TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

Networks cashing in on America's fascination with no-limit drama

For poker players, "Shuffle up and deal!" are some of the sweetest words in the English language. They signal the start of a poker tournament — America's new craze, thanks to television.

Mike Sexton, left, and Vince Van Patten co-anchor no-limit hold-'em tournaments for Travel Channel's World Poker Tour telecasts.

"Certainly poker has been the rave of the country as the new pastime because of television," said Mike Sexton, who co-anchors no-limit holdem tournaments for Travel Channel's World Poker Tour telecasts.

"Because of the success of the tour, many more prominent business people are coming to play. More women and certainly more college-age kids, they love the show and are starting to play. The success of the show has been good for the entire poker industry because it's brought so many more players into the game."

The number of WPT viewers has climbed from 790,000 in its premiere season last year to 1.5 million this year. On ESPN, 1.9 million viewers recently watched a replay of the 2003 World Series of Poker tournament.

Poker is also hot on Fox Sports, which carries World Series of Poker-sanctioned tourneys, and on Bravo, home of Celebrity Poker Showdown. Television executives are thrilled to find a television show that skews to a young (most viewers are 21-34), predominantly male (70 percent) audience.

The growing viewership has resulted in increased entries in poker tournaments, including online poker tourneys in which amateurs can participate for as little as $40. Record purses have resulted.

A record audience is expected this week (8 p.m. Wednesday, Travel Channel) as the WPT presents its 2004 tournament, with the winner taking home a record purse of $2.7 million. On July 6, ESPN will begin telecasts of last May's World Series of Poker, in which the winner won a record $5 million.

It's hard to believe that poker-watching has come so far. The magic hinges on viewers being able to see the concealed cards the players hold, courtesy of well-positioned lipstick cameras around the poker table.

"That's only part of it," said Steve Lipscomb, and he should know — he figured out how to make Texas holdem poker watching a great spectator sport, then invented the World Poker Tour.

Yes, Lipscomb said, the six lipstick cameras tucked under the rim of the poker table are important, but so are other elements: the play-along graphics (which show the unseen "hole" cards each player is holding), the ability to see those graphics as well as the "community cards" being dealt on the table (shown constantly for easy reference), plus the positioning of 10 additional cameras around the poker room to catch every player's action and reaction.

The result is a television show so slickly produced and edited, it plays as if it's live. In truth, "It's live fiction," Lipscomb said, accomplished initially through "eight months of intense editing time, an editor and myself in a room, knocking heads."

The other shows copy his format.

"It's quite a process," said Lipscomb, a lawyer turned filmmaker (the documentary Battle for the Minds) turned producer. "Everything happens on the micro level. The thing you want to see is the human drama. Just like any storytelling, it's about revealing the human condition. When somebody's got a million-dollar decision, that's just great TV."

No-limit Texas holdem is the game that's captured America's fancy. In it, players are dealt two face-down, or hole, cards. Players use those plus five "community" cards — dealt face up — to make the best five-card poker hand they can.

One of the dramas of no-limit poker is that players can bet "all in," risking every chip they have, on any hand. So it's not uncommon for $1 million pots to develop.

Sexton, who makes the game more enjoyable with his play-by-play descriptions, says filming one WPT episode takes six to eight hours. Sexton and co-host Vince Van Patten add their commentary after the tournament is completed.

"It's against gaming regulations in Nevada and most states for us to see cards as they're actually playing," said Sexton, who is also a professional poker player. "We go back and edit those in and redo the tournament, essentially. Then it's spliced together. Probably only 25 percent of what we say on the day of the event makes the air. The other 75 percent comes from the studio."

Lipscomb says he's pitching other Texas holdem poker-related shows to network chiefs. If green-lighted, they'll be on television within a year. There's no question network chiefs are interested. Everybody is.

"I had a meeting with (retired pro football player) Marcus Allen the other day," Lipscomb said. "We were going to do something with him and one of his charity events. He leaned over and said, 'If you want to be cool now, you've got to play Texas holdem poker.' "