Velocity, CBS to Cover Epic Poker League
Ever since the Black Friday of online poker, the day on which the US federal government cracked down on Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker, seized their domain names, and arrested key people associated with these sites, days have been rather dull for online poker players. Many of them have not even got back the money they deposited and won at these poker sites. The fallen online poker giants were home to several professional poker players whose lives turned upside down after Black Friday; they were forced to either find other ways of earning a livelihood or visit live poker rooms.
Black Friday and its effects on innumerable online poker players in the US dampened the spirits of poker players who had participated in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2011. The absence of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker was acutely felt although a large number of players, two-thirds of them American, participated in the WSOP and the events were broadcast on ESPN.
However, ESPN is not the only TV channel that got the bright idea of capitalizing on the popularity of poker. 441 Productions and David Neal, the most prominent forces behind the WSOP, are mulling over the idea of producing the Epic Poke league, a brand new poker league that is scheduled to be launched in August this year. The league will be launched in Las Vegas and the duo has requested Pat O’Brien, host for Fox Sports Radio, to be the host and certain TV networks to cover the event.
A major portion of Epic Poker League will be shown on Velocity Network, a new network belonging to Discovery. Velocity will be given exclusive rights to cover 13 hours and to replay 7 more hours allotted for CBS. Although 20 hours of TV coverage doesn’t sound like a big deal, CBS is a significant network, which will place poker before a huge audience and provide opportunities for lucrative advertisement campaigns. Since this is a bad time for online poker, television poker shows might capture the attention of more and more poker players, especially those who lost their online poker gaming accounts with PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker.
The best poker players from all over the globe will be participating in the Epic Poker league. Professional poker player Annie Duke says: “This is one piece that’s kind of missing from the poker landscape right now, which is something for the best players in the world to compete against the best players in the world.” Most of the events in the Epic Poker League are open tournaments, and interested players simply have to buy-in to the event to participate.
In the meanwhile, the three fallen poker giants are still sorting out their problems, especially Full Tilt Poker, which is floundering in financial mire and has lost its gaming licenses. The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), which had issued gaming licenses to Full Tilt Poker, will be holding another hearing in September, by which time a solution might be found to the poker site’s problems.
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