PokerWorks

When the World Series of Poker Europe played out in London in September and October of 2009, two events were filmed by the ESPN camera crews for later broadcasts on the sports network. Though the WSOP had to air its episodes through the completion of the November Nine, the WSOPE was on the schedule after the holidays and the majority of football would be complete. And just after 2010 began, ESPN2 announced its air dates for the 2009 WSOPE.

Coverage will actually begin on January 31, 2010, with two episodes focusing on the Caesars Cup, the first of its kind of poker tournaments that took place amidst the World Series of Poker Europe action. The teams were chosen beforehand - Team Europe chosen by captain Annette Obrestad and Team Americas picked by captain Daniel Negreanu - to compete on September 25 in a series of poker competitions to determine the best of the best. But even with players like Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, John Juanda and Huck Seed representing America, the team couldn’t defeat Europeans named Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Patrik Antonius, Bertrand Grospellier, Gus Hansen and Ilari Sahamies. But the action was intense and entertaining, and it will be shown on one-hour episodes on Sunday, January 31 and Monday, February 1.

The next week’s episode moves directly into the WSOPE Main Event, which played out from September 26 through October 1, 2009. It was a £10,350 buy-in no-limit hold’em bracelet event that began with two starting days and resulted in a star-studded final table that found Daniel Negreanu and Barry Shulman in an epic heads-up battle for the coveted title.

The tournament itself was a who’s who of the poker world, as 334 players traveled to the Casino at the Empire in London’s Leicester Square to compete for the £3,340,000 prize pool. And the ESPN camera crews packed into the small casino to capture key hands, exciting eliminations, and players who fought their way through the field to be seated at the coveted final table. Those episodes will begin airing on ESPN2 on Sunday, February 7 with two one-hour episodes back to back, then another episode the following day, and a fairly complicated schedule that will air its finale on February 28.

Audiences will find their favorite WSOP commentators on the job - Lon McEachern and Norman Chad - along with former European Poker Tour host turned professional poker player and now High Stakes Poker commentator Kara Scott, who will be doing interviews with players from the sidelines of the WSOPE Main Event.

The entire ESPN2 schedule for World Series of Poker Europe one-hour episodes is as follows: