PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room, announced on Thursday that it will be joining forces with ESPN to provide its state-of-the-art software for the ESPN Poker Club, a free-to-play poker section on ESPN.com. The new poker room will be available sometime in November, presumably before the airing of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table on ESPN on the 9th.
“ESPN.com is one of the most important online sports venues, and ESPN Poker Club is entering its fifth year on the site,” said PokerStars.net North America Regional Marketing Director Joe Versaci. “This agreement will enable PokerStars to implement its superior technology and integrity in operation, and we look forward to establishing more product innovation with ESPN in the future.”
ESPN and PokerStars already have an ongoing relationship, as the poker site sponsors “Inside Deal,” a poker news program that airs every Tuesday on ESPN.com. Laura Lane, Bernard Lee, and ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman host the show and interview poker’s top stars. Among the guests making appearances on “Inside Deal” this month were November Niners John Dolan, Matthew Jarvis, John Racener, and Michael Mizrachi.
Said Feldman, “We’re excited to take the ESPN Poker Club to PokerStars.net, where we will be able to provide a better offering for fans, including a greater selection of games, prize options, and an improved player experience.”
The deal with ESPN was the second with a major sports media outlet in a matter of days for PokerStars. On Monday, the world’s largest online poker room teamed up with FOX to create a free poker room on FOXSports.com. Like the new room at ESPN.com, the FOXSports poker section will offer a free-play poker client using the popular PokerStars software as well as news, tournament results, and poker strategy.
The ESPN Poker Club gives players the chance to win a variety of prizes throughout the year, such as poker tournament entries and training seminars. But the granddaddy of prizes for each of the past few years has been a free seat to the WSOP Main Event. By playing on the ESPN.com site and earning frequent player points, users can earn seats into qualifiers, which then can result in a spot in the final 450-player event, where the winner receives a WSOP package. The 2010 winner, David Braun, got a chance to play with poker pro Maria Ho (and even doubled through her) before his elimination on Day 3.
Coverage of the WSOP can be found on Tuesdays at 9:00pm ET on ESPN. Tune in this week to find out which players will make the November Nine.
Since the updat on 5/13/11, I can’t log in…today the 14th, I have a “finals” game (finally made it) and I can’t get in.
Seems I played cash games at pokerstars in another lifetime and don’t remember anything…log in name, password, e-mail, last deposit, bla, bla, bla….
Thanks ESPN, it was fun while it lasted,
Dissapointed…
I’ve had the same problem. Unable to connect. I uninstalled the program and now can’t find the link on their site. Am I screwinging up or what?