The Intercontinental Poker Championship At A Glance
One can no longer deny the fact that live poker tournaments are giving golf and tennis a run for their money as a spectator sport. This is due to the extreme popularity of world championship poker events such as the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker. These events have elevated poker into a global craze.
The success of the WPT and WSOP has inspired competition and the trend of huge poker tournaments will continue. One of the most notable novices is The Intercontinental Poker Championship. The event debuted June of 2006 and ran for five days. It ran for eight weekends and was aired on CBS Sports. The Intercontinental Poker Championship was participated in by 21 of the world's top ranked players representing 21 different countries invited by the event organizers.
The venue of this world championship poker event was the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The flags of the competing countries were displayed one at a time along with their respective national anthems. Sportscaster Jeff Medders and poker player Gabe Kaplan did the hosting chores for the event.
The Intercontinental Poker Championship featured Texas Hold'em and awarded $500,000 dollars to the top two winners. The eventual winner was Yoshio Nakano of Japan with Australian Tony G bagging second prize.
This event brought a whole new dimension to poker tournaments. There are no buy-in fees to pay because participation in the tournament is by invitation-basis only. You are chosen by the organizers based on your status as a player. This brings "national pride" for the players.
Like the WPT and WSOP there is audience participation in the game because the spectators can see the hole cards of the players via the "hole card cam," a lipstick size gadget that allows the audience to view the player's bluffs and strategies.
This world championship poker tournament was conceptualized by Henry Orenstein. He has attained success as an inventor with over 100 patents. He is credited for the invention of the "hole cam" for which Orenstein has a copyright.
As a poker player, Henry Orenstein is likewise accomplished. One of the most senior in tournament poker, he won $130,000 during the 1996 World Series of Poker where he defeated some of the top players in a game of seven-card stud. He made it to the money table several times at the WSOP and other events, like the US Poker Championship. His contributions to the continuing popularity of live poker tournaments cannot be discounted.