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ESPN has announced the three events that they will televise from the 2010 WSOP.  The first they will televise is the $50,000 Player’s Championship.  One week later, they will televise the Tournament of Champions.  Then from August 10th to November 9th, ESPN  will broadcast the Main Event.

Yes, they'll be back. Btw, Norman cashed last year.

This actually shrinks the number of tournaments that ESPN covered from last year.  Last year, they covered the Main Event, the $40,000 NL Event, the Champions Invitational, and the Ante Up for Africa event.

If ESPN is going to cut back even further from past years, I think this is the way to do it.  They  will basically show the three events that most everyone really gives a damn about.  I am not saying that the other bracelet events are not important, but outside of the $50,000 Player’s Championship, the only other regular event that is really going to draw ratings is the Main Event.  The TOC is a “made for TV event” anyway and I think that it will make for some interesting TV.  I’m glad Ante Up for Africa got dropped.  Yes, charity is important, but the televised event was not all that and a bag of skittles.

Personally, I miss the days when the prelims were being broadcast and more than just Holdem was shown on TV.  Of course, the Holdem monkeys are what drives the ratings and the top bananas at ESPN want to keep the Holdem monkeys happen.

Hopefully the Player’s Championship will show more than just the final table.  It is the World Series of Poker after all and not the World Series of Holdem.