Poker television programs had been extremely popular, especially in North America and Europe, following the poker boom. This has especially 💳 become the case since the invention of the "pocket cam" in 1997 (and its first use in the United States 💳 in 2002), which allows viewers at home to see each player's hole cards. However, viewership has been declining dramatically in 💳 recent years, due to laws that restricted online play in the United States.
History [ edit ]
Poker has been appearing on 💳 television somewhat regularly since the late-1970s. In the United States, CBS started airing the final table of the World Series 💳 of Poker (WSOP) Main Event as an annual one-hour show around this time and later by ESPN, which were casino-produced 💳 shows produced under a time-buy arrangement for sports omnibus programming such as the CBS Sports Spectacular. For many years, the 💳 coverage was less than robust because viewers at home could not see what cards the players had or follow their 💳 progress visually through graphics. Instead, the coverage essentially involved the commentators guessing what cards the players had in a documentary 💳 style production.
In 1997, the hole cam, which allows audiences to see the hidden cards that players held in their hands, 💳 was introduced in Europe. The hole cam was patented by WSOP bracelet winner Henry Orenstein and first used in the 💳 Late Night Poker television series. It was used again in the inaugural Poker Million tournament in 2000 which boasted the 💳 attraction of the first £1,000,000 poker game on live television. By 1996, however, the ESPN one-hour highlight show only included 💳 hands that were shown down, so that the commentators, including Gabe Kaplan, could comment, in post-production, on the hands while 💳 they were being played out. The commentators referred to this as "taking a peek at the cards", and provided the 💳 first contemporary announcing on hands during the play in poker history. By 2001, however, Late Night Poker had been cancelled 💳 in the UK and televised poker could no longer be found in Europe. In the US, the 1999, 2000, and 💳 2001 World Series of Poker events were only broadcast in one-hour documentaries on the Discovery Networks.
In 1999, documentary filmmaker Steven 💳 Lipscomb produced and directed a documentary on the WSOP for the Discovery Channel. It was the first U.S. poker production 💳 funded entirely by a television network rather than the casino. When the 1999 WSOP aired, it doubled its audience over 💳 the hour time slot. Seeing the audience reaction, Lipscomb believed there was an untapped market and began pitching poker series 💳 ideas to cable and network television. Because poker had been on the air for over twenty years, with little viewer 💳 interest, broadcasters were unwilling to commit resources to put a series on the air.
In October 2001, Lipscomb wrote a business 💳 plan. Along with poker player Mike Sexton and poker business woman Linda Johnson, Lipscomb approached casino mogul and avid poker 💳 player, Lyle Berman, whose company Lakes Entertainment agreed to fund the World Poker Tour (WPT)—the first organized and televised tour 💳 of poker tournaments in the world.
In June 2002, WPT filmed its first episode at Bellagio in Las Vegas. Wanting to 💳 create a compelling, action-packed show, WPT took eight months to edit the first WPT episode. ESPN, who resumed their coverage 💳 of the World Series of Poker in 2002, featured pocket cam technology in their return broadcast—albeit, in a very limited 💳 capacity—prior to the WPT's first show.
During this time, the “WPT Format” was created featuring the WPT hole cam, interactive graphics 💳 and “live sports feel”. These new features put viewers into the minds and at the heart of the action. The 💳 first WPT episode aired on March 30, 2003, on the Travel Channel and became an instant success (the highest rated 💳 show in network history).
A few months later, ESPN's broadcast of the 2003 World Series of Poker adopted many features characteristic 💳 of the emerging WPT series, with an improved graphic display detailing the exciting action of the Main Event's final table. 💳 This coupled with the unlikely outcome in the 2003 WSOP Main Event—where Tennessee accountant Chris Moneymaker wonR$2.5 million after winning 💳 his seat through aR$39 PokerStars satellite tournament—and the ensuing publicity only further sparked the already accelerated interest in the game 💳 initiated by the WPT.
These events are considered the main contributor to poker's booming popularity—increasing the number of entrants into live 💳 poker tournaments (at all levels), the growth of online poker and the overall greater interest in the game—but above all 💳 others, the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event (and subsequent broadcast on ESPN) is most cited as poker's Tipping 💳 Point; commonly referred to as the "Moneymaker Effect".
Poker gained further exposure in Canada and much of the United States as 💳 a result of the 2004-05 NHL lockout, which caused sports networks in both countries to air poker as replacement programming 💳 for their NHL coverage.[citation needed]
The much improved ratings of poker television programs from this point on lead to ESPN covering 💳 many more events of the World Series of Poker (in addition to the Main Event as in the past) since 💳 2003, as well as covering some other tournaments outside of the World Series, such as the United States Poker Championship. 💳 Since its first broadcast, WPT has also expanded its tour stops from 12 events at seven casino partner locations to 💳 23 domestic and international tournaments and 14 casino partners in Season VI.
Since the introduction of the hole cam and WPT 💳 television format, poker has become almost ubiquitous in the US and Europe. While poker originally aired on sports channels such 💳 as ESPN and Sky Sports has expanded to such "non traditional" networks as Bravo and GSN. All poker television programs 💳 make heavy use of the aforementioned pocket cam and television format, plus generally feature a "straightman" and a "comedian" type 💳 of commentators, with one often being a professional poker player.
With the ability to edit a tournament that lasts days into 💳 just a few hours, ESPN's World Series of Poker broadcasts generally focus on showing how various star players fared in 💳 each event. Key hands from throughout the many days of each year's WSOP Main Event are shown, and similar highly 💳 edited coverage of final tables is also provided. For the events in the WSOP before the Main Event, only the 💳 final table is covered in television coverage, similar to how the Main Event was televised before ESPN's airing of the 💳 2003 World Series Main Event.
The World Poker Tour does not offer general coverage of the multi-day poker tournaments. Instead, the 💳 WPT covers only the action at the final table of each event. With aggressive play and increasing blinds and antes, 💳 the important action from a single table can easily be edited into a two-hour episode. Although the tournament fate of 💳 fewer stars are chronicled this way, it allows the drama to build more naturally toward the final heads up showdown.
Although 💳 most poker shows on television focus on tournaments, High Stakes Poker shows a high-stakes cash game. In this game professional 💳 and amateur players play no limit Texas Hold 'em with their own money (the minimum to enter the game isR$100,000). 💳 This game has allowed spectators to observe differences between cash games and tournaments, and to see how players adjust their 💳 play to the different format.[1]
Poker's growth in Europe led to the creation of two FTA channels: The Poker Channel and 💳 Pokerzone. Both began broadcasting during 2005.
Televised poker experienced a sudden disruption in 2011 after the lawsuit United States v. Scheinberg 💳 et al. was filed. Two of the defendants in that case, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, were the primary sponsors 💳 of most of the shows that were airing on American television at the time.[2] Since it was discovered that online 💳 gambling (other than sports betting) was not illegal and the state law used to file the lawsuit was not applicable 💳 to foreign companies, the lawsuit was resolved in 2012, with the two companies merging and without any admission of guilt.
Although 💳 once popular, poker television programs have steadily been losing their audience and never fully recovered from the disruption caused by 💳 the Scheinberg lawsuit. ESPN is on contract to show World Series of Poker programming through 2024, though viewership has dropped 💳 dramatically since the early boom.
The over-the-top content platform PokerGO was launched in 2024 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.[3] 💳 It is a subscription-based streaming service specializing in poker content including cash games, tournaments, and documentaries.[4] PokerGO streamed the World 💳 Series of Poker from 2024 to 2024 in partnership with ESPN, before CBS Sports became the new domestic television partner 💳 in 2024.[5]
In December 2024 on YouTube-based Hustler Casino Live, the biggest pot in televised U.S. poker broadcast history was set. 💳 The No-Limit Hold'em cash game had stakes ofR$200/$400/$800/$1,600 and Alan Keating would win theR$1,158,000 pot with a flush against "Handz".[6]
In 💳 February 2024 on PokerGO's No Gamble, No Future Cash of the Titans, Patrik Antonius would win aR$1,978,000 pot with two 💳 pair against Eric Persson to break the record set on Hustler Casino Live.[7] Following that record-breaking pot, there were three 💳 pots that also amounted to larger than the previous record pot that was set on Hustler Casino Live.[8][9]
Poker television programs 💳 [ edit ]
Here is a list of poker television programs that have aired on television in either North America or 💳 Europe.
North America [ edit ]
1 ESPN did not air the WSOP in 1996 or 1999–2001; The Discovery Channel did air 💳 one-hour specials of the 2000 & 2001 Main Events
2 World Series of Poker bracelets events and select coverage of the 💳 Main Event have streamed on exclusively on PokerGO from 2024 onwards.
3 In 2024, CBS Sports became the new domestic television 💳 partner for the WSOP alongside PokerGO.
Europe [ edit ]
