The debut of live World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event coverage on ESPN2 began at 7:00pm ET on Thursday. The action actually started earlier in the day on ESPN3.com and the primetime session began with Lon McEachern and Antonio Esfandiari in the broadcast booth. The 30-minute delay included hole cards shown only after the hand was over and to begin, 1,476 players remained in the hunt for an $8.7 million first place prize.

An all-in and a call at Table 2 that featured pocket aces getting cracked was an omen of pots to come. Ben BenbaLamb, who held the chip lead entering Day 3 on Thursday, was seated at Table 2 alongside Huck Seed, who was sans a Full Tilt Poker logo and had joined the table two hours prior.

Sheets Energy Strips logos lined the inside rung of the table and Jack Link’s Beef Jerky emblems were shown on several on-screen graphics. McEachern called the near-live coverage from the Amazon Room in Las Vegas “unprecedented” and the first 30 minutes of the two-hour show were devoted to Table 2.

Esfandiari gave his take on ESPN2’s delayed coverage: “In about 30 minutes, they can go and find out what hand they had. That’s just the price you have to pay if you want to play poker.”

Two fairly buzz-worthy hands were shown during the first hour of ESPN2’s coverage of the Main Event on Thursday night. In the first, Lamb called a 4bet pre-flop and watched as the board fell K-9-5, all spades. His opponent announced he was all-in and Lamb folded nearly instantly, with ESPN’s graphics showing he held pocket queens. His opponent had pocket aces, including the ace of spades, and raked in a small pot.

Curiously, Esfandiari read Lamb as weak pre-flop. He was anything but complacent, however, and was involved in nearly every hand shown during the first 30 minutes.

The attention then turned to the feature table, housed in the all-new “Thunderdome.” Its lineup included Daniel Negreanu (pictured), Kristy Gazes, and Shaun shaundeebDeeb (pictured above). The former was without a PokerStarslogo, while Deeb displayed a patch for PokerTracker on his shirt pocket. Negreanu told ESPN’s Kara Scott that he had friends at home watching who could relay what players had in critical hands.

The major pot of the first hour came after Deeb 5bet before the flop to 68,600. Esfandiari conjectured that he had kings or aces and Max Heinzelmann 6bet all-in. Deeb insta-called with aces, while Heinzelmann sheepishly tabled A-6. As a 9:1 favorite, Deeb watched as the flop came 10-6-K, giving Heinzelmann a pair, but keeping him in the lead with bullets. The turn was a queen, leaving Heinzelmann drawing thin.

Sure enough, a six peeled off on the river, shipping the 400,000-chip pot to Heinzelmann and delivering a crippling blow to Deeb’s stack, which sank to under 10 big blinds. Deeb got up from his chair, walked into the “Thunderdome’s” stands, and broke out his cell phone. Esfandiari observed, “You would never see that play four or five years ago.” Deeb later went out with 7-6 against A-8.

You can catch the 2011 WSOP Main Event on Thursday night from 11:00pm ET to 2:30am ET on ESPN2. The schedule on Friday is the same as today’s. On Saturday, WSOP Main Event coverage will be shown from 3:30pm ET to 10:00pm ET on ESPN2 and then again from Midnight ET to 2:30am ET. On Sunday, look for near-live poker from 10:00pm ET to 2:30am ET.

You can rail the action in a Live Poker forum thread. All of our 2011 WSOP coverageof online poker players is sponsored by 24hPoker.