ESPN’s WSOP Main Event coverage underway

A lot of the online poker players are at home sitting on their hands thanks to the DOJ actions on Black Friday, and with little Internet poker options available one of the ways many of these players will get their “poker fix” is by watching the World Series of Poker telecasts on ESPN, which will kick-off its Main Event this week.

Over the next 13 weeks ESPN will be airing 26 hours of Main Event coverage culminating with the players competing for one of the nine final table spots up for grabs on November 8^th -which will then be followed by ESPN’s “almost-live” coverage of the final table and the heads-up battle the following day.

Thus far ESPN’s coverage of the 2011 WSOP has consisted of the lackluster Grudge Matches between Chris Moneymaker and Sammy Farha, as well as between Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan; the $25k Heads-Up Championship; and the $50k Players Championship.

Now as the focus switches, from 2-hour bursts of a single tournament to the 26 hours of Main Event coverage, poker enthusiasts will have to log a lot of hours on their Tivo to keep up with the ESPN coverage. Here is a look at the complete WSOP Main Event schedule on ESPN:

• August 16: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• August 16: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• August 23: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• August 23: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• August 30: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• August 30: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• September 6: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• September 6: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• September 13: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• September 13: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• September 20: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• September 20: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• September 27: Main Event, 8:00 PM
• September 27: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 4: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 4: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• October 11: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 11: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• October 18: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 18: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• October 25: Main Event, 9:00 PM
• October 25: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• November 1: Main Event 9:00 PM
• November 1: Main Event, 10:00 PM
• November 8: Main Event Final Table, 9-11:00 PM

This is a pivotal year for the WSOP on ESPN; without the advertising revenues of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, televised poker is expected to take a big hit, and a ratings decrease could start to spell the beginning of the end for the World Series of Poker coverage on ESPN.