Televised cheerleading competitions? Interesting.
Billiards matches? Compelling.
From our Advertiser
Professional bull riding? Exciting.
But they are not even in the same league as television's newest sports sensation -- poker.
Its weekly coverage of the World Poker Tour was the most successful series ever on the Travel Channel. The final game was watched in more than a million homes, and repeats have received even higher ratings.
Now all kinds of networks are cashing in their chips and jumping on the green felt-lined bandwagon.
Knowing a good hand when it sees one, Travel Channel has signed on to carry up to five more seasons of the WPT, reportedly for as much as $40 million.
On Dec. 10, Travel Channel will air a one-night special, called "Ladies Night," featuring the world's top six women players.
ESPN is the home of the World Series of Poker that was decided in May when Tennessee accountant Chris Moneymaker parlayed a $40 entry in an online satellite tournament into the $2.5 million grand prize. The programs have done so well, reruns will be shown until the end of the year.
On Thanksgiving, Fox Sports Net will show a six-hour marathon of "Showdown at the Sands," a tournament played earlier in the week in Atlantic City.
On Dec. 2, Bravo will premiere "Celebrity Poker Showdown," a charity tournament in which stars such as Ben Affleck, Coolio and Tom Green will test their card skills for $100,000. When a player is eliminated, they will comment on the remaining games from the "Loser's Lounge."
The smoking, the sunglasses, the rumpled players eyeing their cards and one another while their hands are shown on the screen and analysts call the action is apparently hard to resist.
It's even more mesmerizing when watching a legend like two-time world champion Doyle Brunson, generally considered the greatest player ever. He wrote the definitive poker book, "Super System," and at age 69 is known as the "Babe Ruth of Poker."
Or, there's Johnny Chan, immortalized in the movie "Rounders," and the last back-to-back world champion.
Or, Phil Hellmuth Jr., who dropped out of the University of Wisconsin to turn pro. He's known around the tables for being the youngest world champion and for his reputation as poker's "bad boy."
Or, there's Annie Duke, a mother of four who is considered the greatest female player ever and who finished 10th in the 2000 World Series while eight months pregnant.
Superstars like these were first created in 1970 when Las Vegas casino owner Benny Binion assembled seven pros for the inaugural "World Series of Poker."
The legendary Johnny Moss won the event and two more world titles. He and Stu Ungar are the only three-time champions.
This year's World Series was hailed as the "biggest poker game in history" with 839 players competing through five days. The winner's $2.5 million prize is reportedly the biggest for any "sport."
SOURCES: www.espn.com, San Francisco Chronicle, www.binions.com
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