Poker has been appearing on television somewhat regularly since the late-1970s. In the United States, CBS started 4️⃣ airing the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event as an annual one-hour show around this 4️⃣ time and later by ESPN, which were casino-produced shows produced under a time-buy arrangement for sports omnibus programming such as 4️⃣ the CBS Sports Spectacular. For many years, the coverage was less than robust because viewers at home could not see 4️⃣ what cards the players had or follow their progress visually through graphics. Instead, the coverage essentially involved the commentators guessing 4️⃣ what cards the players had in a documentary style production.

In 1997, the hole cam, which allows audiences to see the 4️⃣ hidden cards that players held in their hands, was introduced in Europe. The hole cam was patented by WSOP bracelet 4️⃣ winner Henry Orenstein and first used in the Late Night Poker television series. It was used again in the inaugural 4️⃣ Poker Million tournament in 2000 which boasted the attraction of the first £1,000,000 poker game on live television. By 1996, 4️⃣ however, the ESPN one-hour highlight show only included hands that were shown down, so that the commentators, including Gabe Kaplan, 4️⃣ could comment, in post-production, on the hands while they were being played out. The commentators referred to this as "taking 4️⃣ a peek at the cards", and provided the first contemporary announcing on hands during the play in poker history. By 4️⃣ 2001, however, Late Night Poker had been cancelled in the UK and televised poker could no longer be found in 4️⃣ Europe. In the US, the 1999, 2000, and 2001 World Series of Poker events were only broadcast in one-hour documentaries 4️⃣ on the Discovery Networks.

In 1999, documentary filmmaker Steven Lipscomb produced and directed a documentary on the WSOP for the Discovery 4️⃣ Channel. It was the first U.S. poker production funded entirely by a television network rather than the casino. When the 4️⃣ 1999 WSOP aired, it doubled its audience over the hour time slot. Seeing the audience reaction, Lipscomb believed there was 4️⃣ an untapped market and began pitching poker series ideas to cable and network television. Because poker had been on the 4️⃣ air for over twenty years, with little viewer interest, broadcasters were unwilling to commit resources to put a series on 4️⃣ the air.

In October 2001, Lipscomb wrote a business plan. Along with poker player Mike Sexton and poker business woman Linda 4️⃣ Johnson, Lipscomb approached casino mogul and avid poker player, Lyle Berman, whose company Lakes Entertainment agreed to fund the World 4️⃣ Poker Tour (WPT)—the first organized and televised tour of poker tournaments in the world.