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World Poker Tour - Background
[ Image courtesy of the World Poker Tour website ]
The World Poker tour is composed of two different aspects. On one hand, it is an elite high stakes Texas Hold'em tournament drawing both amateurs as well as poker professions. On the other hand, it is a television show on the Travel Channel, intended to hit a massive target audience of novice poker players. Both the tournament side and the television side of the event are equally impressive.
The World Poker Tour is a series of 15 Texas Hold'em tournaments, 12 of which are aired on the Travel Channel. The World Poker TOur tournaments are held around the world, in places spanning from Costa Rica, to Los Angeles, to France, with the WPT Championship tournament being held at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
In each of the 14 tournaments preceding the WPT Championship the winner receives both a $25,000 buy in to the World Poker Tour Championship, and the grand prize for the tournament itself. Individual tournament prizes vary depending on the number of entrants. In the past the grand prize has ranged from $100,000 for smaller tournaments to $1,000,000 for the WPT Championship.
In addition to standard tournaments, each season the World Poker Tour holds a celebrity invitational tournament. This tournament pits Hollywood celebrities against poker professionals. Aside from being fun to watch, celebrities have a chance to win a large chunk of money for their favorite charity, as well as a seat at the WPT Championship tournament.
Alongside the World Poker Tour tournaments, the WPT television show provides a method for novice poker players and poker enthusiasts to watch the pros compete. Many features of the WPT television show make it very viewer friendly: small cameras that show each players hole cards, play-by-play commentary, definitions of poker lingo, and on screen displays of percentages, and how these percentages change as cards fall.
The most prominent of the World Poker TOur features is the use of small cameras to let viewers see which cards each player is holding in their hand. The World Poker Tour was the first television show to allow viewers to see these cards, and it is one of the major reasons for their success. With the cameras, you can see each player's hand, regardless of whether they fold or stay in the game until the end. Other poker shows would only display player's hands if there was a showdown.
Another feature which makes the WPT unique is the commentary. Two commentators: Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten give play-by-play commentary throughout the show. One of the more beneficial things this does is provide some background information on each of the players. Given that not all of the hands that get dealt are televised, the commentators will let the viewing audience know what recently happened off camera - who won, who lost and against whom. They let the audience know why a player might be playing extra tight or loose. It also adds a great deal of color to the show. The commentary is geared more toward the novice player.
Throughout the show, when someone uses any specialized poker lingo, a little box will appear on screen, defining whatever term was just used. This lets poker novices pick up on the basic poker terminology, and is an easy way for veteran poker players to find definitions for little used poker terms.
The growing popularity of the WPT can be attributed to a number of factors. The World Poker Tour draws large audiences due to its ability to draw the novice player into the game. Another huge draw of the WPT is that anyone can enter. Most of the tournaments are open to anyone with the money to buy in. If players do not have the money to spare to buy directly into a tournament, most of the World Poker Tour tournaments have satellite tournaments. This allows novice players to try their hand, potentially winning a spot in one of the WPT tournaments for as little as $10. The thrill of big money, the ability for anyone to enter, and the high quality television broadcast make the World Poker Tour one of the most popular poker television shows on the air, as well as a very popular series of poker tournaments. A tribute to its popularity, the World Poker Tour Championship, Season 1, was the second highest rated individual program in the Travel Channel history.
The World Poker Tour airs on the Travel Channel Wednesdays 9-11pm ET. Season 2 began July 2003, with the championship game coming on April 23, 2004
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