Mark Hickman was a senior producer for a television production company during the mid-1990s when he was hired by the Discovery Channel to put together an anthology of documentaries.

One was to examine the lifestyle of high rollers in Las Vegas. Hickman called Steve Lipscomb, a childhood friend who also was in the business of making TV programs, to collaborate on the project with him.

Lipscomb immediately was taken by the culture of poker. He suggested to Hickman that poker could become a regular staple on television someday.

"(Hickman) thought it was the stupidest idea in the world,' Lipscomb said. "He didn't think anyone would just sit there and watch people play poker.'

Almost a decade later, there are a lot of people watching poker. It has become a TV smash, with several networks airing poker on a regular basis and pulling in favorable ratings.

"I was wrong, absolutely wrong,' Hickman said. "I wish I had been as smart (as Lipscomb).'

Lipscomb went on to create the World Poker Tour, which airs on the Travel Channel every Wednesday in prime time. The WPT is the pioneer of modern televised poker, and since then ESPN, Fox Sports Net, Bravo and the Game Show Network have created their own poker programming.

"A lot of people love this game,' Lipscomb said. "It's just a great game. If you can show it in a compelling way, it's not that big of a surprise that people dig it.'

Lipscomb pitched his idea to several networks, but their reaction was a lot like Hickman's. So Lipscomb and partner Lyle Berman produced a pilot, and the Travel Channel went for it.

"Most of the networks thought I was nuts,' Lipscomb said. "I thought if I build it, they will come.'

Televised poker had been tried before, but until Lipscomb re- invented it in its current format, it didn't translate well.

One of the major differences now is the development of a unique table that is fitted for cameras, which shoot upward and allow viewers to see the players' cards.

"It put a level of drama to something that hadn't had it before,' said George Greenberg, Fox Sports Net executive vice president of programming and production. "It took out wonder and added drama.'

The original table was devised by Henry Orenstein, an accomplished inventor who came to the United States after surviving five concentration camps during the Holocaust. Orenstein was a regular poker player who said he watched the game on ESPN in its old format and couldn't stomach it.

"It was very boring,' Orenstein said. "Hand after hand was played, and I didn't know the hand. It was just ridiculous.'

Orenstein secured a U.S. patent for the table and shortly afterward had a deal in place with ESPN. But he said it fell through when the vice president of that division at ESPN left.

Like Lipscomb, Orenstein then had trouble selling it to other networks. Lipscomb came up with his own idea for the table independently of Orenstein, who in turn informed the WPT that he held the patent for the table and threatened to sue. They ended up settling for what Lipscomb said was a "minimal fee.'

The WPT was an immediate success and became the Travel Channel's highest-rated show. The new table transformed the way the game could be televised, and other networks quickly came up with their own shows. Orenstein proposed a show called "Poker Superstars' to FSN, which the network embraced. ESPN airs the World Series of Poker, Bravo has a celebrity poker show, and the Game Show Network has the World Poker Player Association.

The proliferation of televised poker, particularly Texas Holdem, has reached such heights that it seems as if the game can be found somewhere no matter when you turn on the television. Original programming gets ratings that rival more mainstream sports, and poker reruns haul in a hefty viewership, as well.

Part of that is because poker shows can serve as a learning tool for aspiring players.

"Every hand is a lesson,' said Bob Chesterman, coordinating producer of ESPN Original Entertainment. "You're watching a poker all-star game every week. Everybody thinks they can be an expert at it. People learn from these guys.'

Before viewers were able to see players' cards, it was kind of like watching a kicker line up for a field goal and not knowing whether his team was down by three points or 30. Now, viewers know when a player is taking risks and are able to relate to the tension when great sums of money are at stake.

"It feels like a sport now,' Lipscomb said. "Before it played like a documentary. Now it has you on the edge of your seat. I call it a sport, and nobody laughs at me anymore when I do that. It makes you yell at your TV screen. It makes you care about what happened.'

Ratings for ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker last year kept pace with regular-season Major League Baseball and NBA games. Depending on the region of the country, Poker Superstars does the same on FSN.

Lipscomb doesn't think the TV poker explosion is going to slow down anytime soon. The WPT went public and now is on Nasdaq.

"This is truly reality television,' Lipscomb said. "Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances make great stories. This is regular people, and at any moment they could win or lose. A life-changing moment is possible on every hand. It creates phenomenal drama.'