The opening episode will be one of two recapping the Caesars Cup, a made-for-television tournament that featured Team Europe taking on Team Americas. The former ultimately crushed the Americas squad four matches to one, with the stars of poker turning out to compete on behalf of their continents. Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu captained the Americas squad, which also featured DoylesRoom namesake Doyle Brunson, 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, Big Game player Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein, who was a last-minute replacement for Chris Ferguson.
The American squad held a total of 45 gold bracelets and more than $50 million in career earnings. Their foes: Team Europe, led by 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion and Betfair pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad. Her group of young guns included 2008 WSOP Main Event winner Peter Eastgate, Italian poker sensation Dario Minieri, 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure victor Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Power Poker front man Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, and Betfair qualifier John Harvey, a 47 year-old pipe inspector from Scotland.
On March 1st, the second of two hours dedicated to the Caesars Cup will air on ESPN. The festivities kick off at Midnight ET and serve as the run-up to the WSOP Europe Main Event, which will begin on February 7th. The £10,000 buy-in tournament drew a crowd of 334 runners and featured one of the toughest final tables ever assembled in WSOP Europe history. Two members of the November Nine – James Akenhead and Antoine Saout – reached the feature table in London, a feat accomplished in 2008 by Ivan Demidov.
Also at the WSOP Europe Main Event final table was Negreanu, the face of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge,” who took fifth in the same event in 2008. Joining Negreanu was Barry Shulman, whose son, Jeff Shulman, reached the final table of the Main Event in Las Vegas. The duo was seeking to make poker history as the first father/son team to win poker’s most coveted bracelets in the same year. The final table lasted 16 and a half hours and the entire WSOP Europe schedule panned out at the Casino at the Empire in London.
Here is the schedule for the 2009 WSOP Europe Caesars Cup and Main Event on ESPN. All times are Eastern and each episode runs for one hour:
Sunday, January 31st: 11:00pm (Caesars Cup)
Monday, February 1st: 12:00am (Caesars Cup)
Sunday, February 7th: 10:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 7th: 11:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 8th: 12:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 14th: 11:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 15th: 12:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Monday, February 15th: 1:00am (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 28th: 9:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Sunday, February 28th: 10:00pm (WSOP Europe Main Event)
Poker PROductions filmed WSOP Europe for ESPN. The same company also brings poker television staples like NBC’s “Poker After Dark” and GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” to life. Last August, ESPN and the WSOP reached an agreement to keep the tournament series on the cable station until April 2018. The WSOP attracts a total viewing audience of more than 80 million people each year and at least 32 hours of coverage will air annually.
WSOP Europe air dates outside of the United States will likely be announced soon.
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