TV poker rakes it in with increasingly full house of viewers

By David Bianculli
Knight Ridder News Service

NBC will use a TV poker tournament to counterprogram the Super Bowl pregame festivities next month. NBC and Bravo have shown celebrity poker specials in prime time. And the Travel Channel, which initiated the current poker mania, has more tricks — and cards — up its sleeve for 2004.

"Poker is very hot," Travel Channel executive vice president Rick Rodriguez told TV critics yesterday. "It really is a cultural juggernaut."

The current mania began last March, when Travel Channel launched its "World Poker Tour" series with its technological ace in the hole: a table-level hidden camera that allowed viewers at home to see the players' hole cards. Add that insider info to the high stakes of No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em, and the show took off instantly.

"It's our No. 1 series," Rodriguez said, adding that the first batch of episodes has been run four times now — gaining a larger audience each time.

"We're wannabes," said Lou Diamond Phillips, one of the familiar faces (along with Drew Carey, Jack Black, Ben Affleck and others) in the Travel Channel's upcoming special, "World Poker Tour: Hollywood Home Game."

"The first time I ever played Texas Hold-'Em, I was hooked," Phillips said. "It was like crack. Can I get more of that?"

Now, he said, "I'm slowly earning my poker cred."

Annie Duke, a professional poker player for 10 years, said the popularity of Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour," and her visibility on it, has raised her profile.

"There's no stigma attached to what I do now," she said. "There never should have been."

The second season of "World Poker Tour" launches in March. The four-part "Hollywood Home Game" series, reclaiming ground from Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown," begins Jan. 25.

Also, NBC's telecast of "The Travel Channel World Poker Tour Battle of Champions" runs 4-6 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday.

"This all started nine months ago," said tour founder Steven Lipscomb, shaking his head in amazement at how quickly his concept has caught on.