Starting this Sunday, October 5th, viewers of Fox Sports Net will be able to watch members of ClubWPT, the World Poker Tour’s subscription-based online poker room, battle it out on television. The series, which is called ClubWPT.com, will air at 4:00pm local time with an encore at 11:00pm. Fox Sports Net will also begin airing Season VII of the WPT on Sunday nights, although a time slot and date have not yet been announced. Fox Sports Net is split into 18 regional channels.
The show will feature six players from ClubWPT battling it out for cash. ClubWPT players in the United States and Canada can win their way in by playing in “TV tournaments” on the site. These run six nights each week at 10:00pm ET. This is the first tournament series to air as part of the newly-forged relationship between the WPT and FSN.
World Poker Tour Founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb stated in a press release distributed on Tuesday, “Poker is the only sport that allows the everyday Joe to go up against the professionals and win life-changing money and celebrity status. We all want to be in that seat, but most of us don’t have the opportunity to invest the time or money to be a pro and play in big casinos games. ClubWPT.com gives you the opportunity – six nights a week, in your own home – to win a seat on national television and the chance to live the dream.”
Prize packages to the ClubWPT tournaments that will air on Fox Sports Net include roundtrip airfare to Los Angeles on Southwest Airlines, two nights’ accommodation at the Four Seasons Hotel West Lake Village, and a little spending money. Barry Tompkins and Bart Hansen will provide commentary. Tompkins is a boxing analyst for Fox Sports Net. He’s also called the action from the felts of the Aussie Millions and Poker Dome, both of which aired on the network. Alison Waite will round out Fox Sports Net’s on air crew.
Repeats of the show will also broadcast on Tuesdays at 5:00pm, Wednesdays at 4:00pm, Fridays at 11:00am, and Saturdays at 12:00 noon.
On October 31st, ClubWPT is hosting a $20,000 prize pool tournament. Satellites run daily at 1:30am, 8:00am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, and 11:45pm ET. The top ten finishers in each freeroll will be awarded entry into the $20,000 final. Satellites to win merchandise from Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period” as well as entry into a 2009 WPT Championship super satellite event are also available.
The site also runs tournaments with prize pools varying from $10 to $1,000. Elimination Blackjack Tournaments are available as well. The software looks very similar in appearance to the one found on Ultimate Bet, which makes for an easy-to-follow game experience. Tournament points are used to gain entry into tournaments, which makes ClubWPT a sweepstakes in many jurisdictions instead of a cash-based online casino. ClubWPT is run by World Poker Tour Enterprises, which is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the symbol WPTE.
Member benefits on ClubWPT include access to over $100,000 in monthly tournaments, digital access to Bluff Magazine, Las Vegas discounts, live chat support, a buddy list, and poker training. There is a two-week trial available and the site does not allow members from several states to compete for cash, so check out ClubWPT’s website for more details.
