Monday, April 16, 2007

ESPN Announces World Series of Poker Televized Events - Cardplayer.com News - WSOP Main Event Gets 16 Episodes


ESPN announced the filming schedule for its coverage of the 2007 World Series of Poker will look like. The sports network will televize 11 of the 55 events in the WSOP.

The line-up isn't a whole lot different than in recent years. One of the big treats for rabid fans of professional poker is the attention given to the H.O.R.S.E. event. The entire event will be filmed. This will be broken up into 6 one hour features.

Many consider H.O.R.S.E. to be the truest test of poker greatness. The contestants play five different forms of poker: Holdem, Omaha, Razz, Stud High and Stud Eight or Better. Specialists can't master one form of poker to win this event.

The HORSE event is more prestigious than others because it is the biggest buy-in of the World Series of Poker. The entry fee is $50,000, five times that of the WSOP Main Event. That means only the most serious players enter the event. You can expect to see several of the big names of poker at the final table of this event.

A couple of spots are left open. For instance, the third feature will involve either $1,500 pot limit Holdem (Event #4) or $5,000 pot limit Omaha (Event #7). The eighth feature will be either $1,500 Omaha competition with rebuys, or a $5,000 heads up No Limit Texas Holdem event.

I'm hoping for the heads up tourament. Though I find rebuys interesting, I enjoy the dynamics of a heads up competition. I always enjoy watching the NBC National Heads Up Championship every year. It's one thing to see a table for of no-names try to ambush one of the professionals. It's another thing entirely to see some no-name have to go head-to-head with a master.

Don't worry if you're afraid all this coverage means less for the WSOP Main Event. ESPN has expanded the amount of coverage every year for the last several tournaments. This time around, we'll get to see 16 hours of coverage of the Main Event. So you'll be able to watch a new episode of WSOP once a week for about a third of the year. Enjoy.

Here's a breakdown of the ESPN coverage. The full schedule of the 2007 World Series of Poker will be out later this summer.

1. $5,000 mixed hold'em - Event 1
2. $1,500 no-limit hold'em - Event 3
3. $1,500 pot-limit holdem or $5,000 pot-limit Omaha - Event 4 or 7
4. $1,000 no-limit holdem with rebuy - Event 8
5. $5,000 pot-limit holdem - Event 13
6. $3,000 no-limit hold'em - Event 28
7. $2,500 no-limit hold 'em six-handed - Event 30
8. $5,000 heads-up or $1,500 pot-limit Omaha with rebuys with rebuys - Event 31 or 33
9. $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. - Event 39
10. $10,000 pot-limit Omaha - Event 50
11. $10,000 main event - Event 55

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ESPN Announces World Series of Poker Televized Events - Cardplayer.com News - WSOP Main Event Gets 16 Episodes

posted by Dare to Gamble