When people talk about the history of poker there are three events that stick out above all others for the influence they have had on the game. The first is of course the World Series of Poker, which began in 1970 and has snowballed into the world’s most highly rewarded sporting event.
The second is the advent of the Internet and the phenomenon of online poker.
And the third is the World Poker Tour.
In tandem with the Internet the World Poker Tour transformed an otherwise almost un-televisable card game into one of the world’s most watched television programmes, and one of the most popular participation sports on the planet.
Founded in February 2002 by the attorney and television producer Steve Lipscomb, the concept of the WPT was modelled on the format used by the professional golf and tennis tours that dominate their respective sports.
Rather than constructing new tournaments the WPT would simply televise the final tables of the world’s biggest existing poker events, excluding the WSOP. It proved a bigger success than anyone could have hoped for.
Under-the-table / sneak-peek cameras (‘hole cams’)
Poker, by its nature, does not lend itself well to television. With each players’ hole cards face down spectators only speculate as to what is going on when the players bet, and if the hands never reach a showdown it is intensely frustrating. It was crucial then, if poker was ever to become a successful televised sport, that the hole cards could be filmed.
The first method of showing a players hole cards was developed by the UK television show Late Night Poker (debut 1999), which used a glass table top and a number of under-the-table cameras to show viewers (and commentators) the hidden cards in front of each player.
The idea was revolutionary, and caused a storm in poker circles. Unsurprisingly other companies borrowed the concept, the most successful of which was the WPT. Using a slightly different method the WPT sank miniature cameras into the poker table in front of each player to show the cards as the players look at them themselves.
Lipscomb and Berman
The WPT was devised by Steve Lipscomb and “Hall of Fame” poker player and business executive Lyle Berman. The two sensed that the poker market was ready for regular televised poker, and set about a way of bringing it to the small screen.
Teaming up with The Travel Channel they set up deals with many of the world’s premier casinos and card rooms to televise the final tables of their tournaments – always Texas Hold’em freeze-out tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $5000 to $25,000 – using their ‘sneak peek’ cameras.
Changing the face of poker
Since its inception the WPT has been in an accidental yet mutually beneficial relationship with online poker that has helped both beyond their wildest expectations.
With poker on television the sport’s popularity has exploded. More people than ever want to play poker, and now, for the first time in history, they all can. The easy anonymity of online poker has helped to allow those people who would otherwise never go to a casino to take up the sport.
The online industry has snowballed and online poker has become a phenomenon. The WPT can take great credit for this, but it has not been unrewarded.
As more and more people take up poker online, so the WPT itself benefits, with higher viewer ratings and greater advertising slot fees. And in addition the prize pools of the WPT tournaments have sky rocketed with the vast number of players qualifying for the tournaments online.
The combination has proved unstoppable, with the effects felt right across the poker world, including in events such as the WSOP, which has seen player numbers increase by about 900 percent since the launch of the WPT.
WPT growth exceeds all expectations
In its first year, despite almost immediate popularity, WPT tournaments were relatively small. The $5000 buy-in Legends of Poker tournament, for example, had only 134 entries and the entire prize pool was worth just $831,000, while the World Poker Finals had a minimal 89 entries and a prize pool of $915,000.
But things began to change very quickly indeed. By season II the number of players entering tournaments had doubled, and just three years after its inception the tournaments had ballooned beyond recognition. The most recent Legends of Poker (season 4) had a staggering 839 entries and a prize pool of over $4 million; the World Poker Finals had 783 entries and a prize pool of very nearly $8 million.
There are now 17 WPT events throughout the year filmed at the most glamorous poker tournaments in the world. Every WPT main-event now has a first prize of over $1 million, and the tournament has brought global stardom to its most successful players such as Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu.
Many online poker rooms are now offering qualifiers to WPT events for as little as $1; perhaps you could be the next WPT star….