Player: Blind Poker Player Being Featured on ESPN (Las Vegas, NV)

“It was only about three years ago when Hal Lubarsky’s failing eyesight made it impossible for him to play poker. Thanks to a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, the darkness slowly closed onto the center of his eye, and it led him to a point he knew was coming – his eyesight had been deteriorating basically since he was born. He would soon be blind, and one day Lubarsky said to himself that he couldn’t play poker anymore, something he’d done since he was a boy in Brooklyn. It was a sad day among sad days when he decided to give it up.

Media: ESPN, poker make a fine pair

“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.

TV: ESPN Airing 2007 World Series of Poker

“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.”

CardPlayer (07/24/07)

WSOP: Second-largest crowd no sign of off year for poker’s main event

“Temperatures outside regularly soared above 100 degrees during the month-and-a-half long World Series of Poker. But looking back on the Main Event, poker pro and TV analyst Phil Gordon focused on another climatic condition.

“For the championship event to get (6,358) players in the current regulatory climate that the government imposed in October is an amazing feat,” Gordon says.

Jeff Haney on how the new face of championship poker came from unlikely origins, gained fame lightning fast and plans to give away part of his winnings

The newest de facto worldwide ambassador for poker spent part of his youth in a refugee camp in Thailand, began playing the game only two years ago and prays to a deity who’s fluent in poker lingo.

Jerry Yang, a 39-year-old psychologist, social worker and deeply spiritual man from Temecula, Calif., has pledged to donate to charity 10 percent of the $8.25 million he won at the World Series of Poker and plans to devote even more to missionary efforts.

Internet: Online Radio Tops June comScore Gains As Gays, Gaming, Gambling Also Soar

“Following radio in June’s list of top-gaining categories were gay/lesbian sites and online gambling. comScore attributed interest in June’s Pride Month to a 23% rise in gay/lesbian visits–to 3 million uniques, with PlanetOut leading the category growth. A 13% increase in the online gambling category, to 12.4 million unique visitors, was attributed to the then-approaching 2007 World Series of Poker, with PokerStars as the category growth leader.”

Online Media Daily (07/17/07)

WSOP: Who’s Holding The Cards Really Matters

“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.

Online: New breed of poker star on the Internet

“The future of poker isn’t hunkered down in a smoky card room in the back of roadside tavern. It’s not wearing a weathered face, chewing on a cigar and glaring lightning bolts from beneath a 10 gallon hat.

The future of poker is fresh-faced and fast-paced. It’s intelligent and cocky and ultra-aggressive. And it’s likely sitting in front of a computer right now, trying to take all your money.

Cards on the table – World Series of Poker finals show game’s popularity hasn’t waned

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.

WSOP: Playing With Pain (Las Vegas, NV)

“Scott Kowalske Plays Poker to Escape the Pain of Chronic Wasting Disease and Quite Possibly to Save His Life. Many people from many different walks of life will come to the World Series of Poker today to play poker. None of them will have a harder time getting to the Rio today than Scott Kowalske did a few weeks back, and he was staying at the hotel. Kowalske called room 334 of the Rio home for a few days in June. He was here to fulfill a dream. He was here to find hope. He was here to escape the pain of the chronic wasting disease that is eating away at his body, and he did all of this by turning to poker. “It gets my mind off the problem, and the pain, and it just lets me focus on something else. It’s been a blessing for me,” said Kowalske of the game he has turned to in his darkest hour.