Good news for Poker fans! From USAToday.com:
Poker’s biggest tournament and ESPN have cut a new deal.
The World Series of Poker and the cable TV network will formally announce Tuesday they have a new seven-year broadcast agreement through the 2017 World Series.
ESPN has aired the WSOP since 2003. The current contract runs through next year. The new deal begins in 2011. ESPN will pay a rights fee. Terms were not disclosed.
Taped coverage of the World Series airs on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPN International and more.
“This long-term agreement ensures that our content will continue to reach sports fans around the world through a wide variety of platforms,” says Jeffrey Pollack, president and commissioner of the World Series.
This year’s WSOP was a series of 57 poker tournaments begun May 26 in Las Vegas. The final tournament, the Main Event, is being held in two stages.
In stage one, played July 3 through July 15, the field of 6,494 players was reduced to the final nine. On Nov. 7-10, the final table (the “November Nine”) will be played. Top prize is $8.5 million.
ESPN’s 32 hours of coverage is running on Tuesday nights. It began July 28 and goes through Nov. 10 (same-day coverage of the end of the final table).
After devoting earlier coverage this year to other events in the WSOP, the ESPN programming will be pegged to Main Event coverage this Tuesday night through the rest of the TV schedule. There will be an all-time high 24 hours of Main Event coverage
This Tuesday night’s coverage will focus on the first day of the Main Event and feature such pros as Phil Laak, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Johnny Chan, as well as poker-playing actor Jason Alexander from the TV show Seinfeld.
Norman Chad and Lon McEachern call the action. “It’s an event that lends itself to early-round coverage, and I think that’s where a lot of the memorable moments come,” says McEachern.
From PokerNewsDaily.com:
With only scant days remaining until the start of the $10,000 Main Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), the race for the remaining bracelets is heating up in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The final table of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout, Event #50 on the WSOP schedule, played out deep into the evening on Sunday. A total of 571 players started the event on Friday, with the final eight survivors having won their way to the final table by winning two sit and gos over the previous two days. As with the shootout format, the players all started with the same number of chips (450,000 at the final table) and there were plenty of strong players in the mix.
Bodog’s David Williams, who famously finished second to Greg Raymer in the 2004 Main Event and has since captured his own WSOP bracelet, was joined by two other bracelet winners from this year’s play. Marc Naalden, who won only the second bracelet in WSOP for his home country of the Netherlands, and Full Tilt Poker’s Greg “FBT” Mueller, the former Canadian hockey player who picked up his first bracelet this year, led a contingent of players from around the world. Millie Shue, who was the runner-up in the Ladies’ event in 2004, the Netherlands’ Joep Van Den Bijgaart, Argentina’s Jose Barbero, Italy’s Flaminio Malaguti, and the United States’ Matt Sterling rounded out what was truly an international table.
The three bracelet winners got off to fast starts and, within two hours, had separated themselves from the pack. Mueller pulled into the chip lead when he drew the first blood at the table with the elimination of Barbero in eighth place. Prior to the table taking the dinner break, the two Scandinavians battled it out, as Naalden took out Van Den Bijgaart in seventh place.
After the dinner hiatus, Williams tried to mount an attack on Mueller’s chip lead. He vanquished Malaguti in sixth when he turned a five to match his A-5 against the Italian’s Big Slick, but couldn’t seem to find any traction after that point. He slowly slid down the leaderboard and was eventually eliminated by Shue in fourth place. Even with the knockout, Shue, who played conservatively through the final table, was eventually ousted in third place.
Heads-up play began between Mueller (who had dismissed Sterling from the tournament in fifth place) and Naalden, with the Canadian holding a 4:1 lead over the Scandinavian. With the two men reaching heads-up, it also guaranteed the fourth double bracelet winner of this year’s WSOP, setting a new record for most multiple bracelet winners.
Naalden attacked Mueller from the start of heads-up action and, through skillful play, was able to pull to even within 30 minutes of play. Over the next hour and a half, Mueller and Naalden, who both won their bracelets in Limit events this year, would swap the lead approximately a half dozen times before Mueller was able to go on a run. That run enabled Mueller, once his five kicker played over Naalden’s deuce after both paired a King on the final hand, to capture his second WSOP bracelet and the $194,854 top prize.
Most of the attention of the crowd at the Rio was focused on play in the Players’ Championship, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament. A total of 53 players came back to attempt to work down to the cashout level (the final 16 players), but were unable to do that as 19 remained by the time play ended for the day.
Vitaly Lunkin, who captured the title in the $40,000 Anniversary Event, leads the field with 1.5 million in chips. He is joined by internet legend Erik “Erik123” Sagstrom, 2007 H.O.R.S.E. champion Freddy Deeb, and David Bach as players who have all eclipsed the million chip mark. Lurking just under that level is Ville Wahlbeck, who captured his first bracelet earlier this month in the World Championship Mixed event. They are joined by such professionals as eight-time WSOP champion Erik Seidel, former World Champion and current National Heads-Up Champion Huck Seed, 2009 Pot Limit Hold’em World Champion John Kabbaj, and Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen, who has no WSOP jewelry in his career. The 19 remaining players returning for Day 4 will play through to a final table tonight and a champion determined tomorrow.
A championship will be determined tonight in Event #51, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Thirty-five players remain from the 2,781 who started the tournament, with newcomer Durand Thibaud holding the chip lead. He is joined by Owen Crowe as the only players over the million chip mark, with Josh Schlein on the verge of cracking that mark.
Two tournaments enter into Day 2 action today, the $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #52) and the $1,500 Seven Card Stud High-Low tournament (Event #53). Jeffrey Lisandro, who has already captured three WSOP bracelets this year, is looking for an unprecedented fourth in the Triple Chance event, although there are still 149 players left. Currently Lisandro holds a healthy stack of 113,800 and is in pursuit of Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, who has 127, 900. In the Seven Card tournament, Marcel Luske, Daniel Negreanu and Annie Duke are a few of the top names that have survived to play Day 2, with Allie Prescott holding the lead over the 143 runners remaining.
Two events will kick off action with their Day 1s that begin at Noon today. Event #54, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, should draw a sizeable crowd and Event #55, the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Lowball tournament, should be stocked with top professionals. Poker News Daily will be on top of this and all of the rest of the action at the Rio as the poker world prepares for the start of the Main Event later this week.
This is brutal… From the TaxProf blog:
The big winner at this year’s World Series of Poker: the tax man. Russ Fox computes the tax liability of the final nine players on their $32.7 million of winnings as $14.3 million — a 43.7% tax rate:
1. Peter Eastgate (Denmark) won $9,152,416 — $6,660,545 Denmark tax (72.8% rate)
2. Ivan Demidov (Russia) won $5,809,595 — $755,247 Russian tax (13.0% rate)
3. Dennis Phillips (IL) won $4,517,773 — $1,568,950 federal tax, $135,533 state tax (37.7% rate)
4. Ylon Schwartz (NY) won $3,774,974 — $1,396,304 federal tax, $387,966 state tax (47.3% rate)
5. Scott Montgomery (Canada) won $3,096,768 — $929,030 withholding tax (30.0% rate)
6. Darus Suharto (Toronto) won $2,418,562 — $725,569 withholding tax (30.0% rate)
7. David Rheem (CA) won $1,772,650 — $651,262 federal tax, $170,302 state tax (46.3% rate)
8. Kelly Kim (CA) won $1,288,217 — $470,995 federal tax, $121,074 state tax (46.0% rate)
9. Craig Marquis (TX) won $900,670 — $328,911 federal tax (36.5% rate)
thats a lot of cash… from mlive.com:
There’s now a World Series of Poker record out there that even Phil Hellmuth can’t break, although it used to be his anyway.
With his heads-up victory over Russian Ivan Demidov early Tuesday, Denmark’s Peter Eastgate became the youngest main event champion in history at 22 years old.
The 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Hellmuth won the main event in 1989 when he was 24. In addition to his first WSOP bracelet, Eastgate pocketed $9.1 million.
For his runner-up finish — one spot better than he ended up at the WSOP Europe main event — Demidov earned $5.8 million. Here’s how the rest of the final table broke down:
3. Dennis Phillips — $4,517,773
4. Ylon Schwartz — $ 3,774,974
5. Scott Montgomery — $ 3,096,768
6. Darus Suharto — $ 2,418,562
7. David “Chino” Rheem — $ 1,772,650
8. Kelly Kim — $1,288,217
9. Craig Marquis — $ 900,670
Here’s a nice quick preview of the upcoming 2008 World Series of Poker from GamingAlerts.co.uk:
The WSOP represents the largest and most prestigious land based poker tournament in the world. The final 9 players will be desperate to get their hands on the huge jackpot prize of $9.1 million.
The event will be history in the making and making one player extremely rich. This year’s main event tournament took place in September, in Las Vegas. Thousands turned up with their chips and after several days of dealing cards the field has been whittled down to the November 9.
Due to TV scheduling and promotional factors the main event was decided to be played in November. This has allowed TV coverage to create hype and build up excitement surrounding the event. Players have also had three months to get as much practice in as possible, and now the wait is almost over!
None of the finalists have won a WSOP title to date and chip leader, Dennis Phillips holds an impressive lead over his rivals with around 38 million chips. Phillips has only won just over $4,000 in winnings since he began playing professional poker, and the man from Texas leads the pack going into the main event final.
Many consider Peter Eastgate as favourite to earn the precious WSOP bracelet. The 22 year old Dan has been extremely impressive in recent years and is tipped to be the youngest ever main event winner.
David “Chino” Rheem is arguably the most famous players out of the November 9 therefore making him one of the favourites the exit early. Rheem is likely to have been studied in depth by fellow players and is the most feared.
What ever takes place in 5 days time, it will make history and be watched by million around the globe. Make sure you visit us again for more online poker news
From CasinoGamblingWeb.com:
John Juanda had to stare down Daniel Negreanu for much of the final table at the World series of Poker Europe Main Event. That is not an enviable task for any poker player.
What was not well known before this final table is that Juanda has as nice a resume on the poker tables as Negreanu. After the tournament was over, Juanda had even more bragging rights when he emerged as the champion.
Juanda endured the longest final table in World Series of Poker history on his way to the championship. He was the chip leader much of the way, and played nearly flawless poker. he now adds another bracelet to his others.
“A relieved Juanda had this to say after his win. “This is the longest final table that I have ever played. It’s so long ago when I won my last bracelet.” It might have been long ago, but there is no doubt that he is a true champion and one of the greatest players of his generation.
As for Negreanu, he was making waves at the Main Event throughout. He held the chip lead at several different points in the tournament, but was unable to put together a chapionship run in the end.
The focus of the poker world will now shift back to the United States. At the beginning of November, the World Series of Poker Main Event will resume with its final table.
From CappersMall.com:
Poker betting is one thing but wagering on poker betting is quite another. And yet that’s the challenge gamblers will face when they match cash to conviction on the 39th World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, beginning May 30.
Although some books have prices for which poker players will win each of the 53 preliminary card games, it is Event #54, the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No-Limit Texas Hold ‘em, known as the Main Event, that not only attracts the most poker players but the most action from bettors, as well.
That competition gets underway July 3 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel with the Final Table determined on July 14. The nine players who advance to the Final Table will return to the Rio on November 9 where the outcome will be decided on the evening of November 10.
Poker exploded as a TV and gambling essential a half-decade ago when new technology allowed viewers watching at home to see each player’s hole cards. Bookmakers, who tried to keep pace with the phenomena, have been swamped of late as the number of entries to the Main Event swelled to a record 8,773 in 2006. Try making a future book involving that many names!
So, given the huge fields and the fact that an established professional poker player has not won the Main Event since 2001, books have taken to offering prices on players merely making it to the Final Table. (Odds on winning the top prize will follow after that).
The lowest odds on any individual reaching the Final Table is 100/1, a price afforded to 1987 and 1988 Main Event champion Johnny Chan, 1989 winner Phil Hellmuth and 2001 champ Carlos Mortensen, as well as such highly regarded poker players a Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu and Allen Cunningham.
Scotty Nguyen, the champion in 1998, and Chris Ferguson, the winner in 2000, each are offered at odds of 125/1 to reach the Final Table, the same price as the colorfully named Huck Seed, who captured the Main Event title in 1996.
Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, who competed in the first World Series of Poker Main Event back in 1970 and a two-time champion (1976-77) in his own right, is 150/1 to be one of the last nine players left standing, er, sitting at the Final Table.
Last year’s Main Event winner, Jerry Yang, is 300/1 to make a second straight Final Table while the 2006 champion, Jamie Gold, who pocketed a record $12 million, is held at odds of 200/1. Joe Hachem, the winner in 2005, and Greg Raymer, who it won it all a year earlier, each are listed at 150/1 while the aptly named Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 title holder, opened at 200/1.
At odds of 150/1, Jennifer Harmon has the lowest odds to make the Final Table of any woman while Gabe Kaplan, 200/1, of “Welcome Back, Kotter” fame, is among the celebrities who have made a successful switch from entertainment to poker.
In addition to straight Final Table wagering, many bookmakers also are offering a series of proposition bets on the Main Event. One of the more interesting asks bettors to predict the size of the field. A record field of more than 9,000 is rated at 7/2, the same price as a field of 6,500-6,999. You get 4/1 on 7,000-7,499 entries and 5/1 on either 6,000-6,499 (the range for last year’s Main Event) or 7,500-7999.
If you think the bottom is about to fall out on poker, you can get 250/1 that the field numbers a paltry 2,000-2,499.
With 87 countries represented at last year’s World Series of Poker, there also are prices on various nationalities reaching the Final Table. For example, you can get 2/1 that a Swede is among the last nine players and 9/2 that a player from Norway reaches the Final Table. Denmark (6/1), Russia (7/1), Spain (10/1), Germany (10/1) and Italy (12/1) also are on the international list. Sorry, no price on the obvious, an American player making it to the Final Table.
Given that the World Series of poker is about the only game where you can bet on people betting, most sports betting fans probably will want to play a hand or two.
From CasinoCityTimes:
Two popular poker rooms are making it possible for you to compete in a World Series of Poker-type of atmosphere without flying to Las Vegas.
Coinciding with the start of the 2008 WSOP on Friday in Las Vegas, Bodog and Full Tilt Poker are both offering Mini-SOPs, mimicking the schedule of the real World Series by offering the same events (with lower buy-ins) each day online.
The Bodog Poker Mini-SOP runs from May 30-July 3, with each tournament held on the same date as its counterpart in Las Vegas, but with buy-ins equal to just one percent of the actual buy-in of the WSOP Event.
Bodog will be running a Tournament Leader Board throughout the series that will be used to determine who will compete in a final 27-player tournament held on July 10 where the top three finishers will each be awarded a $12,000 prize package to the 2009 WSOP Main Event. Places four through nine will receive $109 to buy into online poker tournaments in the Bodog Poker room.
“We’re happy to offer those not able to attend the 2008 WSOP in person an affordable and exciting online alternative,” says Alwyn Morris, CEO of the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, which runs Bodog in North America. “For only one percent of the standard WSOP Main Event buy-in cost, Bodog online poker players can have a shot at the Mini-SOP crown and three $12,000 prize packages including entry into the 2009 WSOP Main Event.”
Players can earn a spot at the Mini-SOP Final on July 10 in several ways. The top four players on the TLB automatically qualify, while places five through 100 on the TLB will compete for one of 18 seats awarded in a semifinal qualifier held two days before the final. The remaining five seats to the final will be picked from a random “wild card” drawing of players who have entered at least three Mini-SOP events.
Meanwhile at Full Tilt, more than $700,000 in guaranteed prize money will be spread over more than 50 events, beginning with Friday’s $100+$9 Pot Limit Hold’em Tournament that carries a guaranteed prize pool of $20,000. While most of the event in Full Tilt’s MSOP will feature buy-ins from anywhere to $10 to $500, there will also be satellites starting for as little as $2 + $.25 or 50 Full Tilt Points.
The player who accumulates the most money during the MSOP will earn a $10,000 seat at the 2009 Main Event in Las Vegas. Also, each event winner will be rewarded with a limited edition Full Tilt Poker Champion’s Watch in addition to their first-place prize money.
Via Sports-Odds.com:
The 2008 World Series of Poker schedule has been set and posted so that poker enthusiasts can either prepare for the journey to play for a high cash prize in Las Vegas or know when events are being held if they wish to observe the series, either on television or in person. While there are some similarities between the poker series schedule of 2007 and that for 2008, there are a number of improvements that have been made to the 2008 schedule for the series. Online Poker can be wagered on atMost importantly, players can enjoy a more extended allotment of time when it comes to certain events. Last year, a number of professionals boycotted the series because of the problems they felt were occurring when it came to the treatment and conditions of the series. This year, players can enjoy a little more freedom and relaxation in that some one day events have been extended to two days.
Taking place from May 30, 2008 until July 16, 2008, players can enjoy a number of different games and buy ins, courtesy of the 2008 World Series of Poker schedule. 2008 World Series of Poker schedule. For the two days preceding the May 30th opening event, individuals will be able to take part in the World Series of Poker freeroll in order to try to gain last minute entry into the Main Event of the series. At noon on May 30th, individuals start out with a $10,000 pot limit of Texas Hold’em. The next $10,000 event in the 2008 World Series of Poker schedule is on June 4th and is for the World Championship Mixed Event. While there are a number of mixed events in between, including the No Limit Hold’em and Hi/Lo events, the biggest highlight of the 2008 World Series of Poker schedule is on Thursday July 3rd as individuals battle out the Main Event throughout the end of the event, scheduled to hold the Final Table on July 16th. Ultimatebet.com.
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