Hole cam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In poker, a hole cam (or pocket cam) is a camera that displays a player's face-down cards (known as "hole cards") to television viewers. It was patented by Henry Orenstein in 1995.
The hole cam became popular when the Late Night Poker program first began using it in televised tournaments. Cameras were also used in the Poker Million prior to gaining further popularity after the ESPN broadcasts of the 2002 World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour began airing on the Travel Channel in 2003.
The camera is placed under a glass panel in a poker table to allow for the filming and broadcast of the player's hole cards to the spectators without exposing them to the other players. This has led to the audience garnering a greater understanding of what is going on at the table and an increased interest in the thought processes of the players.
Prior to the invention of the hole-card camera, poker was broadcast but during any given hand, the audience had no way of knowing what the players were holding.
The patent for the technology was granted on September 19, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office but it was not used until 1997 when the British Channel 4 started broadcasting Late Night Poker.
