A press release out of Las Vegas, Nevada informs us of the National Poker League, "a sports brand focused on servicing the global poker playing community," gearing up for its own tour in 2007. A new name, certainly in the UK at least, they've got the pieces of the successful televised event ready - and as an admittedly "media-focused company" there's a lot of information in the release and on the website about the High Definition televisation of the "six one-hour episodes" which will emerge from each of the tournaments. These are the Paris Open, UK Open, Asia Open and Vegas Open (I like the continuity if not originality of their titles).
But what about the tournaments? NPL are, apparently, "the newest and most aggressive poker organisation in the world," but there's little on the website, www.npltv.com, about the structure of the event, other than the two intriguing tidbits: "8 day tournament event limited to 80 players per day," and, "Players can re-enter tournaments on subsequent days of play." Intrigued, I followed the link to the Website of Le Cercle Gaillon Casino, the host of the first tournament in May.
It appears that from the 13th-20th of May, 80-player heats will occur daily, creating 8-person 'finals' from which the winners will progress to the Super Final, an eight-handed affair too. The second two stages will both be televised (did I mention it was in High Definition?). And for those with deep pockets, for €4,200 a go, you can take a second, third etc. chance at the entry stages should you bust out. I couldn't find structure/payout details, but I've dropped them an enquiring email. I assume that you're looking at ten eight-seater shootouts, looking at the latter stages, but you never know.
The Paris Open (taking pre-registration even now) will take place at:
Casino Cercle Gaillon, Paris from the 13th-22nd May, 2007.