Poker becomes spectator sport

NEW YORK -- Card playing -- an activity that filled the evening hours before television was invented -- has improbably become one of TV's hottest programming trends.

After less than a year, the "World Poker Tour" is already the Travel Channel's most popular series ever, a status NBC Sports took note of last week in announcing it would air a poker game on Super Bowl Sunday.

Steve Lipscomb, CEO of the World Poker Tour, spends between $350,000 and $400,000 per episode. Instead of three or four cameras, he uses as much as 16, enabling viewers to see every player's hands. Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten offer play-by-play and commentary.

"There's never a moment when you're not in the middle of the action," Lipscomb said. "I believe it's fascinating to watch someone in the middle of making a million-dollar decision when you can see what he should or shouldn't do."

The big matches have entrance fees of thousands of dollars. But for only $30, an amateur can enter qualifying tournaments with the prize being a seat at the table for a major tournament.