Only a few years ago, it would seem impossible that some one could take a game with so little visual appeal like poker, and cause it to become one of the world’s most played games, and a popular television show that outranks every other in terms of rating when it is shown? It was Steve Lipscomb, the creator and CEO of the World Poker Tour that had the brainstorm in 2001. He started a company devoted to televising a series of high stakes poker games held in casinos across the country. A sort of reality show.
The enterprising Lipscomb sold his idea to the Travel channel, which agreed to televise at the outset 13 episodes. It turned out that the gamble was an astonishing success. The 2003 World Poker Tour attracted 844,000 viewers, nearly triple what the Travel Channel drew during the corresponding period of time the previous year.
The enterprising Lipscomb sold his idea to the Travel Channel, which agreed to televise a 13-week series of episodes. The experiment was a smashing success. The 2003 World Poker Tour attracted 844,000 viewers, nearly triple what the Travel Channel drew during the corresponding period of time the previous year. The Travel Channel knew it was making a good gamble. Of all the exotic places it takes viewers to, Las Vegas-geared programs were always the most popular. The 2003 WPT proved so successful that the series came back for an encore run during the summer.
What made the WPT so different was the invention of a tiny camera embedded in the rails in front of each player’s position. The enables viewers to take a peak at the player’s hands when the tilted them up to glance. Expert hand-by-hand commentary, synthesized music, and the creation of "poker superstars" add to the appeal.
It costs Lipscomb between $350,000 and $400,000 to produce each episode, but the investment proves well worth it. Competitions such as the World Series of Poker, which has been held at the Horseshoe Casino in Downtown Las Vegas since 1970, and the U.S. Poker Championship, which was inaugurated at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1996, were immediate beneficiaries of Lipscomb's brainchild.
The 2004 World Series of Poker began on April 23 and continued through May 23. The tournament, which is the longest continually held poker event in the world, drew 9,000 entrants. The famous championship event, a $10,000 buy-in game of Texas Hold'em, is expected to attract 1,200 players.
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