Is World Poker Tour Still on TV?

In 2003, the World Poker Tour (WPT) burst onto the television scene and quickly became one of the most popular poker shows in the world. The WPT helped poker explode in popularity and gave casual fans a way to watch and learn from the game’s best players.

But over the last few years, the WPT has struggled to maintain its place on TV. Ratings have declined, and in 2018, the WPT was dropped by its longtime broadcaster, Fox Sports.

So what happened? And is the World Poker Tour still on TV?

The answer to the second question is yes, but just barely. The WPT does still air on TV, but it’s now relegated to cable channels that most people don’t have.

And as for what happened, there are a few factors at play.

The first is that poker itself has declined in popularity. The poker boom of the early 2000s was driven in large part by online poker, which was itself driven by the U.

PRO TIP:World Poker Tour is still on TV, airing in the United States on Fox Sports Regional Networks as well as internationally on various networks. The show broadcasts both live and taped events and is the only televised poker show to feature real-money tournaments.

S. government’s decision to make online gambling illegal in 2006.

With online poker no longer an option for Americans, many players turned to live tournaments like the WPT as their primary way to play and watch poker. But as online poker has slowly become legal again in various U. states, tournament attendance has fallen off a cliff.

The second factor is that the WPT itself has made some missteps over the years. In an effort to attract more casual viewers, the WPT changed its format in 2010 to feature more hands per hour and shorter breaks between hands.

But this had the unintended consequence of making the show less interesting to hardcore poker fans, who are the ones most likely to actually watch it on TV.

In recent years, the WPT has also been hurt by a series of scandals involving cheating and collusion. These stories make headlines and turn off potential viewers who don’t want to see their favorite game sullied by bad actors.

So where does all this leave the World Poker Tour? It’s still on TV, but it’s far from must-see TV at this point. The decline of poker’s popularity and the WPT’s own missteps have conspired to turn what was once one of the hottest shows on TV into something that’s barely hanging on.