There's one way to gauge how much more room the World Series of Poker has left to expand on ESPN. It hasn't gotten big enough to where Chris Berman has demanded a part of the show.

But who's to say that's not in the cards.

The network that since 1988 has given credibility and visibility to the pursuit of a royal flush as a sports-slash-entertainment spectacle launches a new round of WSOP Main Event shows Tuesday, starting with back-to-back hour-long episodes at (5 and 6 p.m., followed by dozens of repeats for the next eight weeks.

It doesn't matter that a month ago, Temecula's Jerry Yang won the $8.25 million final table in a 14-hour event that was shown live on pay-per-view. Channel surfers will invariably lock in on this stuff as if it's a "Seinfeld" re-run, even decades later as it ferments over on ESPN Classic. Play $500 match poker bonus.

What's now? Poker. Same as what was then.

"It's an odd fish," admits Norman Chad, the former sports media writer for the Washington Post who parlayed his love for card playing into an ESPN colorman/quipster gig that he may never be able to escape. "It's part reality show, part sitcom, part docudrama. And the results, as we see, don't even matter. The viewers don't care.

They just want to see the episode again where two guys argue over who put the ante in.

"In sports, live is the key element, but this doesn't even pretend to be. And it can't really be, because a table can run from four to 12 hours. It's like indoor cricket. But the taped shows continue to hold up to the satisfaction of ESPN and the viewers. That's unprecedented in sports viewing."

Poker playing on the Online poker over the last few years has not only kept the competition fluid, but those sites - even moreso since federal legislation has relaxed - fuel TV coverage with ad revenue for competing shows that stay afloat on FSN, NBC, GSN and the Travel Channel (the latter of which is in its final year with the World Poker Tour, allowing the Game Show Network to take over). In a survival-of- the-fittest TV world, the WSOP remains the baddest outlaw of the Vegas brunch bunch, and ESPN continues to cash in the chips.

"One of the first things I did when I got here was strike a new deal with ESPN that takes us through 2010," said Jeffrey Pollack, the de facto WSOP commissioner who two years ago left NASCAR's new media division to take charge of the event owned by Harrah's properties. Download poker wallpapers.

"The tone and structure of our deal is no different than a deal ESPN has with the NBA or Major League Baseball or NASCAR. We are partners in production, programming and promotion, and no one produces poker (better) than ESPN. The World Series of Poker on ESPN says something about where we fit in the sports and entertainment landscape. And we're evergreen programming."

The technological development of the lipstick cam under the table to show viewers the cards each player was trying to keep secret took the shows to a new level of entertainment a couple of years ago. Miking up players & women poker players to hear them banter is another TV tweak that has paid off, helping to develop personalities. The latest innovation for the upcoming broadcast is having it all delivered in high definition.

"For poker?" asks Chad, going back into a media critic mode. "We need to see high def on the queen of hearts? She looks good even in black and white. High def would have been great for Neil Armstrong planting a flag on the moon. But for the flop on a 3-6-10? Maybe I'm behind the curve."

And by the way, both Pollack and Chad know poker is as much of a sport on ESPN's programming schedule as the World Stacking Competition (which airs today at 10 a.m.) or the Scrabble Championship (Saturday at noon). But did ESPN devote 40 cameras to them as they did with the WSOP? That's more than it used on the Kentucky Derby.

"It's non-athletic competition," Pollack admits, "but I think we're a sport in that we're what sports fans like to watch. Our demos fit with ESPN's demos." Play online poker.

"The sports question to me is stupid," says Chad. "No, it's not a sport. It's a competition, or a game. It doesn't need to be a sport to be on ESPN. MTV stopped showing all videos years ago and HBO stopped showing all movies long ago. ESPN still has 65 different sports, and poker.

"It's a game people love to watch. Poker is in the sports section of USA Today, with the lottery numbers. That's where logic dictates. Not the purple section or the green section. It's the red section. That says enough."

Poker News Source: Whittier Daily News