“CBS officially announced the cast of Survivor: China, yesterday and professional poker player Jean-Roberts Bellande was on the list.
There were rumors Bellande would star in the reality television show, which has contestants duke it out for more than 30 days in a remote location, for months but this is the first official confirmation.
Posted in Players, Television
“There’s one way to gauge how much more room the World Series of Poker has left to expand on ESPN. It hasn’t gotten big enough to where Chris Berman has demanded a part of the show.
But who’s to say that’s not in the cards.
The network that since 1988 has given credibility and visibility to the pursuit of a royal flush as a sports-slash-entertainment spectacle launches a new round of WSOP Main Event shows Tuesday, starting with back-to-back hour-long episodes at (5 and 6 p.m., followed by dozens of repeats for the next eight weeks.
Posted in ESPN, Television, WSOP
“The National Poker League, an international poker organization, announced that they have joined forces with The Venetian Resort~Hotel~Casino in Las Vegas to host the 2007 Vegas Open, scheduled November 24th – 30th, and the World Championship Tournament on December 3rd. The Venetian Poker Room will also serve as the home base for the NPL Broadcast Center for all 26-episodes of the NPL television series airing nationally and internationally to more than a projected 100-million viewers.
Posted in Casinos, League, Press Release, Television
“Although the 2007 World Series of Poker just recently came to an end, ESPN has already begun airing episodes of the first few preliminary events.
All new episodes premiere on ESPN at 5 p.m. PDT on Tuesdays. There are no premieres tonight, but next week, event No. 7, a $5,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha with rebuys tournament is scheduled to air for the first time.”
Posted in Television, WSOP
“Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) events are beginning to attract national attention. This small but growing televised poker tour emerged from the Midwest three years ago, has steadily grown in popularity nationwide, and televised HPT events continue to gain a wider viewing audience.
Although HPT events produce comparatively smaller prize pools than the World Poker Tour or the World Series of Poker, they can be just as exciting because local players have a chance to end up at a televised final table. The average total prize pool for an HPT event is slightly over $250,000.
Posted in New York, Television, Tournaments
“Poker has had a tough year, with congressional legislation that has taken some of the big players out of the U.S. market. That in turn has hurt the turnout–the 6,358 entrants in the main event, down more than 25 percent from last year’s number. To take this further, the fewer number of people paying the $10,000 fee, means there’s less for the winner ($8.25 million vs. $12 million last year).
Despite all this, the World Series of Poker is still compelling television. Last year, ESPN averaged almost one million viewers per broadcast and I have no reason to believe that this year’s tape-delayed coverage will take a significant hit.
Posted in Players, Television, Tournaments, WSOP
Only nine players will compete for the top prize of just over $8 million at the World Series of Poker’s final table Tuesday afternoon but plenty of other folks — from casino operators to chocolate makers — will cash in as well as America’s fascination with the game remains high.
A crackdown on Internet gambling and oversaturation of poker shows on television pose threats to the pop-culture phenomenon. But even as some of the more marginal programming has fallen off the cable box, top-tier poker properties such as the World Series attract thousands of would-be champs and remain in high demand with sponsors and broadcasters.
Posted in Lifestyle, Television, Tournaments, WSOP
“Back in 2003, the World Series of Poker main event started a frenzy that not only catapulted poker into the mainstream, but elevated it to the level of “sport.”
Just four years later, on the eve of the 2007 main event, it certainly seems as if mixed martial arts has supplanted poker as the niche sport du jour.
So if UFC is the new poker … where does that leave the old poker?
Posted in Online, Technology, Television, WSOP
“Maybe you saw Matt Damon play poker in the 1998 movie Rounders or Brad Pitt teach poker in the 2001 movie Ocean’s Eleven. This year, WSOP bracelet winner Robert Williamson III was among the poker pros to appear in the movie Lucky You while Damon and Pitt are scheduled to play in Don Cheadle’s “Ante Up For Africa” charity poker tournament on July 5 in Las Vegas.
“We’re an entertainment industry,” Williamson says.
Talk about role reversals.
Fictional 007 agent James Bond always played baccarat in casinos, but in the 2006 remake of Casino Royale he gets involved in a high stakes game of Texas Hold’em, the game of the WSOP’s main event.
“That’s a very big statement about where we are,” says WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “We loved that movie.”
Posted in Movie, Players, Profile, Television, WSOP
“Bodog TV and ION Television have joined forces once again to air the original Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker TV series. The popular series pits seasoned pros against average Joes, celebrities and a mysterious wild card competitor.
…While season one will be airing on ION Television in more than 90 million homes across the U.S., Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker II will be ramping up its search for the next reality TV superstar.
Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker II is a poker and lifestyle-driven reality TV show featuring 12 contestants, all of whom will be selected online via user submitted audition videos or pictures. The 12 lucky contestants will compete in true reality TV fashion, battling one another in both poker and lifestyle related challenges, all in the hopes of walking away with the largest prize in reality TV history – $2 million!”
Posted in Lifestyle, Television
The Popularity of America's Card Game 