When they show Texas Hold'em on TV, do they show the television viewer the cards of the various players while they're playing the hand?
Yeah buddy, there's glass squares at each of the sitting positions at the table. Players put their cards face down on the glass squares and a camera rotates under the table.
I did - the world poker championship finals - and they only revealed after the hand was complete. But I had a feeling it wasn't usually like that, hence me asking.
It's only the World Series once a year Main Event final table that doesn't show from my experience. Probably because a million plus is on the line at that point and they have a large live audience.
They never show the hands "live". It's something like a 15 minute delay minimum. In the WSOP it has to be that, otherwise in a big hand somebody can tank for time by walking around and get the hole card from their backers watching on their phones etc etc. And they are only allowed to show if the hand passes the flop. Otherwise no show. And only after the hand is over. In other tv things like the Big Game it's up to the producers and the players involved. But since it's not a live event and they don't need to worry about cheating.
In addition to this, all of the recaps and play that you see in the WSOP that isn't from a final table being broadcast "live" doesn't come out for a lot longer as none of the commentary by Lon McEachern and Norman Chad is actually done live from what I remember - they just watch over the footage and add the commentary in afterwards.
