TV viewers will get inside look at World Series of Poker
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Stop. Do Not Enter. Emerald City. Only the two wizards monitoring screens behind the black curtain where those signs were posted could see the hole cards of the players at the final table of the World Series of Poker on Friday.
The rest of the poker-mad universe will have to wait until ESPN shows the finale of the series on Nov. 15 to see what those cards were, who was bluffing and who wasn’t.
There won’t be any suspense about who won the $7.5 million prize and No Limit Texas Hold ’em championship bracelet, but that probably won’t stop several million players and fans from tuning in to see every nuance of the action.
ESPN’s 22-part series last year was viewed by an average of more than 1.5 million households – a 42 percent increase from the network’s 2003 seven-part series. This year, the series that starts July 19 will include a nearly 50 percent increase in coverage from a year ago – two hours of poker every Tuesday night for a total of 32 hours, starting with six episodes from the World Series of Poker Circuit.
Beginning Aug. 23, 14 episodes will focus on the world championships of various poker games, including Limit Hold ’em, Seven-Card Stud, Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em. From Oct. 11 to Nov 15, the series’ last 12 back-to-back one-hour episodes will be dedicated to the $10,000 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold ’em main event, culminating in the winning hand at the final table.
“Last year the World Series of Poker had higher ratings than everything on ESPN except the NFL and NASCAR,” director of tournament operations Gary Thompson said. “I expect the ratings will be higher this year because of the greater size of the purse, the greater number of players and the momentum the game has built.”
Poker is one of the few games where watching on television is better than watching it live. The 300 or so spectators packed around the final table at Benny’s Bullpen at Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel could cheer the winners of big pots, see the flops, turns and river cards but could view the hole cards only when the players showed them. Without seeing those and without commentary from experts, it was impossible to tell exactly what was going on.
That won’t be the case when ESPN finishes distilling some 2,000 hours of videotape into the final, slickly packaged product.
“The important thing is finding the winner at the earliest point you have them in the tournament, backtracking to that point, and then start weaving them in,” said Bob Chesterman, ESPN’s coordinating producer of the shows.