Flash back to
1978 when country western singer Kenny Rogers was entertaining
us with his hit single, “The Gambler.” The key line in the
tune was “You got to know when to holdem, know when to foldem.”
Cable
television, and ESPN in particular, appears to have adopted
the hold ‘em philosophy, in terms of coverage, as the game
called Texas HoldEm, a best-five-card poker game, has seized
the interest of television viewers.
“You not
only can watch it for entertainment but as a tutorial as well.
People can actually pick up some poker tips,” said Mike
Antinoro, ESPN’s executive producer of original programming.
An
appropriately named accountant from Spring Hill, Tenn.,
28-year-old Chris Moneymaker, walked away with the $2.5
million dollar top prize as champion of the 2003 World Series
of Poker. The week-long event, which was held at Binion’s
Horseshow Casino in downtown Las Vegas, began on May 27, 2003,
attracting a field of 839 men and women.
Moneymaker
was one of many who paid $40 and qualified for the tournament
via the Internet. The balance of the field was comprised of
those who chose to be on site and pay a $10,000 ante to play.
Prior to
his 2003 win, Moneymaker was considered as part of a group
called “Dead Money,” someone who has zero chance of winning.
But with strategic play, and let’s be honest, an uncanny
amount of luck, Moneymaker took them all down to claim the top
prize. This year he lived up to his previous reputation,
falling out of the competition by day one.
ESPN’s
initial coverage that began July 8, 2003, and continues nearly
a year later, made household names out of Moneymaker, Farha,
Harrington, Lester, and Vahedi. (Last year’s final table
participants)
Announcers
for the event are Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, an extremely
entertaining sports columnist who writes a weekly syndicated
article entitled “Couch Slouch.” Some of his very cynical
quips from last year included: “The poker police should come
and arrest him for a poker DUI.” “It’s like he’s from the Lee
Strasburg Acting School and he’s a dropout.” “He’s playing
cards the Salvation Army would reject.” “A better move for him
would be to take a phone call and drop his cards in the trash
can on the way out.”
“Even
though I’d never done this before, I didn’t know I would take
to it like a fish in water,” said Chad. “I’m pretty quick on
my feet and sarcastic. Combine that with
Texas HoldEm
poker and
gambling, that come naturally to me, and it was a made in
Heaven mix for me.”
The
recently concluded 2004 tournament attracted 2,576 players,
(tripled from last year) with Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, a
patent attorney from Stonington, Conn., walking away with the
top prize of $5 million, marking the third straight year that
a non-professional player has won. Four of the final nine
players got into this
Texas HoldEm
tournament
through Internet play.
“Unfortunately, we are a gambling nation,” said Chad. We’ve
found the mechanism to set off this latent gene called
gambling and that is the Internet and television.”
Viewers
can begin tuning in on July 6, when the network will air 22
original one-hour episodes (up from seven) every Tuesday night
from 9 to 11 p.m. Producers will edit the segments into
one-hour shows. At the end of June and every two weeks through
the end of August, McEachern and Chad will voice over about
five shows per each sitting.
Anticipation for the 2005 tournament is even loftier as
executives believe the number of entrants will triple once
again and that total prize money should be in excess of
$40,000,000 with the winner pocketing around $6 million. With
the influx of reality TV as part of our viewing genre, The
World Series of Poker makes a mockery of payouts received from
the “Island rejects” or “You’re Fired business hopefuls.”
Consider that second place at the final table paid Dallas
college student David Williams $3.5 million.
“People
want to see the human side,” said Antinoro. “This worked out
like a scripted drama as people get into the personalities of
the players. Each week, viewers would tune in to see who would
survive, almost like a reality series.”
Coverage
by the sports cable giant will be enhanced this year as well.
Through the use of twenty-two cameras, viewers will be treated
to coverage from above, around, and inside the table. Mini
cameras include nine “pocket cams”, a “rabbit cam” under the
table, two “robo cams”, two “lipstick cams”, as well as a
“visor cam” on the dealer’s head.
Without
question, Texas Hold ‘Em is the new found craze of poker
players. The game is a no-limit, two down and five up, best of
five-card poker game. As one executive so aptly put it, “It’s
a game that guarantees high stakes action and big-time losers.
Another person’s misery makes for great reality TV.”
And the
Texas HoldEm
poker craze is
not just limited to ESPN. The Travel Channel serves up “World
Poker Tour”, which begins on June 30, while Bravo has
celebrities competing against each other in “Celebrity Poker
Showdown.”
“It’s
serendipitous that ESPN and the Travel Channel both chose to
make a bigger
Texas HoldEm
poker commitment
in the same year,” said Mike. “We have been airing poker since
1994, but nothing we ever produced, just supplied to us. We
found it rated pretty well, without adding a lot of production
quality. Last year, we made the commitment to raise that
level.”
According
to World Poker Tour creator, Steve Lipscomb, “Five years from
now, I don’t have to figure out how to make it different. It’s
about how we tell the story, build the drama, and make the
viewer feel that he is sitting in the seat making the
million-dollar decision.”
Asked if
viewership has peaked or is still on the ascent, Antinoro
continued by saying, “I think right now, we’re still on the
way up.”
