- Mike Beirne

The World Series of Poker will try to shake up its stagnant TV ratings this year by offering ESPN viewers same-day coverage of the last players standing.

The Texas Hold-em World Championship field was whittled down to nine players last month. They will return to Las Vegas and play down to the final two on Sunday, Nov. 9, enabling the WSOP and ESPN to promote the match in time for Monday's newswires. The final two will play head-to-head starting on the evening of Nov. 10 and likely through Nov. 11. ESPN will double its post-production efforts to create a show that will air that evening.

Previously, the WSOP followed a documentary-style format and aired weeks after the last hand was played and the poker tournament champion won the big pot. The number of households and viewers of ESPN2 telecasts declined in 2007 compared with 2006, per Nielsen (the parent company of Brandweek). But additional airings last year on ESPN helped build WSOP's total audience.

Improving ratings, however, is only part of the goal. WSOP—a property of Las Vegas-based Harrah's Entertainment—and ESPN hope the hype leading up to the face-off between the final two players (vying for over $9.1 million) will transform the tourney into the Kentucky Derby of poker, and in turn, attract more marketers.

"To evaluate what we're doing just through TV ratings would be short sighted," said Ty Stewart, corporate director for the WSOP. "We're trying to re-energize the World Series of Poker with the playing community and make it compelling to the mainstream community by presenting it in a manner that they're accustomed to, with the build up and the hype like they've seen with [network] 'Deal or No Deal.'"

Episodes of the first phase of the tournament have started airing to build momentum for the ultimate match in November. About 30 brands are on board as 2008 sponsors, including Miller High Life (which has been a presenting sponsor since 2005) and Hershey; both are in the final year of their marketing partnerships. Kraft's Planters is sponsoring "The All In Moment" and will run a sweepstakes offering a seat to play in the Main Event at the 2009 WSOP.

This year's WSOP is the largest in the tourney's 39-year history, with 58,720 contestants and a prize pool of $180.7 million for its 55 events. Stewart said, "After this season, we will reevaluate to see if this format is the model that we can use to build a long-term platform."