Poker luminary Henry Orenstein, whose hole card camera debuted on the BBC’s Late Night Poker in 1999 (shown above), has passed away at the age of 98. [Image: YouTube – MRBUSTOP] Changed poker forever
The poker world is in mourning as Henry Orenstein, the inventor of the hole card camera, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 98. A member of both the Poker Hall of Fame and the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame, Orenstein is survived by his wife, Susie. Though the ability to see players’ hole cards on a television broadcast or internet stream is an automatic feature now, it was not always the case. Orenstein patented the device in 1995, but his hole card cam only debuted on BBC’s Late Night Poker four years later, in 1999. Players placed their hole cards on a glass window built into the table. A mirror below the window then reflected the image to a camera mounted under the table. A later version used a camera built into the table rail to spy on players cards as they peeked at them.
Poker pros were skeptical at first; many outright opposed to the camera, as it meant their strategies could be made known to the world. But when the camera led to more popularity for poker and, in turn, more fame and money for players, they came around.
Orenstein was also a skilled poker player in his own right. He made the World Series of Poker final table in 1995, finishing in 8th place. The very next year, he won a bracelet in $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud, the only WSOP gold bracelet of his career. Helped launch the poker boom
Henry Orenstein’s hole card cam revolutionized poker, making him arguably the most important person in the history of the game. If you have ever seen poker telecasts before the hole card cam, you know how absolutely agonizingly boring they could be. You are just sitting there, watching a bunch of men sitting there.
But with the ability to see player’s cards, the home viewing audience could now participate in the action. […]
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