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Poker News Digest 11/8/2008 – 11/11/2008
By Dan
Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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- ESPN will air an extended two hour final table episode of the 2008 World Series of Poker tonight, from 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET. Final table play began Sunday morning at the Rio in Las Vegas after an almost four month hiatus. Once seven players were eliminated, the final two got some sleep and returned at 10:00pm local time Monday to battle it out for the bracelet and over $9 million. This controversial final table schedule was determined during this year’s WSOP, to the surprise of virtually everybody. It was done for two main reasons: to allow for player marketing in order to build up television viewer interest in the final table (as well as allow the players to procure lucrative sponsorships) and to get the television broadcast as close to the conclusion of the tournament as possible. The bracelet winner is not expected to be determined until early in the morning Tuesday, so ESPN’s staff will be working frantically to piece together the final show in time to air later that same day. Chris Moneymaker, 2003 Main Event champion, stated on ESPN's "First Take" that he expects the heads-up match to last about six hours.
- World Poker Tour Enterprises, Inc. (WPTE) reported decreased revenues and earnings last week, continuing a prolonged financial slide. Revenues for the 2008 third quarter were down $1.6 million to $2.8 million, while, excluding a non-cash asset impairment charge from an investment in Cecure Gaming, net losses hit $2.5 million, $300,000 more than the same quarter last year. The prime culprit for the lower revenues was the lower television license fees from the Game Show Network after a long relationship with the Travel Channel. The upcoming Season VII of the World Poker Tour will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net. During the third quarter, WPTE also closed its “real money” online poker room which ran on the Cryptologic network. Going forward, WPTE will focus its online poker efforts on its subscription-based room, Club WPT.
- Yesterday, two poker rooms on the Microgaming network, Eurolinx and Poker Host, announced that they will stop accepting new customers from the United States. Current customers will still be allowed to play on the sites. This comes quickly on the heels of unofficial reports on Friday that Microgaming has plans to withdraw from the U.S. altogether. A representative from Poker Host did say that the decision to block new U.S. customers was a Microgaming decision. Historically, Microgaming sites had been U.S. friendly, but had blocked players from thirteen states - llinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin – where specific laws on the books made online poker illegal.
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