ESPN upgrades production for World Series of Poker PPV

By Andrew Lippe

ESPN for the second consecutive year will broadcast the Final Table of The World Series of Poker Live! on pay-per-view from The Rio hotel in Las Vegas on Tuesday, July 17. For this year’s tournament ESPN has decided to up the ante on the fan experience. This year the PPV event will feature new camera angles, a sideline reporter, and exclusive fan interaction with ESPN poker analyst Phil Gordon.

“This is a high level production,” says Jamie Horowitz, senior producer, ESPN. The World Series of Poker tournament this year included 55 tournaments but none bigger then the main event. Since its inception the main event has grown from just a few players to thousands of entrants. Players include professionals as well as online gamers.

ESPN will use 44 cameras in total for the PPV event and will include camera angles not featured on the ESPN linear show. This is a huge upgrade from last year’s total of 26. A huge factor in the increase is the addition of iso cameras. “Iso Cameras help tell a story, we can focus more on a player,” says Horowitz. ESPN’s gear includes Grass Valley’s LDK6000 Worldcam Cameras, GVG LDK6000 CCUs and Canon 21x Hand Held Lenses. ESPN this year also added a talent camera for sideline reporter Mary Marianela. She will interview players’ family members, and friends as well as fans throughout the evening.

The PPV will be hosted by Play-by-play man Ali Nejad, and poker analyst Phil Gordon. The telecast will include interviews with 2007 bracelet winners, and with previous Main Event champions. Fans can purchase the Final Table Event for $19.95, on TV or via a live video stream on ESPN.com. This one time only special will air in letterbox format in SD. The linear final table show will air October 9 on ESPN in HD.

The PPV, unlike the linear broadcast, will air every hand unedited. Beginning at 3 pm EST they will air the final table in its entirety until there is a winner. The only breaks are for dinner and one every 90 minutes. “The final table is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Horowitz. “Players must make multimillion dollar decision at 2 am.”

ESPN to get fans closer to the action will use for the first time StatsTracker, a computer program that generates from the production truck. It will be used to analyze players’ statistics and trends. “Say Phil Gordon senses Jamie Gold is being aggressive,” said Horowitz. “Phil can generate from StatsTracker that Jamie bet pre flop 42 out of 50 hands.”

In addition to StatsTracker fans can interact with Phil Gordon by sending him emails and questions that will be read on the air. Fans will also have a chance to text in who they believe will be eliminated. “Fans had an appetite for more poker coverage and now they get to be part of show,” says Horowitz.