The WPT show which is syndicated internationally was launched by Steve Lipscomb who is its CEO now, and names like Shana Hiatt, Mike Sexton, Sabina Gadecki and Courtney Friel have acted as hosts over its 5 complete seasons from 2002 to the present.

The Travel Channel was the one to air the show’s first few seasons, after which it has been moved over on GSN. The recipe for the success of the WPT televised events is made up of several essential ingredients. First of all, hosts Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten always comment events as if the commentary was live, which it is not though, because they’re not allowed to comment live on the hole cards players have. Players could somehow have that information fed back to them, so it makes sense to forbid live commentary.

Another innovation was the hole-card cam which instantly showed what each of the players had in their pockets and pot odds for each of those hands were calculated as well. It was a whole lot more enjoyable for the public to watch a game of poker knowing what each of the players could throw into the fray, and the odds on their hands, than staring at them and trying to guess what they may have.

Much like the WSOP, the WPT is accessible to all people who can afford to pay the buy-in or prove their worth through online qualifiers called satellites. Many of the biggest online poker rooms feature such satellites and sub-satellites thus making it theoretically possible for players to qualify for a mere few dollars.

Even though it had its share of legal problems (like getting sued by a group of professional players for using participation forms which hurt the contracts players had with the companies promoting them.) the WPT is still the biggest player on the poker-television scene and its sixth season (in 2008) will probably be as exciting as ever.