Online Poker on TV?
With all the interest and television ratings that televised poker has garnered over the past five years or so, I wonder if major online poker tournaments will ever be televised.
Now before you start laughing, keep in mind that many things that are on television now would have once been considered not TV worthy, including poker. The first time I remember poker being televised was in the mid 1990’s, I believe it was the U.S. Championships from Atlantic City. It was on at 4 in the morning, basically as filler programming in the middle of the night. The idea that televised poker could one day be shown in primetime and attract huge audiences would have been absurd. So how would televised online poker work? Well, I suppose it could be like the current poker telecasts, showing everyone at the virtual table, with access to seeing their hole cards. Since that could get boring after a while, you would after all not have the interpersonal banterings that a live table has, perhaps camera crews could be in each of the players’ home locations to film their reactions to certain hands. Perhaps the poker game coverage could be interspersed with little featurettes about the players. Who knows if all that would work or not. But the fact is in an age where televised tournament poker can outdraw many sporting events, televising online poker is a feasible idea
