2008 National Heads Up Noon Today on NBC
May 11, 2008
While much of the poker industry is scrambling to stop the negative trends from two years of UIEGA, television network giant NBC continues to add viewers for its 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Played at Caesars Palace Poker Room in Las Vegas earlier this year the tournament is televised every Sunday at Noon EDT in a miniseries of two hour poker shows.
Sunday noon is the perfect time slot for the poker miniseries and it says a lot for TV poker considering this same time slot is often filled by the 800 hundred pound gorilla of TV sports, the NFL. So, how come this NBC produced poker tournament has the appeal to show viewer growth while other big time poker shows are scrambling for solutions to their rapidly declining audience?
NBC makes it look easy, but remember, they’ve been producing sports entertainment for decades and have vast experience in packaging successful TV shows. First, NBC assured an all star cast. They invited the most talented poker stars, mixed in a few stars that play poker, added an Internet champion, and even provided satellites so a couple of players from the street could get an invite. Another important factor is the tournament format. Styled after the well known 64 team single elimination college basketball championships makes it easy for viewers to follow the action.
Flip over to NBC today at Noon EDT and settle in to enjoy two hours of entertaining high stakes poker from Caesars Palace Las Vegas. Will Orel Hershiser finally strike out? Will the WSOP Champion Huck Seed continue to flourish? Can MIT phenom, Andy Bloch, solve the equations for a win? Is this the year for Jesus to finally triump? We’re down to eight; but, four must go home today. The surviving four will return next Sunday, May 18 at Noon EDT, for the three hour finale and champion of the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Montel Williams playing sit-n-gos all day at Golden Nugget
May 10, 2008
If you happen to be in downtown Las Vegas right now, Montel Williams has taken over the Golden Nugget poker room.
And not the Montel Williams for charity events, this is his own money, your own money, and money won won’t go to any outside company.
Williams will be in the poker room all day today, May 10, playing nonstop $1080 sit-n-gos.
Levels are 20 minutes per round, blinds begin at 50/100, and players start with 10,000 in chips.
First place wins $700, second place wins $300.
Health Scare, and Back and Better Than Ever
May 9, 2008
Wow. Thursday was one crazy whirlwind of a day. Sorry for no blog post, but I had a couple of weird health scares that more or less took over what I had planned to do on Thursday, which was work my first full day back in the office since coming down …
Bodog is your best bet in May
May 8, 2008
Bodog has been in the online poker news a lot lately. First they had some domain dramas with patent pirates, then their boss retires to live in up in the Caribbean.Then this week their longest serving pro, Josh Arieh, announced he has decided to move …
Party Poker Millions VI Cruise Final Table
May 8, 2008
A final table battle on the high seas takes place today aboard the Party Poker Millions Cruise VI. Germany’s Dominik Stopka enters as chip leader, but only by a single chip over Alexander Jung also from Germany. The final nine also include Sweden ’s 2008 PartyPoker Late Night Poker winner Andreas Jorbeck, Johannes Strassmann and Mika Paasonen. All have tasted recent success on the European circuit. Amongst those to miss out on the final table include Thomas Bihl, Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald, Florian Langmann and Christop Haller.
For a summary of all the final table action check the PartyPoker Blog.
Here are the final table players with beginning chip counts, we will add the finishers as they bust out down to the champion.
SEAT 1 – KENNETH GREGERSEN – Denmark - 44,000 9th place
SEAT 2 – RAYMOND ESTALL – UK - 187,000 5th
SEAT 3 – JOHANNES STRASSMANN – Germany - 182,000 7th
SEAT 4 – ALEXANDER JUNG – Germany - 326,000 CHAMPION
SEAT 5 – MIKA PAASONEN – Finland - 236,000 4th
SEAT 6 – DOMINIK STOPKA – Germany - 327,000 2nd
SEAT 7 – CORY ALBERTSON – United States - 90,000 3rd
SEAT 8 – PETER STEINLESBERGER – Austria - 132,000 8th
SEAT 9 – ANDREAS JORBECK – Sweden – 182,000 6th
First-timer nets Sunday Million win
May 8, 2008
Playing poker takes more than a leather backside. Just about every square inch of your body and psyche needs to be tough as cow hide. Heck, sometimes we’d all take a suit of armor. Iron Henry is not a PokerStars…
Caesars Palace Mega Stack Series
May 8, 2008
WSOP players looking for additional poker action during the upcoming 2008 World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas need look no further than Caesars Palace. The Mega Stack Series runs daily from June 1st through July 9th. A variety of tournaments starting at Noon have the structure favored by most tourney players. Bigger starting stacks and 50 minute blind levels lower the “crap shoot” factor found in many lower buy-in events. WSOP players are accustomed to ponying up four figures for a seat but you won’t need that here. Buy-ins range from $225 to $540 and $1060 for the 3 day championship event.
A $10 staff bonus add-on will increase the starting stack for all tournaments by 2,500 chips. No add-on for the championship just 25,000 in starting chips. Event registration begins at 10 AM every day. Grab the free Caesars shuttle at the Rio, conveniently located outside the poker room, and enjoy the short ride to the largest poker room in Las Vegas.
Check out all the details on the complete schedule for the Caesars Palace Mega Stack Series.