Poker Tournament to be shown LIVE on TV

Fishhead · Jun 16, 2004

ONEIDA NATION HOMELANDS, N.Y., June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Oneida Indian
Nation's Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, N.Y. will host the first-
ever live telecast of a poker tournament final on television. Six finalists
will battle it out live for $1,000,000 in cash on Fox Sports Net, Wednesday,
July 14, 2004 in front a potential audience of over 70 million television
households.
A maximum of 108 players will compete in a three day $10,000 buy-in, No
Limit Hold'em tournament, which will begin at noon on Monday, July 12. The
field will be narrowed to 36 continuing on to Day Two with the final six
players competing LIVE on Fox Sports Net, Wednesday, July 14 beginning at 6 PM
Eastern.
The tournament will be held under the direction of Matt Savage, tournament
director for the World Series of Poker, and many of the stops on the World
Poker Tour. Registration is open to all players at a buy-in of $10,000.
Players can register at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino's Poker Room by
calling 315-361-8676 or by calling Savage at 650-278-0978.
"Poker is fast becoming one of the most watched sports on TV," stated
Savage. "Fox Sports Net's presentation of the first-ever live final to air
nationwide will give our viewers a front row seat to see and hear what high
stakes Poker is REALLY all about."
Ray Halbritter, Nation Representative of the Oneida Nation and CEO of
Turning Stone, praised Fox for its innovative approach to televising poker.
"Poker is exciting by its very nature, but televising it live to millions
of people will make it that much more of a thrill for television viewers,"
said Halbritter. "We're pleased Fox Sports chose Turning Stone to showcase
this exciting new venture."
Turning Stone, which celebrates its 11th anniversary about the time of the
telecast, is located in the rolling hills of Upstate New York about 30 miles
east of Syracuse. It rapidly has grown into the premier golf destination
resort in the Northeast, with the third of three championship caliber courses
opening this summer. In addition, Turning Stone is completing a $308 million
expansion, which has added a luxury all-suites hotel, a 19-story tower hotel
and 5,000-seat events center.
The resort is just one of 15 different business enterprises operated by
the Oneida Indian Nation. Proceeds from all of these businesses are used to
improve the quality of life of Members of the Nation, which was the first ally
of the colonists at the time of the American Revolutionary War.

VOLTITAN · Jun 16, 2004

If a guy catches a bad beat on the river, goes out and stands up and says "sh*t, f*ck, d*ammit to hell mother f*ckin horse sh*t...you lucky bastard." What will Fox do??? I doubt it will truly be 100% live. They will have to have a 5 second delay/ dump button like live radio shows I guess.

TheGeneral+ · Jun 16, 2004

Sounds very cool.

Good luck Fishhead

tuleythetout · Jun 16, 2004

I'll be very interested to hear what people say after watching it, especially those who just watch the poker tourneys on TV. Watching a poker tournament is much more boring in person, unlike in an edited-condensed version that fits all the action (and all those exciting hands back-to-back-to-back) into a nice and tidy one or two hours. There's a lot of downtime during the real thing that might bore some people who are spoiled by the TV product. Should be interesting.

GreenDoberman · Jun 17, 2004

I have to agree with Tuley. For the average public, this is way different than the WPT shows that are edited down or the WSOP which takes over a month to edit to a watchable level.
It is basically akin to watching a chess tournament in that unless you are a real diehard, you won't appreciate it. And if they don't have hole card cameras forget it.
There's a reason why poker tournaments aren't shown live on TV, just like "Survivor" isn't shown live. They have to edit the hell out of it and take out all the downtime.

JJF · Jun 17, 2004

I agree with the comments here. People will watch it but it will be pretty boring most of the way through. As most people who've played poker know, a lot of hands just end with everyone folding, no big raising, etc. These tournaments can be a long grind. The WPT shows really glamorize poker and make it look a lot more exciting than it is most of the time.

I figured sooner or later someone would try a live broadcast of poker because it would be the next logical step in the ongoing televised poker craze. But without knowing the hole cards, it will be a lot less interesting to watch. And it will probably drag on forever with many boring hands.

RobFunk · Jun 17, 2004

i just saw this casino like a month ago. upstate new york is incredibly rural in those parts im sure lander could tell you this also. and then BOOM! there is this beautiful humungous casino out in the middle of no where. it reminds me of the close encounters ship landing out in the middle of no where to attract the masses. . .