In 2003, what is now known as the Poker Boom occurred as a result of a perfect storm of the popular and captivating new broadcasts of competitive poker play, online poker, the cult classic film Rounders, and amateur Chris Moneymaker winning the World Series of Poker.
The World Series of Poker numbers remain far higher now than they were prior to 2003. In fact, the last WSOP saw a record field of players at the main series in Las Vegas, which has $10 million ready for the winner. In-person popularity isn’t an issue, but reaching audiences at home has been, to an extent.
Perhaps it’s time for the World Series of Poker to tap into the audience-winning powers of a docuseries.
The Power of a Docuseries
Docuseries have been a hot trend over the last decade, particularly with streaming platforms. The likes of Prime Video and Netflix have gone big on these multipart installments that document the season of a league or team and offer a fly-on-the-wall or behind-the-scene, unfiltered look at what it takes. For Formula One, the docuseries Drive to Survive completely turbocharged the competition in the public eye.
It spawns from the long-running success of reality docuseries like Deadliest Catch, Wicked Tuna, and the various other more extreme forms of work that have been transformed into hit TV shows. There was even a docuseries that followed the little-known arm-wrestling scene, Game of Arms, that was strangely entertaining.
Now, the NHL wants a piece of the action, bringing in Box to Box to cover the league for Prime Video in Faceoff: Inside the NHL. For the North American hockey league, things have been on the up, with viewership records set for the last Stanley Cup, the salary cap getting a bump, and there being plenty of true superstar characters in the league. The NHL wants to capitalize on this moment and picked a good season to do so. Maybe the WSOP should, too.
Poker’s Relationship with Streaming
Poker has certainly embraced the digital world, the online space, and continues to leverage the inherent drama of a poker contest to put out live competitions. A prime showing of all of this comes in the form of the all-in-one news and guides platform Pokernews. Here, poker fans can catch up on all of the winners and industry news, including where and when the World Series of Poker can and was on via live streaming.
That live streaming, the news outlet reports, is via PokerGo, which goes live for over 300 hours during the massive tournament. With this side of streaming embraced, a step into the world of a docuseries would seem natural. However, exposure would be the key thing. Putting such a show out on PokerGo would only enable it to reach hardened poker fans. It’d need a Netflix or a Prime Video to truly make an impact.
A behind-the-scenes docuseries on professional poker players vying for bracelets and the Main Event’s top prize would make for riveting television and really could vault poker beyond its current strong standing. However, it would need a big streaming platform partner to make an impact worthy of potentially triggering another boom.
