LAS VEGAS – May 31, 2011 – After a very successful WSOP Circuit (WSOPC) season, it’s now time to see how it all unfolded on television.
VERSUS, a national sports network in more than 76 million homes, is slated to air 10 hours of high stakes tournament poker action from the WSOPC in the month of June.
Each Thursday night at 9 pm ET, VERSUS will air two one-hour episodes from the 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit season, culminating with the National Championship on June 30, which awards the lucky winner a WSOP gold bracelet, the highest recognition in poker.
The VERSUS telecast schedule is as follows:
| DATE |
EVENT |
TIME |
| Thursday, June 2 |
$10,000 Harrah’s Atlantic City
Eastern Regional Championship |
9:00 – 11:00 pm ET |
Thursday, June 9
|
$10,000 Horseshoe Hammond (Chicago)
Midwest Regional Championship |
9:00 – 11:00 pm ET |
| Thursday, June 16 |
$10,000 Harrah’s Rincon (San Diego)
Western Regional Championship |
9:00 – 11:00 pm ET |
| Thursday, June 23 |
$10,000 Harrah’s New Orleans
Southern Regional Championship |
9:00 – 11:00 pm ET |
| Thursday, June 30 |
$1,000,000 WSOP Circuit
National Championship - Caesars Palace |
9:00 – 11:00 pm ET |
“It was a tremendous year for the WSOP Circuit with many amazing stories and improbable outcomes,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “With the Stanley Cup playoffs coming to an end on VERSUS, we look forward to filling a weekly primetime slot each Thursday night in June.”
Poker Productions, the television production arm for World Series of Poker Europe, High Stakes Poker, the National Heads Up Championship and this upcoming World Series of Poker, produced the WSOP Circuit action airing on VERSUS.
“We are very excited to present coverage of the World Series of Poker Circuit tour to a national audience,” said Jeff Goldberg, Vice President of Programming for VERSUS. “The WSOP tour is one of the most successful in the business and we knew it was a great opportunity for our first venture into poker tournament coverage.”
The WSOP Circuit tour just completed its seventh season. It is a series of individual poker tournaments featuring 15 different tour stops from mostly Caesars-owned properties around the country. Buy-ins range from $200 to $10,000, and players amassed points for each recorded in-the-money finish they had. Those garnering the most points or winning or placing at the final table of select events, automatically qualified for the WSOP Circuit National Championship just held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas – just days before the start of the 42nd annual World Series of Poker.
A list of players who are expected to receive prominent television coverage can be found here.
The 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit tour began on August 19, 2010 at Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa and continued through May 22, 2011 at Harrah’s New Orleans.
VERSUS is expected to feature encore presentations of the WSOPC in July and August. Check local listings for details.
ABOUT THE WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world awarding millions of dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport's top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker's longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2010, the event attracted 72,966 entrants from 117 different countries to the Rio in Las Vegas and awarded over $187 million in prize money. In addition, the WSOP has formed groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent in 2007 of the World Series of Poker Europe. The WSOP Circuit Tour is entering its seventh season in 2010-11, and will feature 12 stops throughout the U.S., plus for the first ever, a stop in South Africa. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit www.WSOP.com.