American viewers can watch all of the action from last year’s landmark poker tournament in London starting next month.
Thursday 8th January 2009
American sports television broadcaster ESPN has announced that it will begin airing eight original hours of the Main Event from last year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe starting on February 1.
The second-annual event took place in November at the Casino At The Empire in London and attracted 362 of the globe’s best players. The $1.5 million first place prize was won by 22-year-old Danish poker professional Peter Eastgate after he defeated Russian counterpart Ivan Demidov heads-up.
ESPN’s coverage will debut on February 1 with the first four hour-long episodes beginning at six o’clock in the evening before an encore presentation of the first two episodes on ESPN2 later at ten o’clock. Further episodes will air on February 8 and 15 before the final two instalments are broadcast on March 1 at ten and eleven o’clock in the evening.
'The intimate look and feel of this tournament is different from other WSOP events we produced in the United States,' said Doug White, Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions for ESPN.
The shows will co-hosted by Lon McEachern and Norman Chad and feature a new innovation known as the Mobile Hole Card Camera, which allows ESPN to show the hole cards from key hands.
'We believe the Mobile Hold Card Camera will provide fans a great understanding of the overall story behind the tournament, and how the players advanced to the final table,' said Jamie Horowitz, Senior Sports Producer for ESPN.
