With the World Series of Poker returning to ESPN this summer, all parties involved knew they needed to raise the stakes for players and viewers.
The result is a massive new WSOP main stage inside Paris Las Vegas, which was unveiled Friday and will be the home for various final tables throughout the series including the Main Event.
“The idea was to elevate it to a new level, to create something bigger and grander than there ever was,” said Jack Effel, senior vice president of poker operations at Caesars Entertainment. “(The) vision has always been about, ‘I don’t want to see a winner on a side table somewhere back in the corner where nobody is there and nobody can cheer on their favorite person.’
“This is something that will stay with them, will stay with the people watching.”
The new main stage covers more than 25,000 square feet and includes five feature tables equipped with RFID technology to display hole cards for viewers and 12 more outer tables. It has close to 700 LED lighting fixtures and more than 1.5 miles of LED tape.
There is also a broadcast desk built in for the new daily “WSOP Countdown” show on YouTube hosted by Jeff Platt, Joe Stapleton and Norman Chad that will preview each day’s tournaments.
“This is the future of the WSOP. This is where the next generation of legends are made,” Platt said.
The new setup debuted with Friday’s $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up No-limit Hold’em Championship and will spotlight coverage of the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship Main Event that opens July 2.
The Main Event is back on ESPN after five years away. The final table will be shown on the network Aug. 3-5 when the tournament resumes following a 20-day break. During the time off, the main stage will be torn down and rebuilt inside the Horseshoe Events Center.
“This goes to trying to elevate the experience for everyone and WSOP’s new agreement with ESPN played a big role in doing this,” Effel said. “When they started designing it, it had to be more than just a final table. It’s not just a nice table in an arena, but it’s something you look forward to being able to play on that stage.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
