Poker fans around the world won’t have to wait long to see the action from the seventh season of the World Poker Tour (WPT) unfold. On Sunday, January 4th, 2009, the first of 26 episodes of the WPT will air on Fox Sports Net. The show will occur during the network’s national time slot on Sunday nights.
WPT Founder, President, and CEO Steve Lipscomb commented in a press release distributed through Business Wire on Monday, “Not only are we excited to bring our seventh season to the airwaves, we’re ecstatic to be a part of one of the leading networks for sports, FSN. Together, WPT and FSN continue to bring the action into living rooms and put fans on the edge of their seats.” The first five seasons of the WPT aired on The Travel Channel. For the sixth season of the marquee poker tour, the action headed to GSN, The Network for Games. When GSN elected not to pick up its exclusive option for Season VII, WPT officials quickly forged a relationship with Fox Sports Net.
There are several milestones that will air as part of the seventh season of WPT programming. The $400 million mark for prize money is reached during Season VII, as is the crowning of the 100th WPT Poker Made Millionaire. The latter is an exclusive group which already includes Daniel Negreanu ($5.5 million in career WPT earnings), Carlos Mortensen ($5.2 million in career WPT earnings), and Tuan Le ($4.5 million in career WPT earnings). Each has banked over $1 million from WPT play.
This past week, the latest Poker Made Millionaire was crowned as David “Chino” Rheem took down the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. He pocketed $1.5 million in the process, besting the 497 player field. The final table will be one for the ages when it airs, as Rheem battles against Justin Young (whom he beat heads-up), Evan McNiff, Steve Sung, Amnon Filippi, and poker legend Hoyt Corkins. Rheem gained fame by finishing seventh in the World Series of Poker Main Event for $1.7 million, becoming one of the original November Nine members.
Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten will return to call the action for Season VII. Joining them will be Amanda Leatherman, who has been serving as the Live Updates Hostess on WPT’s website and will also take on the role of sideline reporter. Leatherman previously updated fans of the game for Pokerwire and brings a vast amount of experience to the table.
Each of the 26 episodes will last one hour. Fox Sports Net is actually composed of regional networks, but shows a block of nationwide programming every Sunday night. WPT officials stated that a “two part” format will air. GSN will air High Stakes Poker Season V beginning on March 1st, which is also a Sunday. It will occupy the 9:00pm ET time slot and may go head to head with WPT Season VII episodes. GSN still owns the rights to Season VI of the WPT.
WPT episodes to air on Fox Sports Net will be sponsored by FullTiltPoker.net, which will receive an on-felt presence as well as instructional segments during the show. Southwest Airlines returns as a presenting sponsor. In addition to WPT tournaments, ClubWPT events also air on Fox Sports Net on Sundays. There have been 10 six-man tournaments shown in total. On Christmas Day, a ClubWPT marathon will air. A Channel Finder is also planned in the New Year in order to help viewers locate the time and channel for WPT and ClubWPT programming.
The World Poker Tour is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the symbol “WPTE.” At the time of writing, it was trading up slightly to $0.45. The company recently debuted the Traktor Poker Tour on Chinese airwaves.
