According to ESPN, the popular sports network will air the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Championship live –well on a 1-hour delay, so not technically live. This will be the first time that viewers will get the opportunity to see an entire final table from start to finish, including all of the small pots, blind-steals, and “walks” that make poker so exciting for purists.
Matt Volk, ESPN manager of programming and acquisitions said, “For the first time viewers at home will see a poker telecast from start to finish, with all the strategy of world-class poker players playing in real time and completely unedited,”
It would appear that PokerStars is also on board with the decision to air the final table virtually in real-time, as PokerStars.net North America Regional Marketing Director, Joe Versaci, said: “This is one of the most exciting announcements ever in televised poker. This is the first time people watching online or on TV will be able to see everything that happens at a poker table. So much happens in poker that never makes it to the final TV edit, but this will show exactly how top-level players go about winning a massive tournament. There’s so much money on the line – it’s going to be gripping.”
The move has the possibility to be the next step in the evolution of televised poker, which seems to have dipped after hitting a plateau around 2006, since then, networks who produce poker content have tried in vain to come up with the next great innovation, perhaps this will be it?
First held in 2004 the PCA has grown to rival the Aussie Millions, the WPT Championship, and the World Series of Poker Europe as the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world, behind the World Series of Poker of course. The PCA has produced some of the largest prize-pools in poker over the past few years, culminating with the $3 million payout for first-place in 2009; here is a look at the previous PCA champions and the first-place prize-money they received:
- 2004 Gus Hansen $455,780
- 2005 John Gale $890,600
- 2006 Steve Paul-Ambrose $1,388,600
- 2007 Ryan Daut $1,535,255
- 2008 Bertrand Grospellier $2,000,000
- 2009 Poorya Nazari $3,000,000
- 2010 Harrison Gimbel $2,200,000
PokerStars is anticipating an even larger tournament for the 2011 tournament, and with the tournament being telecast live on ESPN2 and ESPN3 this will only help the attendance numbers.
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