event Final Table
The PokerStars NAPT withdrew its sponsorship of the Los Angeles stop at the last minute following discussions with California gaming regulators, but the Bounty Shootout was still filmed for ESPN cameras. The Main Event, which served as the finale to the Bike’s Big Event, was shown on Live at the Bike.
The NAPT Mohegan Sun festivities have not yet been filmed for television. The Main Event begins on April 9th in the woodlands of Connecticut and runs through the 13th. The Bounty Shootout kicks off on April 12th and crowns a champion on the 14th. Visit PokerStars for more details on the NAPT.
