A Historical Background on the Television Broadcasting of Poker

The television has been a key factor in the recent resurgence of poker. People may hardly notice it but the game has been circulating on television for quite a long time already. The innovative broadcasting of the world series of Poker and the World Poker Tour has made the game closer and endearing to all the television viewers out there. Since then, the game has been into levels that it has never reached before.

Poker has been aired on television in as early as the closing years of the nineteen seventies. In the U.S., CBS was the first to bring the game into television when it aired the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. Since then, the tradition continued but the coverage of the games was not that good during those early years. The viewers on television still can't see what the players are holding in their hands. This made the game a little bit dull to watch.

The biggest break for the television broadcasting of poker came in 1997 when the so-called hole camera was released in Europe. It gave way for viewers to have a closer look and feel of the game. From then on, even the hole cards of the players can already be seen. Because of this, the game became much exciting and fun to watch as people can now see how the different players execute their strategies and skills in the game.

In 1999, the World Series of Poker was telecast in the U.S. During that time, the game experienced a sudden surge in viewers. Steven Lipscomb, a known filmmaker of top rating documentaries, was able to find some big time poker enthusiast to finance the World Poker Tour that he conceptualized. This huge event revolutionized the way televised poker games are presented using state-of-the-art technologies such as interactive graphics and pocket cameras. The result was a more vivid display of excellent poker competition.

After seeing the potential of professional poker games in the field of television, more and more television networks invested in the excitement that this increasingly popular game can bring. Bravo, Sky Sports, and ESPN are some of the most well known networks that were convinced that there is indeed a very huge market waiting to explode in the game of poker. Since then, more and more television programs have emerged to feature the best of the best that the world of poker has to offer.