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World Poker Tour
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The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a series of Texas Hold'em poker tournaments attended by the top professional players in the world. The tour is televised and broadcasted on American cable TV, which is one of the main reasons for its phenomenal success and speedy reception. The TV show, also named ‘World Poker Tour', first aired in the US in late 2002. Many see the tour and the show as one of the main forces behind the poker boom of recent years.
The show gained wide popularity in the US, and quickly became one of the highest rated shows on cable. With its 6th season scheduled to air in 2008, it still remains highly popular. The WPT show was innovative in many ways, and has paved the road for poker, specifically Texas Holde'm, into the heart of American mainstream, and subsequently into the hearts of the rest of the world.
But how did one series of tournaments, accompanied by one TV show, turn Texas Hold'em into a favorable pastime for millions? How does a game that's associated with middle-aged white men and shady rooms filled with cigarette smoke transform itself into a legitimate family event? There is no correct answer, but here are some thoughts.
First and foremost, there's the money. Nothing makes better TV than big cash prizes. Some may claim the World Poker Tour is just the next link in game-show evolution. Tough competition, lots of money at stake, and always an opening for an anonymous contestant to gain his or her fifteen minutes of glory. Isn't that a sure recipe for a good game show?
The WPT tournaments are structures so that anyone willing to pay the required buy-in to the tournament can take a seat at the table. An additional way to qualify is through online satellite tournaments, offered by leading online poker rooms. This is true of many world-famous poker tournaments, including the WSOP, so what makes the WPT so unique? The answer is that simply playing at a tournament doesn't make you famous. Reaching the final table of the WPT, however, is like being in the ‘American Idol' of poker, and that makes all the difference.
Indeed, the success of the WPT is linked directly to the success of the show, and the success of the show is largely due to the rise of the ‘reality TV' era in the early 2000's. The show is shot in the ‘reality TV' format, with the two hosts, WSOP winner Mike Sexton and actor Vince Van Patten, functioning as commentators. In between hands, background footage and interviews with the contestants are aired. This technique, adapted directly from the reality TV world, helped the public get better acquainted with the world's greatest poker players, and helped create an emotional bond between the viewers and the contestants.
Other than brilliantly borrowing from the reality TV format to turn poker into the hottest game-show in town, the World Poker Tour also utilized other technical innovations. The ‘hole cam' is a tiny camera placed at the base of the table, which allows viewers to see each player's ‘hole cards' as the hand unfolds. This technique was first used on the British ‘Late Night Poker' show. The hole card cam allows viewers to take part in the drama, and watch each hand as the action unfolds, rather than waiting for the end of each hand to understand what went down when it's no longer relevant.
One may argue that the World Poker Tour's main achievement was turning Texas Hold'em into a legitimate form of entertainment. Finding the correct balance between game-show and reality TV, and utilizing the latest technical innovations, the WPT has made it possible for millions of people around the world to experience the thrill of Texas Hold'em first hand.