For most of its history, poker was a terrible thing to watch. People sat around a table, pushed chips into the middle and occasionally showed their cards. Viewers had no idea who was bluffing, so there was no story.
The camera under the table
The fix was simple: let the audience see the hole cards. British television experimented with small cameras built into the table at the end of the 1990s, and in the early 2000s American broadcasts such as the World Poker Tour made the "hole-card cam" the standard. Suddenly the viewer knew more than the players, and every bet became a small drama. Was he bluffing? We knew. He did not.
The amateur who changed everything
In 2003, an accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event after qualifying through an inexpensive online tournament. The idea that anybody with a computer could win millions at the biggest table in the game was irresistible, and the "poker boom" followed: packed tournaments, poker on sports channels late at night and home games in every dorm.
Booms and busts
The boom cooled after US law turned against online poker, first with a 2006 law that targeted payments to gambling sites and then with federal action against the biggest poker sites in April 2011, a day players still call "Black Friday". Since then, regulated online poker has returned in a handful of US states and is common in many other countries.
What to watch for as a viewer
- Position. The player who acts last has a big advantage, which is why the button moves round the table.
- Bet sizing. A sudden change in bet size often tells you more than a player's face.
- The commentators' odds. Most broadcasts show each player's chance of winning the hand as the cards come out; watch how fast those numbers swing.
If watching makes you want to play, a friendly home game is the best start; our guide to hosting a grown-up game night covers chips, snacks and house rules.
