Home / Poker News June 2011 / WSOP 2011 Live Coverage
WSOP 2011 Live Coverage
Posted by: Randy Williams - Wed, 2011-06-01 10:55
The WSOP has always had a glaring weakness as far as coverage was concerned. Sure, various
poker news sites have pretty much relayed all the necessary information, but seeing the action in real time has always been but a dream for poker fans without the material means or the time to make the trip to Las Vegas to railbird the action themselves.
Even last year, several important
WSOP moments were missed by the vast majority of fans, including Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel’s final hand. While that landmark moment could later be re-watched, Tom Dwan’s advancing to the $1,500 NL Holdem event’s final table – a move which set the professional poker world on fire on account of the allegedly monstrous side-bets he had made on winning a gold bracelet – was inevitable lost forever.
Given the fact that most such noteworthy WSOP moments occur at final tables, it is safe to say that with the new measures WSOP organizers have taken, no one will ever miss a single potentially grand WSOP moment again. According to Ty Stewart, the WSOP’s executive director, this year, all 58 final tables will be aired live. For 55 of them, those interested will have to access the official site of the series, where all these final tables will be streamed live. The remaining 3 events will be aired on ESPN.
On day 1, two events got going: the $500 Casino Employees event, the final table of which can be viewed at WSOP.com. The $25k NL Holdem Heads Up event, which is arguable the more interesting of the two, can be viewed on ESPN3.
ESPN will only air two more events, both rather outstanding ones: the $5k Players’ Championship event and the $10k Main Event. All the other final tables can be viewed at WSOP.com.
The live coverage is meant to give the WSOP a push, to help it take its rightful place among the major televised sporting events.
