Move over, Super Bowl. There’s a new sheriff in town. On Sunday, February 1st, the first four of episodes of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event will air on ESPN at 6:00pm ET; there will be eight episodes in total. The Super Bowl, which is one of the world’s most watched sporting events, kicks off at 6:30pm ET.
At 10:00pm ET on February 1st, an encore presentation of the first two episodes will air on ESPN2 for those who were watching “The Big Game.” The WSOP Europe festivities consisted of four separate tournaments, culminating in a £10,350 buy-in event that drew 362 players. At the end of the day, Full Tilt Poker pro John Juanda became just the second WSOP Europe Main Event champion ever, joining Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, who won the prestigious title in 2007.
ESPN Senior Director of Communications, George McNeilly, told Poker News Daily, “An opportunity presented itself to air the WSOP-Europe in prime time on ESPN. We always strive to serve the widest variety of sports fans and we hope poker fans tune in for the prime time episodes.”
The WSOP Europe tournaments were held at the Casino at the Empire in London’s Leicester Square. The epicenter of the city’s theater district, Leicester Square also houses several casinos. Doug White, ESPN’s Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions, commented in a press release that the atmosphere of this event is vastly different than the one filmed at the Rio in Las Vegas: “The intimate look and feel of this tournament is different from other WSOP events we produced in the United States.” The press release explains that players at the Casino at the Empire were seated “in a side room, under the stairs, behind the bar, near the roulette tables, and in front of an ice cream shop.”
ESPN is also employing a mobile hole card camera in order to be able to show what players hold in key hands no matter where they are seated. In the past, ESPN has used the Henry Orenstein invention only for its feature table as well as “Table 2.” Jamie Horowitz, ESPN’s Senior Sports Producer, explained the importance of this addition for WSOP Europe’s coverage: “We believe the Mobile Hole Card Camera will provide fans a great understanding of the overall story behind the tournament, and how the players advanced to the final table.”
Super Bowl XLIII will be held in Tampa, Florida on February 1st. The game pits the top team from the National Football Conference (NFC) against the top team from the American Football Conference (AFC). The game kicks off at 6:30pm ET and will go head to head with ESPN’s WSOP Europe coverage. The Super Bowl is viewed in dozens of countries around the world and advertising spots regularly come with a seven-figure price tag. The NFL playoffs will enter their Divisional round this weekend, with the Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, and San Diego Chargers remaining in the hunt for the AFC. In the NFC, the defending champion New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, and Philadelphia Eagles are still in contention.
The schedule for the WSOP Europe on ESPN2 is as follows:
Sunday, February 1st
10:00pm: Episode #1
11:00pm: Episode #2
Sunday, February 8th
10:00pm: Episode #3
11:00pm: Episode #4
Sunday, February 15th
10:00pm: Episode #5
11:00pm: Episode #6
Sunday, March 1st
10:00pm: Episode #7
11:00pm: Episode #8
The WSOP Europe Main Event attracted all of the heavy hitters in the poker world. The final table featured WSOP November Nine member Ivan Demidov, who became the first person ever to reach the final tables of both the WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Events in the same year; Demidov finished third in London and second in Las Vegas for well over $6 million total. Also seated at the WSOP Europe Main Event final table are Daniel Negreanu and Scott Fischman. Lon McEachern and Norman Chad will provide commentary for the event.
The schedule for the 2009 WSOP has not yet been released.