As everyone knows by now – and as was the case with everything in poker – the pandemic prompted some delays. Since the World Poker Tour wasn’t able to film its final tables at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas in March and April 2020, there were no new television episodes to deliver to Bally Sports for new broadcasts.
However, when the World Poker Tour began cautiously returning to the live tables this year, they started figuring out how to play those final tables. Considering their tournaments actually played as far back as January 2020, the players deserved their chance to play for a WPT win. In early March, the WPT worked with the folks at PokerGO to use their studio to film those final tables.
It was time to get ‘er done.
The first tournament – WPT Gardens Poker Championship – played its final table for television in March. Three other ones – WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, WPT LA Poker Classic, and WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown – played in May.
That filming process turned into television episodes delivered to Bally Sports. (That’s the way TV happens, don’t ya know.) And the first ones will debut tonight.
Long Time in the Making
Little did the World Poker Tour or its players know that a tournament that started in January 2020 wouldn’t make it to television for more than a year and a half. There are always delays in television productions, but come on. *Shakes fist at pandemic.*
As WPT CEO Adam Pliska noted, “Our fans have been very patient waiting for Season XVIII episodes, and we are excited for Sunday night. The action from Season XVIII promises to live up to the expectations of our audience.”
With Vince Van Patten and Tony Dunst as the commentators, poker fans will find the same mix of poker analysis, explanations, and repartee to which they’ve become accustomed. Lynn Gilmartin will be in the episodes as the WPT anchor, as usual, too. Fans will notice a bit of a different studio setting for the upcoming episodes but the same level of production.
The WPT Gardens Poker Championship episodes will air over the next three Sundays, an hour each. Ball Sports will air those episodes at 8pm local time and then again at 11pm.
Going forward, Sundays will deliver new episodes of the WPT Borgata, WPT LAPC, and WPT Seminole Hard Rock.
Bally Sports is available via most cable providers, like DirecTV, Spectrum, U-verse, and Cox. The Bally Sports website offers a way to check for a particular cable provider to find out how to watch its programming in all parts of the United States.
https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1444725324449779719?s=20
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