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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.
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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 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 won $2.5 million after winning his seat through a $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 is $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 2017, though viewership has dropped dramatically since the early boom.
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]
| Program | Network | Years aired | Current commentators |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Series of Poker | CBS; ESPN; PokerGO | 1978–1981, 1983; 1987 onwards1, 2017–20192 | Lon McEachern, Norman Chad, and Jamie Kerstetter |
| United States Poker Championship | ESPN | 1997–2000; 2003-2006 | Lon McEachern and Norman Chad |
| World Poker Tour | The Travel Channel; GSN; Fox Sports Net | 2003–2007; 2008; 2009 onwards | Mike Sexton 2002-2017, Tony Dunst 2017- and Vince Van Patten |
| European Poker Tour | Sportsnet Canada | 2004 onwards | James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton |
| Celebrity Poker Showdown | Bravo | 2003–2006 | Dave Foley and Phil Gordon |
| Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament | Fox Sports Net | 2004 onwards | Chris Rose and Howard Lederer |
| Ultimate Poker Challenge | syndication | 2004 onwards | Chad Brown and weekly guest |
| Poker Royale | GSN | 2004–2005 | John Ahlers and Robert Williamson III |
| High Stakes Poker | GSN; PokerGO | 2006–2007; 2009-2011; 2020 onwards | Gabe Kaplan and A.J. Benza |
| Professional Poker Tour | The Travel Channel | 2006–2007 | Matt Corboy and Mark Seif |
| National Heads-Up Poker Championship | NBC | 2005 onwards | Matt Vasgersian and Gabe Kaplan |
| Poker Dome Challenge | Fox Sports Net | 2006–2007 | Barry Tompkins and Michael Konik |
| Poker After Dark | NBC; PokerGO | 2007–2011; 2017 onwards | Oliver Nejad and weekly guests |
| Pro-Am Poker Equalizer | ESPN | 2007 | Phil Gordon and Oliver Nejad |
| Heartland Poker Tour | syndication | 2005 onwards | Fred Bevill and Maria Ho |
| Pokerstars Big Game | Fox Network | 2010-2011 | Joe Stapleton Scott Huff Chris Rose Amanda Leatherman |
| Poker Night in America | CBS Sports Network | 2014 onwards | Chris Hanson |
| Windy City Poker Championship | CSN Chicago; CSN California; Sun Sports | 2008 onwards | Jason Finn and Kirk Fallah |
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 2017-2019.
Europe[edit]
| Program | Network | Years aired | Current commentators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late Night Poker | Channel 4 (UK) Fox Sports Net (US) | 1999–2002, 2006 onwards | Jesse May and Barny Boatman (final season) |
| Poker Million | Sky Sports | 2000, 2003 onwards | Jesse May and John Duthie |
| World Heads-Up Poker Championship | Unknown | 2001 onwards | Unknown |
| Celebrity Poker Club | Challenge (UK) | 2003 onwards | Jesse May and Victoria Coren |
| European Poker Tour | Channel 4 (UK) | 2004 onwards | James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton |
| Victor Chandler Poker Cup | Sky Sports | 2004 onwards | Jesse May and Barny Boatman |
| The Gaming Club World Poker Championship | Sky Sports | 2004 | Unknown |
| British Poker Open | The Poker Channel | 2005 onwards | Unknown |
| World Speed Poker Open | The Poker Channel | 2005 onwards | Gary Jones, Roy Brindley, Lucy Rokach |
| Late Night Poker Ace | Channel 4 (UK) | 2005 onwards | Jesse May and Simon Trumper |
| PartyPoker Poker Den (season 1-3, season 4 renamed to PartyPoker Big Game) | Challenge (UK) | 2005 onwards | Grub Smith and Tony Cascarino |
| William Hill Poker Grand Prix | Sky Sports | 2006 onwards | Jesse May, Andrew Black, Lucy Rokach |
| Poker Nations Cup | Channel 4 (UK) | 2006 onwards | Jesse May, Barny Boatman and Padraig Parkinson |
| PartyPoker.com Football & Poker Legends Cup | Five (UK) | 2006 onwards | Jesse May, Padraig Parkinson and Ken Lennaárd |
| Pokerheaven.com Online Series of Poker | CNBC | 2006 onwards | Unknown |
| Fulltiltpoker.com Million Dollar Cash Game | Sky Sports | 2006 onwards | Unknown |
| La Notte del Poker | SKY Sport 2 | 2006 onwards | Pupo, Zero Assoluto, Chiara Edelfa Masciotta |
| Pokermania | Italia 1 (Italy) | 2007 onwards | Ciccio Valenti and Luca Pagano |
Notes[edit]
- ^Burton, Earl (May 24, 2006). ''High Stakes Poker' Back for a Second Season in June'. PokerNews. Retrieved October 27, 2006.
- ^Rovell, Darren (2011-04-18). 'Insider Breakdown of Poker's Black Friday'. CNBC. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
For over 30 years, poker players and fans alike have been tuning in to Poker TV to see the strategy and thrill of a live poker game. Since that time, the way that people watch television has revolutionized, and Poker TV has evolved with it, and what started with a single televised poker event has become a whole world of poker, right at your fingertips.
The original Poker TV began in the United States back in the 1970s and consisted exclusively of television broadcasts of live poker tournaments, namely the main event of the World Series of Poker. Although these games offered viewers their only glimpse into the life and events of big name players in poker and the way that they executed their strategy, a lot was missing. Technology at the time meant that spectators could only see the game from an outsider’s perspective, which had its limitations because those watching at home could only truly understand the players’ strategy in retrospect or by using video playback, which was too expensive to be practical until the 1980s, and, even then, was horribly inconvenient. Likewise, commentators also had to guess what was happening, which made for dialogue that wasn’t overwhelmingly engaging for the viewer at home.
It would be two decades before a breakthrough transformed Poker TV, making it far more entertaining for the at-home spectator as well as amateur and professional players who were trying to examine strategy. In Europe, the “hole cam” was born– a device that sat under the table and showed what cards a player had, giving the audience the perspective of each player. Unfortunately, this groundbreaking innovation came at an awkward moment in Poker TV history, as Poker TV in Europe was grinding to a halt, and the US was only televising a one-hour synopsis of the World Series of Poker tournaments.
The Best Poker TV Shows
Poker in the United States can be found on ESPN, Bravo, GSN, and several other major networks, such as CBS, NBS, and CNBS, when the shows have been syndicated. In Great Britain, television stations which broadcast poker shows include Channel 4, Challenge, and Five, while Italy shows Pokermania on Italia 1. In Europe at large, Poker TV can be found on Sky Sports as well as The Poker Channel and Pokerzone, two free-to-air channels that were created during the big poker boom in the mid-2000s.
Poker After Dark
Poker After Dark offers viewers a look into the evolution of a single poker table over the course of a week and has minimal commentary so that spectators can hear and assess table talk between the players. One of the most popular programs in Poker TV since its inception in 2007, Poker After Dark is a unique show that has had seven seasons as of mid-2011.
Late Night Poker
This show, originally broadcast in the UK, is one of the best known Poker TV programs, in part because they were responsible for the introduction of the special cameras that revolutionized the Poker TV world. While the show was originally created between 1999 and 2002, it lead to the creation of several other programs, including Late Night Poker Ace, Late Night Poker Masters, and Celebrity Poker Club.
Million Dollar Cash Game
This show is touted as being “Europe’s biggest ever televised cash game,” with a $100,000 minimum buy-in and no maximum amount that players can put down. Sponsored by Full Tilt Poker (who also sponsors Poker After Dark), Million Dollar Cash Game broke records and put itself on the Poker TV map in 2009 when it had a pot of over 1.1 million dollars– the largest in television history at the time.
Poker Shows On Dec 28, '20 - Jan 04, '21 Poker On TV
High Stakes Poker
Like Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker is designed to follow a single game, rather than a tournament. Cash games followed by High Stakes Poker have buy-ins that range from $100,000 to $500,000 dollars, with some players opting to buy-in for a hefty million dollars. Like in other cash games, the players play for real money, and if they lose the amount that they’ve bought in for (or bought back in for), their cash is gone, making for some very intense action.
Poker Tv Tropes
Poker TV has seen the creation of a great many other excellent poker shows, such as Poker Royale, Celebrity Poker Showdown, and Ultimate Poker Challenge, all of which air in the United States, La Notte del Poker and Pokermania, both native to Italy, and Poker Million, and Celebrity Poker Club, both created by United Kindom poker aficionados.