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Most of us had an image of poker that wasn’t too pretty. Smoke filled rooms, with shady people, with cheating almost expected. So, let’s see how poker became big business.
Three different events occurred that have created this new world. These three things have combined to change how poker is viewed by the public. It is now big business. Read on to see how this has happened.
Planet poker, in 1998, becomes the first online poker room. Casinos had been online since 1994. With people playing poker in their living room the evolution starts.
Poker has been shown on television since the late 70’s. First by CBS, and later taken over by ESPN, a one hour show of the WSOP main event was shown every year. The audience was small and things were going nowhere.
The second key event that happened actually happened first. A camera (pocket cam) is placed so that the audience can see the players’ hole cards. This device would be a major contributor to the poker explosion.
2002 becomes sort of a stepping stone to the poker explosion. Having picked up the WSOP coverage again, ESPN uses the pocket cam for the first time. Also, the WPT (World Poker Tour) is formed and in 2003 will air the first season of the tour, with the pocket cam.
With audiences growing, due to the pocket cam allowing viewer to feel the action so much better, ESPN decides it will expand its coverage in 2003. This seems prophetic looking back.
ESPN decides that they will get coverage from every day. They will have pocket cam on the feature table. They also start profiling the players.
The tournament concludes with unknown Chris Moneymaker beating all the pros to capture the $2.5 million dollar first prize. He is basically just a small time internet player. He won $10,000 entry for $40, by working his way through two levels of qualifying.
When an unknown internet player turns $40 in $2.5 million, interest in poker explodes. Everyone wants to get involved in poker. The poker industry takes off.
It started with internet poker, the ease and convenience of playing at home. Then the poker cam made watching poker on television exciting. When Chris Moneymaker, wins the biggest tournament in the world, the poker industry booms.
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