2 Million Households Tune In To ESPNs WSOP Final Table

ESPN's ratings for this week's World Series of Poker Final Table were up about 50% to almost 1.9 million households, compared with 1.25 million households in 2007.  WSOP Organizers changed the schedule of the main event this year so the program would air the same day as the final table play finished. Before this year, the main event would finish in mid summer but would not air on television for months.

This years WSOP Championship was won by Peter Eastgate, a 22-year-old from Denmark, who defeated Ivan Demidov to collect the $9.1 million first prize and become the youngest champion in the history of the no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event.

According to Seth Palansky, the WSOP spokesman "It was that whole 'Who will win?' element. What you did was create a must-see television event which ... wasn't the case the past few years when you knew who the winner was."

The number of viewers who tuned in was even higher than ESPN's average for regular season NBA games and major league baseball, according to The World Series Of Poker.