Final Table #142: WSOPE, WSOPC, Bernard Lee


Today on The Final Table poker radio show, we started with details on a new tournament series coming to St. Louis in December, The Gateway Poker Classic, with poker room manager Denise Taykowski explaining the different events, which begins with the unique format of a Jack And Jill Tournament and then proceeds through three tournaments a day with all sorts of buy-in levels from $125 to $1,100 for the Main Event. There will be lots of Hold'em events as well as several Omaha tournaments, plus a Seniors event and Ladies event.

Next, Dennis discussed his trip to Cannes for the World Series of Poker Europe, which had a record turnout and a couple of new tournament formats, too, as well as a very odd rake structure for the cash games. Then I added some stories about playing in biggest WSOP Circuit event in history last week at Horseshoe Hammond, and we were joined by their poker room manager, Jason Newman, who explained how they've grown their fields so much and how they'll meet the $1.5 million guarantee for their Main Event later this week.

In our guest segment, ESPN Inside Deal co-host Bernard Lee joined us to talk about making the final table at the WSOPC at Horseshoe Southern Indiana, how he explains the large crowds that continue to show up for live events, and why he really wants an Epic Poker League card.

Then the three of us launched into a discussion of the changes to the WSOP Main Event November Nine broadcasts, which will now be shown on ESPN2 and ESPN3 (every hand on a 15-minute delay with hole cards) beginning Sunday, November 6th, beginning at 1:30pm CT with coverage continuing until there are 3 players left. Then they'll break until 7pm CT on Tuesday, November 8th, when play will resume and ESPN will stay with the near-live coverage until a new world champion wins it all. How will this impact what happens at the table if players can find out about a previous hand just 15 minutes later thanks to friends on the rail, online, and on smart phones passing along information -- and will it be good or bad for ratings?

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