Poker and Lipstick

In the beginning there was poker, and it was good. Then the popularity of the game drove it to television, and it was ok, but not great. Sure it was fun, in a couch potato kind of way, to see guys sitting around a table playing cards, but it was difficult to really get inside the game. Everything changed in 2003 when the Travel Channel improved their coverage of the World Poker Tour by adding the now ubiquitous lipstick cameras. These small devices sit inside the rim of a poker table and give the viewer an inside look at a player’s pocket cards. Suddenly, watching Texas Holdem was not about the outcome, but about the strategy. Bluffing styles could be analyzed, odds could be calculated and the poker announcers finally had the ability to weigh in with meaningful commentary. If you want to start your own poker TV station, be prepared to spend around $2300 for a lipstick camera setup. The camera itself runs around $450, weighs maybe half an ounce, is 2 inches long and less than a half inch in diameter. But you will also need cables and a Computer Control Unit, or CCU, to power the camera and to make sure that the only muck is on the table, not on the screen.