Televised poker can be divided into two distinct eras: before the introduction of the hole-card camera, and after the introduction of the hole-card camera. The former was defined by its mind-numbing dullness and appeal only to the most hardcore of poker enthusiasts. The latter saw the game explode in popularity and become a staple of every network from ESPN to NBC to Bravo .
And that distinction is owed largely to Henry Orenstein, the inventor and entrepreneur who died last week at the age of 98.
When I interviewed Orenstein in 2012 for the oral history that would become The Moneymaker Effect , the then-octogenarian explained the genesis of his brainchild, which would go on to make poker a viable spectator “sport.”
“It was about 30 years ago, maybe 1981 or ’82,” Orenstein recalled. “They had a poker show on ESPN and there were six hands in a row where the player didn’t call the bet, so we couldn’t see what happened! I was sitting there for 10 minutes and I couldn’t see anything. It was boring. And then suddenly, the thought struck me that if we put a camera in [the table], and we were able to see the pros’ cards, that that would make the thing much more interesting. So I called my engineers in, and within about four weeks we had a working model. I got the patent around ’84, ’85.”
It took nearly two decades before the hole-card camera was implemented with regularity. A British broadcaster tried it first, and it made its U.S. debut when the Travel Channel launched World Poker Tour in 2002. The following year, ESPN utilized it for the first time in televising the World Series of Poker Main Event, and in combination with the availability of online poker and an amateur online qualifier named Chris Moneymaker winning the tournament, the “poker boom” was underway.
“The opinion among the top poker players is that without my invention, there would be no poker TV,” Orenstein, a 2008 inductee of the Poker Hall of Fame, said. “And without poker TV, there would be no growth.
“When the whole thing […]
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