Books, Hole Cams and RFID Technology

In this blog we will cover the first major books written on poker, the Hole Cams and RFID Technology and how these things helped change the poker landscape to become as popular as it is today.

Books
 
One of the first major books on poker was Doyle Brunson’s Super System published in 1978.  It had many different games including Texas No-Limit Hold’em.   It gave away some of the secrets of the poker greats. 
 
Other seminal works were David Sklansky’s book: The Theory of Poker which came out in 1987 and Mike Caro’s: Caro’s Book of Poker Tells in 1999. 
 
Over time what started as a trickle turned into a waterfall of books as more and more pros exposed their secrets.   The floodgates of how to play excellent poker is out in print and accessible to anyone with $20 in their pocket, a few hours of spare time, and a hunger to learn.  But it didn’t stop there.

Hole Cams
Henry Orenstein invented the hole cams that display player’s hole cards.  It became popular in 1999.   Watching people play poker before this was as exciting as watching paint dry. 
 
Seeing someone’s hole cards coupled with engaging personalities and the romance of being in control of your own destiny made the game a great deal more fun to watch.  

Armchair poker players came in by the droves.  Many of them started playing themselves.
 
RFID Technology
In recent years a new king of hole card technology called radio-frequency identification (RFID) is being used at some live poker productions. Instead of hole cams, RFID uses special playing cards with radio-frequency identification chips known as “tags.”  RFID readers under certain spots on the poker table read the card tags.  The readers send the information to tournament or TV production computers. 

In the next blog we will cover how the poker landscape changed forever with the internet and smart phones.   Stay tuned!

Chuck