Rumors have been circulating around the poker world for months now that
Harrah's Caesar's Entertainment was working with ESPN on a plan to suspend play in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event once the final nine players were reached and take a months-long break before a new world champion was crowned, allowing for a "near-live" broadcast of the final table. After plenty of whispers, speculation, exclamations of "holy shit, they can't do
THAT" and
this elegant pro-delay editorial from B.J. Nemeth, news leaked tonight that Yes, Virginia-- the final table of this year's Main Event will play out for the cameras 117 days after the last card is dealt at the Rio.
117 days. That's November 9th. The final table will hit the airwaves less than 48 hours later, on November 11th.
Tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. PDT there's a media conference call scheduled with
Harrah's Caesar's executives including WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, where they'll provide more details and hopefully answer some questions. I'll be there.
Here's the
USA Today piece that leaked out tonight, confirming the deal.
2 comments:
although it sux we won't know who the winner is for a few months, after the final table is set we'll actually KNOW who the winner is before the final table plays out.
i think this is a smart play for poker. all the unknowns who make it will get a chance at sponsorships and media coverage before it goes down.
everyone likes to root for the home team and an underdog.
while it may be a smart move for poker, wouldnt it be funny if Jimmy Douchenstein had 98% of the chips and Sammy Kornfeld was the extreme shortstack and had to wait months to shove blind.
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