WSOP Offering Enhanced Web Coverage; Planters On As Sponsor
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| Web Site to Stream Live Coverage Of WSOP |
The official Web site for the World Series of Poker (WSOP), WorldSeriesOfPoker.com, has been enhanced for ’07 to include live streaming coverage with hole cards of final tables. Also, live updates from the floor, chip counts, player blogs and other news will be posted on a real-time basis. Meanwhile, Kraft Foods has signed a multi-year deal for its Planters nuts brand to be an official sponsor of the WSOP (THE DAILY).
HOME DECOR: In Las Vegas, Jeff Haney reported large banners with pictures of past champions are on the walls at the Rio, where the WSOP is taking place. Also new this year, final tables will take place “on a stage surrounded by stadium seating and a lounge for spectators.” WSOP-branded merchandise, including T-shirts, caps, baseballs, money clips and Pilsner glasses, is available for sale. WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said, “We started planning for this year’s [WSOP] before last year’s [WSOP] was over. We’re constantly in a planning mode. We learned enough from last year to innovate for the benefit of the player this year. The tournament room is dressed to the nines. It looks like what the [WSOP] should look like” (LAS VEGAS SUN, 6/6). ESPN.com’s Andrew Feldman wrote of poker, “Too many people enjoy the game at every level for the obsession to just fade away.” Poker coverage has “become watchable again” with better shows, strategy and players (ESPN.com, 6/5).
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Van Patten Pens
New Poker Book |
GOING HOLLYWOOD: USA TODAY’s Mike Bambach writes former actor Vince Van Patten, who co-hosts The Travel Channel’s “World Poker Tour,” has written a novel titled “Picasso Flop" and will play in the WSOP Main Event next month, is “another sign of poker going Hollywood.” The game has been featured in movies including “Rounders,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Lucky You,” and actor Don Cheadle is organizing the Ante Up For Africa celebrity tournament on July 5. Also, TV producer Jamie Gold won the ’06 WSOP Main Event, and actress Jennifer Tilly is now an acclaimed poker player herself. Additionally, James Bond, who traditionally played Baccarat, plays "a high-stakes game of Texas Hold’em” in the ’06 remake of “Casino Royale." Pollack: “That’s a very big statement about where we are” (USA TODAY, 6/8).
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