Omaha Productions Adds a Dealer Cam to WSOP Final Table
ESPN2 starts the three-night finish from Las Vegas, and the telecast stays about an hour behind because of Nevada gaming rules.
Omaha Productions is making its first year on World Series of Poker Main Event final-table coverage, and the telecast adds a new dealer cam as the last nine players play out the championship on ESPN2 and ESPN. The three-night finish runs Aug. 3-5, and the coverage also includes a promo from Eli and Peyton Manning.
The live show is not technically live. Each broadcast runs about an hour behind because Nevada Gaming Commission rules tied to hole-card cameras require the delay, with ESPN2 carrying the first night and ESPN taking the remaining two nights.
The final table came out of a Main Event field that started with 9,208 players. Omaha has also spent the lead-in making sure viewers can tell the finalists apart, with Dan Gati saying the company did extra work before the live table so first-time viewers would have a sense of who the players are.
Earlier reporting said the Main Event returned to ESPN this year under a multi-year agreement, the first time since 2020, with Omaha handling the storytelling side of the broadcast. Live coverage began July 2, with more than six hours a day for the first seven days and 10 hours a day over the final five days, and the package was built to deliver more than 100 hours of content across ESPN platforms.
Production is centered at Paris Las Vegas even though the Main Event spans Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas. The redesigned Main Event Final Table Arena is about 25,000 square feet and includes expanded LED displays, lighting, extra seating and rail areas, and five feature tables.
The technical setup includes more than 50 cameras and more than 60 EVS channels. Three feature tables track hole cards so commentators can follow the strategy in real time, and a Technocrane, a jib and a Steadicam move between tables and the broader tournament field.
The dealer cam is the new wrinkle. Gati said it borrows from referee-cam tech in football, turning with the dealer’s head to capture a more intimate view when players are talking close together.
Omaha is also bringing hole cams back on one table, but only for edited episodes, not the live show. Gati said the hole cam has become more of a beauty shot than a production necessity because live poker’s hole-card information has to be protected and RFID now does most of the work.
To help shape the broadcast, Omaha pre-produced more than 80 features and had about two weeks to build stories and angles around the nine finalists. Bruce Buffer handled Monday night’s shuffle up and deal, and a familiar NBA face is expected to take that role Tuesday and join the booth for a few hands.
