The “Poker Meltdown” at Turning Stone is underway, and our boy Tom Schneider is doing the live broadcast now. Couldn’t tell you anything about the competitors, but that somehow is the point.

Not to criticize, but I couldn’t bring myself to even think about paying for it when the site wanted me to sign up and officially register before even telling me how much I’d be paying and what I’d be paying for. And, of course, any website that hasn’t figured that out probably also hasn’t figured out what got under ESPN’s live-broadcast skin starting back in 2006 …

Yep, there is indeed a link out there showing this live broadcast for free. And though I usually like to put the readers first when it comes to linking, I’m not going to share it with you — sorry, dick move, I know … but that would be kinda like showing someone a back door to a club where your friend’s band is playing, thereby dodging the cover. But I will give you a glimpse below of what you’re missing:

The Continental Poker Championship has scheduled their first PPV event (with Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider on commentary) at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York on Monday. Their first tournament, also at Turning Stone, drew 117 for a $2,000 buyin event back in July. Organizers were surely expecting similar numbers for their $1,500 3-day tournament, which started Saturday. Unfortunately, it looks like those final table participants may be waiting around for a while. According to a poster on 2+2 (post #666), they drew about 64. At 4:30 ET today, a player was eliminated in 30th. No word of if the final table is still to take place on Monday, but watch this space for any further updates if they become available.

Update: Play ended for the day around 8pm ET with 17 players left.

The final table starts at about noon ET today, Pokerpages will be providing live updates here.