We think the poker world's big enough for the two of them.
This year (2006), the World Series of Poker will be more than 35 years old. It was founded in the early '70s and owned by the Binions up until 2003, when Harrah's bought it and took it over. Last year, Harrah's introduced the World Series of Poker Circuit, sponsoring large poker events at its casinos around the country, culminating with the main WSOP tournaments at the Rio. The finals are televised on ESPN.
This year, the World Poker Tour will enter its fifth season. It was launched in 2001 and its use of the hole-card camera (pioneered by "Late Night Poker" on Channel 4 in the U.K.), in which the television viewing audience can see what the players are holding, is credited with helping to usher in the explosive popularity of poker today. The tour visits all the major poker-playing venues during the year, culminating in the main WPT event at Bellagio in May. The finals are televised on the Travel Channel.
Up until early this year, the Circuit and the Tour managed to stay out of each other's way in terms of scheduling major events. But in late January, two major $10,000-buy-in tournaments took place at nearly the same time at the same place: Tunica. The World Poker Tour's Open tournament ended on Jan. 23; the World Series Circuit event ended five days later, on Jan. 27. It was the first head-to-head competition and the reactions have been mixed.
The numbers seem to indicate that the juxtaposition diluted the field for both. The WPT's event was 37% smaller than last year's same event (512 players in 2005, compared to 327 this year), while the World Series event only fielded 241 players. Thus, the tour managers think the direct competition hurts, spreading the pool of available players too thin.
The players, on the other hand, say the more the merrier. Estimates place the number of $10,000-buy-in poker tournaments events at 40-50 annually, which allows the players to pick and choose among them, stretching the opportunities.
In addition, the World Poker Tour has also signed a deal with the Travel Channel to air a new Professional Poker Tour (PPT), featuring a series of invitation-only tournaments limited to the world's top 200 players, with a $2.5 million prize pool. Five tournaments have already been taped for the first season, which is expected to air sometime in the fall on Wednesdays from 9 to 11 pm. All told, the Travel Channel can air 44 weeks of WPT and PPT episodes, furthering the channel's "Wednesday Night is Poker Night" campaign.
Meanwhile, Harrah's hasn’t been idle. The casino company has inked a deal with IMG, "the world’s premier sports and lifestyle management and marketing firm." IMG’s TV division is the "largest independent producer and distributor of televised sports." A global sales and marketing alliance has been initiated around the World Series of Poker and the Circuit, which is attempting to position the WSOP as the "most prestigious poker tournament in the world."
