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ESPN To Air Just Two World Series of Poker Bracelet Events
Mon, May 18th, 2009 @ 12:00am
ESPN has released the 2009 World Series of Poker TV schedule and only four events are on there. Two of those events won't even be giving away bracelets.
Of course, the Main Event made the cut. This year, the $10,000 buy-in WSOP finale will get a whopping 25 one-hour episodes, along with a final table preview episode, like they put together last year. Gone is the $50K HORSE event, thanks in large part to the infamous Scotty Nguyen performance of last year. Also gone are any other bracelet events that previously reached the air. Instead, viewers will be treated to a couple episodes dedicated to the 40th anniversary $40K No Limit event, a special WSOP Champions Invitational and the celebrity driven Ante Up For Africa charity tournament.
Click here to check out the complete 2009 WSOP event schedule.
In 2008, ESPN aired seven tournaments, all of them bracelet events. In addition to the 10 episode Main Event, the $50K HORSE tourney made it to air, along with the $10K PLHE and PLO World Championships and a few cheap NLHE tourneys.
The 2009 running marks the 40th year of the world's greatest poker series. The $40K buy-in event #2 is a one-time-only event that should attract only those with the deepest pockets, so you can see why ESPN would chose to air it, possibly to fill the hole left by the high profile HORSE event being cut. It is also one of the two bracelet events set to be aired.
The other two events chosen by ESPN, the Champions Ivitational and the Ante Up for Africa, won't award any gold bracelets. The Invitational is only open to survivng Main Event winners and will award a new car and the newly created Binion Cup to the last champ standing. Ante Up for Africa, headed by Don Cheadle and Annie Duke, will be making it's third appearance at the WSOP. Since 2007, the charity tournament, which aids those in a war-torn Darfur, has attracted not only the biggest names in poker, but Hollywood A-listers as well.
Here is the full schedule from ESPN:
If you would rather find out the winners of these events in real time, Poker Pages will have a crew of tournament reporters at the Rio in Las Vegas. From the time the cards get in the air at the $40K special No Limit event until a new Main Event winner is crowned in November, you'll be able to find live updates of the 2009 WSOP at PokerPages.com.
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