In breaking news from Bristol, ESPN2 will carry the inaugural season of the PokerStars sponsored North American Poker Tour (NAPT). The festivities will kick off on April 19th on the cable station with the Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout.
ESPN’s family of channels already brings many of today’s popular poker programming to life. As it currently stands, ESPN owns the coverage rights for the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) through April 2018. According to a WSOP press release distributed in August, the WSOP attracts a total audience of 82 million U.S. viewers each year. Poker airs on a variety of ESPN stations, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPN.com, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV, and non-U.S. ESPN outlets. An extension was forged in August and ESPN has broadcasted the spectacle since 2003.
A total of 16 hours of NAPT coverage will begin airing on ESPN2 on April 19th. ESPN’s Coordinating Producer, Jamie Horowitz, told the press, “We’re very excited to bring the North American Poker Tour to ESPN. Our fans like big names and big stakes – the NAPT will have both in excess.” Fans of poker are in the midst of watching the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event unfold on ESPN2. Sunday night featured the fifth, sixth, and seventh hour-long episodes, with two more slated to hit television airwaves on February 28th. The sixth episode brought the action down to nine players at London’s Casino at the Empire.
The kickoff NAPT Main Event at the Venetian begins on February 20th. Part of the festivities include a special made-for-television $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout, which features 36 of poker’s top names battling it out for poker supremacy. Each player at the final table will take home $50,000, while the remaining prize pool less the $5,000 bounties will be awarded entirely to the winner. In addition, PokerStars is dishing out $100,000 of its own money to the player who records the most knockouts. Team PokerStars Pro front man and “PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge” host Daniel Negreanu was the Shootout’s first confirmed participant.
“Dancing with the Stars” competitor and model Joanna Krupa will serve as the host of the NAPT on ESPN2. Seven airdates have been announced, with NAPT coverage appearing on the following Monday nights:
April 19th: Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout: 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET
April 26th: Venetian $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout: 9:00pm ET
April 26th: Venetian $5,000 Main Event: 10:00pm ET
May 3rd: Mohegan Sun Shootout: 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET
May 10th: Mohegan Sun Shootout: 9:00pm ET
May 10th: Mohegan Sun $5,000 Main Event: 10:00pm ET
May 17th: PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller: 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET
“Inside Deal,” which features hosts Laura Lane and Foxwoods sponsored pro Bernard Lee, anchors ESPN’s poker content in the online space. The 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) was the first stop on Season 1 of the NAPT, which debuts on U.S. soil at the Venetian on Saturday. On April 7th, PokerStars officials will head to the forests of Connecticut, where NAPT Mohegan Sun will pan out.
The 2010 PCA Main Event featured Harrison Gimbel trump a record field of 1,529 players en route to a $2.2 million first place prize. American William Reynolds captured victory in the $25,000 PCA High Roller event, which airs on May 17th on ESPN2; his victory was worth $576,000. Others who made the top 15 included Sandra Naujoks, 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada, 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer, and Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron.
New poker programming can be seen across a spectrum of channels including GSN (“High Stakes Poker”), Fox Sports Net (“Poker2Nite” and the World Poker Tour), and NBC (“Poker After Dark”).
