After spending two successful years in Cannes, France, the World Series of Poker Europe will be moving across the country to Paris in 2013. The WSOP announced Monday that the 2013 WSOP Europe will be held Oct. 11 through 24 at France’s oldest and most historic casino – the lakefront Casino Barrière Enghien-les-Bains, located less than 10 miles from the French capital.

The newly-renovated Casino Barrière Enghien-les-Bains facility will hold all of the tournament action in one room, and a 500-seat theatre will host final tables and television production. The WSOP said in a press release that the location promises to be the “most comfortable and conducive setup for poker players in the WSOPE’s seven-year history.”

“Part of our vision for WSOP Europe is to mix poker and pleasure – and introduce players to some of the most exciting destinations in Europe,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “Barrière’s facilities in Enghien are amazing and there are likely 12 million Parisians all trying to make sure “Phillipe” Hellmuth doesn’t win another bracelet on French soil. With our ideal dates scheduled to avoid conflicts for traveling players, expanded TV coverage and qualifiers planned, we expect to be back in record-setting mode in 2013.”

The 2013 WSOP Europe schedule has not been announced, but the WSOP again expects to offer seven WSOP gold bracelet events, plus a High Roller event. There will also be an assortment of satellites and cash games available on site.

The WSOP Europe spent four years in London, England before moving to Cannes in 2011. This year’s series saw Hellmuth make history by winning the Main Event to clinch his record-setting 13th bracelet. Other bracelet winners in Cannes this fall were Antonio Esfandiari, Jonathan Aguiar, Roger Hairabedian, Imed Ben Mahmoud, Francisco Da Costa Santos and Giovanni Rosadoni.

Upon hearing the news, PokerNews reached out to Stewart for some questions and comments. Here’s what he had to say.

When did the idea to move the WSOP Europe out of Cannes come to fruition?

Right on the heels of this year’s event – October. We had optimal dates in Cannes for 2011, but came to learn it was really due to the G-20 summit displacing other annual conventions. Cannes is such an attractive destination for meetings and events that fill up hotel rooms, the city’s calendar is fairly crowded. But ultimately, we’re not doing the event justice if we’re not mindful of the poker calendar and players key religious observances first. We made it tough on players to attend in 2012, and we’re not making that mistake again.

What was the overall determining factor to make the move?

As organizers, we want the same thing as players: to draw largest field sizes and prize money possible. In this case, we looked at optimal dates, a more populous feeder market, easier travel with more options and, of course, all the excitement available in one of the worlds’ most vibrant cities just a few minutes away.

Although Casino Barrière Enghien-les-Bains is located on Lac d’Enghien, how do you feel players will favor the move away from the beautiful beaches of the French Riviera? What’s the allure of the new destination?

It’s the best of both worlds. The entire Barrière complex will be dedicated to poker; every room, every salon, the entire meeting facility. It’s the first time we’ll be able to have all WSOP-E tournament tables on one floor, and to have an upscale setting for the final tables – to do things in Europe like we do in Vegas. And if you go bust, Paris is just a short train ride away. I made the comment before that I didn’t see too many players on the beach. I think poker players prefer action by nature, and whatever you’re into, you can find it in Paris.

In the press release, you stated: “Part of our vision for WSOP Europe is to mix poker and pleasure – and introduce players to some of the most exciting destinations in Europe.” Does this mean the WSOP is already eying other destinations for the coming years for WSOP Europe?

I’ve toured a few. We are looking at options for future years, and hope to expand our “Wild Card Weekend” qualifier series through an official network, but we stayed in France because we’re thrilled with the partnership with Barrière. They are gracious hosts who believe in the vision of this event. I expect they will qualify over 150 French for the Main Event alone this year due to move to Paris and its higher player base.

How many more tables can the new venue hold?

We’ll have in the 75-table range, enough to make sure we can accommodate demand for a comprehensive series of bracelet events and side action. The big change is organization; One tournament floor for all WSOP-E events and all final tables played in a grand theatre.

Are there any talks to increase the amount of bracelet events at WSOP Europe? Or to add any new events not previously seen?

We are still discussing the final bracelet schedule. Right now, the number of events feels right to have good diversity in the series. Our focus right now is on building up the number of entrants and prize money per event. This move, and these dates, are the start of realizing that goal.

Lead photo courtesy of the WSOP.

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Check out the original source here! Originally from PokerNews.com

July 26 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

Epic Poker League launches next month at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, with its inaugural event. Just weeks before its kickoff, Epic Poker League announced that 20 hours of original programming are slated to be broadcast on CBS Television Network and Discovery Communications’ Velocity Network.

The Velocity Network, an “upscale male lifestyle network” and will take the place of Discovery’s HD Theater on October 4, 2011. Velocity will air 13 hours of original Epic Poker League programming, as well as seven hours of re-aired episodes that will air on CBS Sports. Air dates and times have not yet been released.

“Epic Poker is proud to partner with CBS Television and Discovery Communications in our inaugural season,” said Jeffrey Pollack, executive chairman of the Epic Poker League and its parent company, Federated Sports + Gaming. “Both companies share our commitment to providing a world-class stage and significant new exposure for poker’s most talented live tournament players.”

The Epic Poker League broadcasts will be hosted by Emmy award-winning sports anchor and reporter Pat O’Brien and poker personality Ali Nejad. David Neal and 441 Productions will produce Epic Poker League for Velocity and CBS. Executive producer Neal and 441 Productions have numerous Emmys and accolades between them. Among other events, Neal has produced the Olympics and NBA Finals and 441 Productions is well-known for producing the World Series of Poker from 2003 to 2010.

“Epic will provide a rich storytelling environment for our television production,” said Neal in the press release. “We’ll capture the rivalries, the personalities, and the strategies brought to each event by an elite roster of player. It’s high stakes competition, with prestige and prize money on the line, and that makes an ideal setting for compelling entertainment.”

PokerNews sat down with Jeffrey Pollack to discuss the EPL on Velocity.

Can you tell us about the decision to partner with Velocity and which events will be televised?

We’re in business with one of the most highly regarded broadcast networks, CBS, and now the number one non-fiction media company in the world. Velocity is part of Discovery which reaches 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in more than 200 countries and CBS is in every household in America pretty much. We’ve got two great telecast partners for our first year.

It’s worth nothing that CBS, I think was the original broadcaster of the WSOP back in the 70s. So in a funny kind of way, televised poker is coming home to where it began.

The four main events and the championship will be televised. For the first Pro-Am, the Heartland Poker Tour is going to produce a special and syndicate it, but this deal is just focused on the Main Event and the Championship.

The entire season of the Epic Poker League will air on Velocity, but CBS Sports will also air seven hours of programming. How will that work?

We have 20 original hours in the first year with some number of those hours on CBS, some number on Velocity. Each channel will have some of each event and we’ll have the exact schedule at the end of the summer.

The Velocity Network targets higher-income men and is strictly an HD channel, do you think this will alienate a large portion of the poker audience that has been left without a lot of poker programming on basic cable due to the recent effects of Black Friday?

No. Velocity launches in about 40 million homes and based on Discovery’s track record, it’s going to grow very quickly. Most TV is produced in HD today so we’re trying to be as forward looking in our approach as possible. It’s a new channel. We like that. We like that we’re launching together and we are very confident in Discovery’s proven track record to grow fully distributed channels.

There are some new names in the production with host Pat O’Brien and executive producer David Neal. Can you discuss you decision to bring these fresh faces to poker?

Pat is a sports broadcasting legend and icon and he’s going to bring a very fresh perspective to how poker is presented and that’s what David Neal is going to do. David is also new to poker but he’s produced nine Olympics and every other major sporting event in the world. What he does, his skill set, his creative ability, he has applied to a wide variety of games and sports. He’s now going to bring that perspective to poker.

We’re marrying him with 441 Productions, which you know is one of the most highly regarded and prolific poker production houses in the world. It’s going to be about bringing a fresh perspective to some very proven experience. Just as we have David and 441, that’s why we have Pat and Ali Nejad. Ali is also a highly regarded poker personality, host, player, and writer. He’s going to be in the booth with Pat, so we’ll have Pat’s fresh global sports perspective with Ali’s deep and rich poker experience.

Are there any production surprises in store for the viewers?

We’ll be doing some new things. We chose 441 because of their past experience in poker. They did an amazing job with ESPN. They helped bring the November Nine concept to life. Marrying their deep poker experience with David Neal’s fresh perspective is going to result in a very compelling poker program.

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