On Tuesday night, the 2014 World Series of Poker National Championship aired on ESPN, broadcasted outdoors from the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. The $10,000 buy-in tournament had played down to its final six, who convened in a tent in front of Bally’s. It was the first outdoor WSOP final table since Stu Ungar won the Main Event in 1997 and the first WSOP bracelet awarded in New Jersey.

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Matthew Ashton was the start-of-day chip leader and, amid a 62-degree day with random tourists looking on, Andrew Robinson moved all-in for 105,000 in chips with 8-6 and Athanasios Athanasios 9 Polychronopoulos, whose last name was too long to display on television, called with A-4 of hearts. The better hand held and Robinson was the day’s first elimination.

Viewers at home saw Natty Light beer logos all over the table and were treated to a host of random emblems and sayings in the background given the outdoor setting, including sweatshirts that read “Year of the Fatboy,” “Angry Pirates,” and “Run Forrest Run.”

If you played the America’s Cardroom drinking game, you took four shots, as ESPN showed four commercials for the unregulated US-facing site. Our e-mails sent to ESPN PR staff about why the network, which is owned by the publicly traded Walt Disney Company, were responded to a few hours after this article was published. ESPN’s response can be found in the third-to-last paragraph of this article.

Germany’s Dominik bounatirouIMONitsche (pictured above) doubled up after connecting with his straight flush draw against Ashton. Despite drawing, Nitsche was a 69% favorite to win the hand on the flop and hit his straight on the river. Then, Polychronopoulos hit kings-up after a seemingly harmless deuce came on the final card, leading ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad to say sarcastically, “When does a deuce on the river change anything?”

Tracy Doss, who won his seat to the National Championship through the regulated poker site WSOP.com, busted in fifth place after losing a race.

The second one-hour episode aired at 9:00pm ET and began with Christopher Bibb 4betting all-in before the flop with A-7 and receiving a taker in Nitsche, who had A-K of spades. The German turned a flush to send Bibb packing in fourth place.

One of the defining hands of the tournament saw Ashton double-barrel bluff with J-9 on a board of 2-2-4-6. Nitsche, who had A-9 of spades for the nut flush draw, called and the river was an offsuit six. The action went check-check and Nitsche’s ace-high was good enough to scoop a pot worth 1.3 million in chips.

Ashton was eliminated in third place after losing a race with 3-3 against Nitsche’s A-J. Ashton was sitting pretty after flopping a set, but Nitsche rivered a flush. Nitsche ultimately pulled out the victory after his A-8 drew out on Polychronopoulos‘ (pictured) A-10 to win the 2014 WSOP National Championship.

The outdoor setting was definitely quite different, especially considering the hodge-podge of humanity that showed up and the fact that the final table was held in a mundane white tent. There wasn’t the excitement surrounding a final table that you typically see given the lack of a live crowd that actually cared what was going on, which took away from the broadcast.

Also, ESPN showing ads for the unregulated America’s Cardroom alongside ads for the regulated WSOP.com is a bit confusing and definitely sends mixed messages to viewers and to the poker community. It’s the same America’s Cardroom ad we’ve seen for a while now and, when we last asked about it, we were told it was a commercial that appeared in select local markets.

On the decision to air America’s Cardroom dot-net ads, ESPN officials told PocketFives, “The site is not a gambling siteand includes all the proper disclaimers and website requirements for this category.”

The 2014 WSOP Big One for One Drop, featuring the controversial Dan Colman, begins on Tuesday, July 29 on ESPN.

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